Aubrey Connatser is an outstanding family lawyer in Dallas. For the first decade of her legal career, she practiced at the largest family law firm in the Southwest, becoming known and respected across the state. But Aubrey wanted a more flexible and creative environment, with fewer roadblocks to success. She needed a marketing partner who would have her back while she focused on creating a new firm. A call to Texas Law Marketing was one of her first and most important steps.
ABOUT CONNATSER FAMILY LAW
Connatser Family Law is a five-member firm that handles only matrimonial law matters from its offices in the Uptown section of Dallas. The hallmark of this firm is extraordinary work product and doing exactly what they promise to do.
MARKETING CHALLENGES
The vision Aubrey Connatser had of her new effort was one of class, exceptional follow-through and reaching the finish line with the client’s financial and emotional well-being intact. The problem she faced was the same one attorneys in the more personal areas of the law encounter each day; would clients forsake the comfortable confines of the big firm and follow her? Could she replenish the pipeline of clients as she solved problems for current ones?
Family law works differently than, say, corporate transactional law, which provides a steady flow of work to attorneys. A family law client will only have a small number of divorces, child custody problems or the need for marital agreements. Family lawyers need new clients, and marketing is how they get them.
Confidence in her ability was not a concern for Aubrey. She is among the most brilliant minds in Texas family law. But how do you project that ability to potential clients? She faced intense competition from large firms of attorneys with deep pockets. Would she be able to stand out in that crowd? And could she grow her firm in the steady manner that would make her comfortable?
HOW TEXAS LAW MARKETING HELPED
Startups can be extremely productive from a marketing standpoint because there is a clear pathway to success. The sky is the limit, and that’s where Aubrey was headed.
Our task in branding Aubrey Connatser’s firm was to match each of the elements to the firm owner’s vibrant personality. We knew her offices would be bright and cheerful, not the normal dark attorney headquarters. Matching everything to the same design and color motif is soothing for visitors, attorneys and staff. Aubrey also wanted to make her last name easier to integrate into the design, knowing that people use a variety of spellings of Connatser.
This led us to create a logo as a series of boxes, with CON at the top, NAT in the middle and SER at the bottom. We also moved away from a more traditional navy color scheme to a lighter blue, giving the client a logo that stands out and spells her name at the same time. When the Connatser logo is displayed among others, it is the one you see easily.
We used the logo first in an “open for business” email campaign to local attorneys and other professionals in the North Texas area, then applied it to business cards and letterhead.
Early on, Aubrey hired two young women as associates in the firm. The three attorneys of Connatser Family Law looked stunning together. We created a modern website and applied the photo of the three women on the home page. We placed it on a firm Facebook page and in other social media contexts. We also ran ads with this photo in Headnotes, the Dallas Bar Association publication, D Magazine and Texas Monthly.
Aubrey wanted to gain market share by promoting her people, so she bought into our LawTalk™ Texas marketing platform. The basic program consists of promoting speaking engagements before groups, creating media opportunities and adding online content.
With this, Connatser Family Law is able to get the firm’s message out to professional and business groups, civic and parent organizations and legal forums. There is a strong emphasis on non-family lawyers, accountants, wealth managers, and mental health professionals – people who usually know about high-income and disputed divorces before family lawyers are hired.
It takes a close relationship to match an attorney with the correct groups. We built a trusting relationship with Aubrey and her attorneys and that helped us promote them speaking to groups and the media. Branding and virtual marketing is important to the overall growth of a law firm, but in the end it is face-to-face marketing that brings you more and better business.
RESULTS
Texas Law Marketing helped Aubrey Connatser to successfully launch her business, and in two years we have positioned Connatser Family Law as one of North Texas’ top family law boutiques.
Her firm has grown to five attorneys who handle exclusively matrimonial law matters. Included on her attorney roster is Mike DeBruin, a veteran of more than 30 years in practice and one of the area’s top family law litigators. When Mike joined the firm, we altered their magazine ad to feature him and take advantage of the respect he has earned in the family law community. At each point, we have inspired nomination of all firm attorneys for Texas Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers and D Best Lawyers in Dallas.
We work to get maximum advantage from copy and video and portray attorneys in a way that helps to get these honors for them. People say they see the Connatser Family Law attorneys everywhere. In reality, we’ve actually only run a few ads for the firm. But their size and impact give people the idea that they are maxing out their ad budget.
With all of this visibility, Aubrey was named one of the Top 100 Attorneys in Texas, Top 50 Women Attorneys in Texas, and Top 100 Attorneys in Dallas-Fort Worth this year. This is not just among family lawyers, but among attorneys in all practice areas. So she was selected to the top 100 of about 65,000 licensed attorneys in the state.
In addition, Mike DeBruin was selected to the list of Texas Super Lawyers and associate Christine Leatherberry was selected to the Texas Rising Stars. And maybe more importantly, Connatser Family Law was chosen a Tier 1 Best Family Law firm in Texas by U.S. News and World Report.
