Paul Hastings

Paul Hastings is a $1bn global law firm headquartered in the US. The firm has a London office with 100+ lawyers generating $100m+ in revenues, predominantly in Funds, Private Equity, M&A and Real Estate.

the challenge

Given double digit growth and attracting several high-profile lateral partners in recent years, there was an opportunity to strengthen the brand in London.

Paul Hastings retained The Listening People to enhance the brand in the London Market on an ongoing basis. This included engaging partners and employees in brand, marketing and business development activities.

the plan

We first set about creating the London brand story by interviewing a representative group of partners.  A communications pack was then created to engage everyone in the office in the brand story, with sessions to discuss the role each person could play to bring the brand to life internally and externally.

This story was then translated into assets including an animation for use in internal meetings and on the website, with a recruitment brochure aimed at lateral partners.  Following this work we supported various practices within Paul Hastings London office with their brand and marketing needs, including:

– Developing the go-to-market strategy for the M&A practice, and then helping them deliver various activities from a roundtable partnership with Legal Business to a webinar on investing in European listed companies.

– Partnering the Private Equity practice on their first ever report on trends in PE, and on their digitised guide to European Government Aid in Response to COVID-19.

– Advising the Finance practice on their partnership with The Lawyer to deliver research into the transatlantic acquisition finance market, incorporating a survey, interviews and two roundtables.

We created a programme to celebrate International Women’s Day, with internal events, a series of films and an event for clients, and also orchestrated a wine tasting for female journalists.

the results

London partners are fully engaged in brand and marketing activities, with a significant uptick in content marketing, PR and social media activity. Partners are getting positive feedback on the distinctive content they are using to engage clients, marketing activities are leading to client wins, and the recruitment process has shortened.

The work of The Listening People is truly helping our London team strengthen our brand presence in this market from the inside out. The messaging is clear and authentic, and our Partners are much more engaged in brand and marketing activities. The Listening People have become a trusted partner for strategic advice.

Paul Clarke, MD Communications and Marketing, Paul Hastings