Executing Launch Of New Law Firm

Hausfeld LLP, a Washington, DC-based global plaintiffs antitrust firm seeking to launch in 2009.

Challenge:

Executing a successful – and positive – launch of a new law firm in any environment is challenging. But doing so in the midst of a recession when law firms were closing and downsizing left and right adds a whole new wrinkle.

But Hausfeld LLP Chairman Michael Hausfeld was never one to shy away from a challenge, and he did not want to launch the firm in the conventional manner. He sought a communications partner that could apply a creative communications approach and launch the firm as a “startup” with an innovative legal business model. For this project the firm turned to Lustig Communications to execute a media relations campaign that would create positive attention around the new firm’s launch, and to sustain and build substantive media coverage around key firm cases in subsequent months.

Approach:

Lustig Communications developed a two-part media relations program that revolved around communicating the founder’s motivation for launching the new firm, and to rapidly establish Hausfeld LLP as a global leader in delivering conflict-free litigation services to plaintiffs.

Results:

From the firm’s official February 2009 launch through subsequent months of growth and success, the media relations program played a key role in shaping how the firm’s vision and accomplishments were communicated to global organizations, citizens and the legal community.

For the launch itself, positive media coverage was secured with feature stories in, among other publications, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, Legal Times, The National Law Journal and Legal Bisnow. On the heels of the successful launch, Lustig Communications executed on a strategic communications plan throughout 2009 that helped to position Hausfeld LLP as a leading global claimants firm.

Lustig Communications followed on the launch by securing coverage with impact for key cases. Articles were secured in dozens of publications, including:

Business Week
The Wall Street Journal
Bloomberg
Reuters
USA Today
NBC News
Associated Press
CNBC
ESPN
The Sporting News
Forbes
The American Lawyer
The National Law Journal

Lustig Communications was also successful in highlighting the standout work of firm lawyers, with distinctions earned that included:

• Partner named to Legal Times “40 under 40” list for 2009
• Chairman named one of Washingtonian’s “30 stars of the bar”
• Chairman named to SmartCEO 2009 Legal Elites list