Too many firms exclude staff from the firm’s marketing team. Not only does the staff know important people in the community and can bring in business directly, they have many friends who could refer work to the firm. Yet, too many firms treat their staff as second-class citizens. And key staff members are not even listed on most law firm web sites.
That raises a pet peeve with James Ambrogi and others, including yours truly. A law firm’s web site is not meant to be only for those who went to law school. Management consultants have become more outspoken on this issue, as reported by Steve Taylor in an excellent article on the LawMarketing Portal. The article points out how excluding non-legal staff from your web site can actually hurt a law firm. Since web sites presumably are for marketing purposes, you should include your non-legal staff as part of the marketing team and on your web site.