Q: Should we announce new partners in a press release?
A: There’s an age-old conundrum in retail marketing; if you advertise a bundle, do you get more good mojo from the "Ooh! I’m getting more for less!" response, or more bad mojo from the "Why can’t I buy these unbundled and get the one thing I really want more cheaply?" factor. What most pricing analysts will recommend is that you do provide the individual components at one price, and price the bundle at a discount over what the total would be if you got all the pieces "a la carte."
What the heck does that have to do with announcing/mentioning partner/equity partner/group leader/management leader status? They’re both questions of value vs. perception. And my general opinion is that if there is no value to a piece of data, don’t communicate it.
The internal distinctions that determine whether someone is an associate, staff attorney, senior staff attorney, of counsel, partner, equity partner, junior partner, senior partner, office managing partner, managing partner, executive partner or grand high partner tuti partneri are lost on the public. They are often lost on the attorneys themselves. Announcing an ownership stake of a partner in a firm may, in fact, be something that is against the partnership regs or ethics rules, depending on your state.
What about "Chairman of the Labor Group?" Well… in a world where attorneys didn’t charge by the hour, there would be more marrow in that bone. As it stands, now, I think most clients will figure that they’re paying a premium per hour rate for the time of a "chairman." Either that, or they may demand the head of the group, feeling that they need the absolute best. In some firms, the chairmanship of groups is avoided like the the pox, as it is chiefly an administrative and logistical role. The outside world doesn’t know that, though, so the chair will often want to publish the fact in order to get some positive spank out of the whole unpleasant deal.
Bottom line: if there’s no compelling reason to publish the details, don’t bother. You’ll just confuse the poor clients even more.
Stumble it!