Glad to see you again for this month’s journey into the sometimes foggy, sometimes stormy water-world of streaming video in the legal community — “webcasting” over the World Wide Web.
I’m convinced that streaming video can effectively communicate the character of a firm by presenting the voices and faces of its people. Introducing a firm and emphasizing its strengths are the goals of many law firm videos on the Internet today. Variously called a vision statement, a web site ‘Welcome Message,’ or ‘Meet the Firm,’ examples of the video firm overview can be seen at several law firm web sites, including these mentioned in previous columns:
This month, we examine an excellent example of the streaming video frontispiece from a firm with an unusually rich history.
WHAT’S ON TONIGHT?
Coudert Brothers LLP — with 650 lawyers in 18 countries — celebrates its 150th anniversary with new streaming video on its web site. “As an international law firm focused on the delivery of legal advice in cross-border matters to clients across many jurisdictions,” honoring their historical anniversary over such an open and borderless system as the Internet seems only fitting.
The firm “pioneered the practice of commercial law for the international community,” according to their web site. And they’ve been doing it for 150 years! An anniversary worth celebrating, and so they are, at ...
“Coudert Brothers LLP”
![[play
button]](aw_images/playbttn.gif)
http://www.Coudert.com
“Coudert Brothers at 150" is the title of a pleasant 11-minute documentary, complete with enough fast cuts, archival footage, and daguerreotype portraits to make Ken Burns proud.
Media player required: RealPlayer. Two speeds are supported for streaming: dial-up (56K) and broadband. The video may also be downloaded in Windows Media Player or RealPlayer format.
HISTORY
Sparked by David Huebner, Chairman of Coudert Brothers, the firm commissioned a documentary video to “draw the relevance of the 150-year history to what it means to clients today.... Coudert believes that the cultural values embodied by the firm throughout its history ... are important to how Coudert lawyers practice today. These qualities include resourcefulness, expertise across multiple jurisdictions and a spirit of innovation that always pushes the envelope to look for the next opportunity.”
GOALS
A spokesman points out that “A key audience was Coudert’s own employees.” Much business writing is devoted to corporate culture; the anniversary video was seen as an excellent opportunity to highlight the firm’s “record of landmark achievements in global affairs.” According to a spokesman, this includes “acting as mediator between governments in both World Wars, paving the way for the Panama Canal, ensuring the Statue of Liberty was situated in New York Harbor and serving as advisors and ambassadors to the highest levels of government, including various U.S. presidents.” Add to that “Coudert's being the first foreign law firm to open offices in Paris (1879), London (1960), China (1979) and Russia (1988),” and one realizes this firm does indeed have a lot of history to talk about.
In my opinion, emphasis of the historical role the firm has played worldwide is likely to payoff significantly in the long-term through improvement in loyalty to the firm, average length of employment, and the ability and motivation of everyone who’s seen the video to ‘sell’ the firm to prospective clients and new hires. By reinforcing the sense of unity throughout the firm’s offices (dispersed through 18 countries), the video may actually help reduce the potential for internal strife and make the firms 29 offices more efficiently managed.
MARKETING INTEGRATION
The 150th anniversary video is not just a shot in the dark, empty void of cyberspace. Each of the firm’s 29 offices hosted a 150th anniversary celebration, to which clients and the business community were invited, including festivities at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, the Courtland Institute Gallery in London, the Shanghai American Club in China, and the Jacquemart Andre Museum in Paris. The video was shown at the celebrations and also copies were made available in DVD, CD, and videocassette formats.
CHALLENGES
A technical challenge popped up when they “noticed that the geographical location of users was playing a role in the usability of the video.” Distance from an Internet hub is a common cause of degradation of playing speed and visual quality. “To alleviate this challenge, we decided to host the video on both our website server in Australia and in the U.S.”
FEEDBACK
“Clients responded very well.... The webcast provides another dimension of the firm and of Coudert’s culture, which clients have told us they appreciate knowing.”
PROBLEMS
The webcast for 56K dial-up was encoded at 51K, too fast for real life — I don’t think I’ve ever achieved faster than 50K with a 56K modem. (In fact, FCC regulations limit maximum telephone modem speed to 53K.) As low as 29 to 35Kbps is recommended as a real-world compromise.
Unreadable legends and credits make it obvious that this video was not originally intended for the small screen.
ADVICE TO OTHER LAW FIRMS
This example proves the value of historical documentation. Coudert is “increasingly focused on the importance of centralizing archival materials.” To exploit your past, you should also devote appropriate efforts to document important events and archive visual (and aural) artifacts of your firm’s history.
EMPHASIZE STRENGTHS
Longevity of 150 years is certainly something to brag about. By using a modern lens to focus on their past, Coudert emphasizes the firm’s history, stirring feelings of stability and reliability — key marketing attributes that money can’t buy.
Too many webcasts, not enough time.
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