At the LMA Europe regional conference, one of the most engaging sessions of the day came in the form of two TED-style talks, offering sharp, focused insights on two very different, but equally relevant, topics for legal marketing and innovation professionals.

Michael Michaelides (Global CMO, A&O Shearman) shared key lessons from marketing one of the legal sector’s most significant recent mergers, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the communications strategy, cultural considerations, and global coordination involved.

Adam Curphey (Assistant Director of Innovation, Mayer Brown) then turned the spotlight on GenAI - demystifying what it is (and isn’t) for, and addressing common misconceptions around its role in legal practice.

Here are the main takeaways from both talks:

1. Marketing a Merger: Lessons from a Transatlantic Deal

Key Takeaways

• Make sure you have checked all the data being inputted and uploaded onto the new website.  Michael talked about a rogue data file that meant that deceased lawyers suddenly had bios on the new A&O Shearman website as well as partners that had moved on.  Whilst Michael had the crowd in stitches, it was obviously a serious crisis at the time especially when said partner that moved on noticed!
• It can be done!  Michael and his team launched a new website from scratch within three months to serve as the public manifestation of the new brand.  As well as a new logo and visual identity.  In fact, the tight timeframe, Michael noted, was positive in terms of getting it all delivered.
• Michael highlighted the need for rapid response and cross-functional teams with heightened collaboration.  Especially when technical glitches on their website were highlighted deep into the night UK time.
• The team had to really embrace the chaos, tensions, misunderstandings, insecurities, and the "chopping of positions" inherent in merging two distinct corporate cultures, which can be "quite mind-boggling."
• Breaking traditional playbooks by trusting collective instincts, clarity of purpose, deeply discreet knowledge, and the courage to make bold decisions over lengthy market research and iterative testing cycles.
• Strategic alignment of client strategy post-merger to build trust and cultural integration, despite antitrust limitations prior to legal merging, recognizing that "trust isn't built in town hall meetings... it is built on a matter."
• Centralized communication to maintain a cohesive narrative, even if it makes the team "pretty unpopular," and then gradually decentralizing voices but choosing carefully who delivers what.
• Importance of establishing a distinctive tone of voice that balances legacy identities with an authentic new voice, which is "painfully hard to manage" but brings "distinctiveness" in a sea of sameness.
• Leveraging creative constraints as a catalyst for sharper focus and bold decision-making, as "constraints aren't the enemy of creativity, they can be the midwife."

Michael ended by really stressing the importance of teamwork and trust.  ‘’The success of the project wasn't built in planning documents or boardrooms.  It was instead built at 1.30 am when your phone rings and everyone shows up.''

2. Facing your fears: What GenAI is (and isn’t) for

Key Takeaways

• AI is designed to sound right, but not necessarily be right.
• AI can make mistakes, which is particularly problematic in fields like law where accuracy is critical, as a single error can lead to loss of client trust.
• AI models may not have up-to-date information, with some pre-packaged models being current only as of June 2020 or even earlier, making them unsuitable for current research.
• Sensitive data can be exposed if input into public AI systems like ChatGPT, as these systems train on the data, potentially leading to its appearance in other users' responses.
• There should be organisational policies governing AI use, and specific clients may have restricted the use of generative AI for their matters.
• AI is evolving rapidly, making it a fast-moving area where even experts feel challenged to keep up.
• AI is not likely to replace professionals but is designed to augment their work, requiring human oversight and integration into workflows.
• Don't ask AI to do everything but instead start using it to solve a specific problem or task.

Adam really did make it seem very simple and made a strong case for adoption across law firms and the individuals in the room even some of the slightly more sceptical folk (including me!).

He finished by suggesting that we should all be curious and experiment with AI in both personal and professional contexts to identify useful applications.  He also suggested working closely with legal risk teams and constantly monitoring use cases as the whole area is evolving so rapidly.