For nearly two decades, James Stapleton has worked to improve the client experience as the head of the business development functions at four of the largest law firms in the United States.

Today, Mr. Stapleton works directly with clients to help them:

  1. Cultivate a more appropriate mix of law firm and ALSP alternatives

  2. Improve their overall client experience with their outside legal service providers.

  3. Generate more value from their external law firms and ALSPs.

James J. Stapleton

“Everything here is great. He knows what he’s doing. He’s a thoughtful leader with a smart approach so far, not a bull in a china shop. He triaged our marketing team and was mindful, smart, and graduated in terms of goals.  He didn’t try to do everything at once and did exactly what I hoped he would do. His energy & ideas are being embraced throughout the firm.”

Deputy CEO, Dickinson Wright

James Stapleton

Career Highlights

 

  1. More than quadrupled the long-term average annual organic growth rate at Blank Rome from 1.46% to 7.74%. In my last full year with Blank Rome, their annual Profit Per Equity Partner ranking on the AmLaw 100 improved to #76 from #81 and the Profit Per Lawyer ranking improved to #55 from #70.

  2. Dickinson Wright was the fastest-growing firm in the AmLaw Second Hundred during my tenure (per American Lawyer) with an 8.6% annual growth rate.

  3. Littler enjoyed their fastest two-year growth in the last two decades while I was their CMBDO. Annual proposal opportunities more than doubled from 259 to 560 in just 20 months. Shortly after I departed Littler, Law360 referred to the Littler marketing program as “one of the five most feared marketing programs in the AmLaw 100.”

  4. While CMO at Fenwick, I increased annual proposal opportunities from 110 to 606 and trained their long-term CMO, thus leading Fenwick to improving their #144 AmLaw 200 rank in 2005 to #67 by 2023.

 

Career Achievements and Experiences

 Here is a brief summary of my experiences with branding, business development, client engagement, client relationship management, knowledge management, marketing, marketing technology, revenue generation, sales and team management.

 

Sales, Revenue Generation, Client Service and KPIs/ROI metric expertise

  1. Substantive revenue-generation success at all four large law firms.

  2. Advanced key account experience and client team success, using sophisticated account planning tools and client experience methodologies.

  3. 19 years of instructing complex, sophisticated sales, business development, marketing, and management skills at international Big Five accounting firms PwC and Arthur Andersen.

  4. Personally conducted sales and business development coaching for over 300 law firm partners.

  5. Conducted client relationship and business development training sessions for thousands of lawyers.

  6. Supervised or written over 7,500 proposals, RFQs, SoQs, RFIs and other pitch documents.

  7. Built and sustained 50%+ pitch/RFP/proposal win rates.

  8. KPI and metric expert. I taught Thomson Reuters’/Hildebrandt’s first law firm metrics class with Baker & McKenzie’s former Chief Marketing Officer, Wendy Bernero.

  9. Conducted thousands of post-mortem discussions and client feedback interviews, and integrated those results into the client relationship plans.

  10. 10+ years of direct selling experience with all related elements, including:

    1. Face-to-face sales with decision makers

    2. Tandem selling with partners

    3. Sales of both legal services and legal products

Technology, Client Relationship Management and Knowledge Management

  1. Experienced with multiple technology platforms in my marketing stacks, including Artificial Intelligence tools, blogs, competitive intelligence, CRM systems, data platforms, digital advertising, direct mail, document management systems, Google Business Profiles, knowledge management, lead development, legal directories, marketing dashboards, podcasts, publishing platforms, research, social media accounts, video platforms, and Web sites.

  2. Substantial Client Relationship Management system experience, including:

    1. Established (SalesForce, Interaction, MicroSoft Dynamics, Thomson Reuters’ BDP)

    2. Current CRM tool: HubSpot

    3. Internally-developed (Arthur Andersen’s Sales Account Management and PwC’s SAM)

    4. Out-of-the-box (Revenue Maximizer, Telemagic, ACT)

    5. Personally designed a proprietary Foxbase CRM system.

  1. Hired and trained multiple marketing technology teams that were so strong I had to do it twice in four years because they kept getting poached.

  2. Substantial experience with knowledge management and thought leadership, including using third parties such as JD Supra, Mondaq, Lexology and National Law Journal.

  3. I have written two books, both published by John Wiley & Sons, on firm development and knowledge management.

 

Marketing and Branding Successes

  1. I have held substantial, national and international industry-specific marketing and sales roles, both with Big Five accounting firms and with large, sophisticated law firms.

  2. I have planned and executed very successful large-scale events with substantial positive ROI at:

    1. Blank Rome / First-ever off-site All-Attorney meeting.

    2. Littler / Annual Employer event with 1,000+ clients in attendance.

    3. Fenwick & West averaged over 500 events per year when I was their CMO, including their signature Business Plan competition with 120 presenting entrepreneurs and 65 senior venture capitalists.

    4. Arthur Andersen’s Silicon Strategies conference with 65 Semiconductor industry CEOs in speaking roles.

  3. I am a content management expert, having:

    1. Tripled the size of Blank Rome’s content production and distribution system, including an award-winning COVID survey and event series.

    2. Leveraged Littler’s production of 60,000 pages of annual content into a marketing behemoth, driving Littler’s brand as the foremost international L&E specialty firm.

    3. Ran PwC’s Global Knowledge Management for their Technology, InfoComm and Entertainment and Media practices, which involved creating a content strategy with Knowledge Brokers and Knowledge Managers within the firm.

  4. Similarly, I have product marketing expertise, including developing the marketing program around CaseSmart at Littler and Flex by Fenwick at Fenwick & West.

  5. I drove transformational experiences with Chambers recognition programs at both Blank Rome and Littler. On my watch, Blank Rome reversed a decline and achieved the second-highest percentage of Chambers-recognized attorneys among their 20 cohort firms.

 

Team and Employee Management

  1. Restructured and revitalized marketing departments at all four large law firms.

  2. Executed annual attorney/marketing department surveys with 40%+ response rates with improving results every year at all four firms.

  3. Hired and managed multiple salespeople, in-house coaches and external coaches at all four law firms.

  4. Supervised and/or trained six current and one former law firm CXOs, including:

    1. Susan Hollender / Chief Growth Officer, Michael Best & Friedrich

    2. Robert Kahn / CMO, Fenwick & West (now retired, Rob held the role for eight years)

    3. Brandon Lulis / CMBDO, Dickinson Wright

    4. Deb Ruffins / CMO, Perkins Coie

    5. Mitchell Sterling / Chief Client Development Officer, Blank Rome LLP

    6. Marianne Talbot / CMBDO, Bailey Glasser

    7. Katherine Tavella / Chief Communications Officer, Blank Rome LLP