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A tag line we really like: 

“Defense Lawyers.  Defense Leaders.”

We developed an integrated marketing campaign for FDCC, the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel.  It’s an international honorary association of 1,000 of the absolute best defense litigators and in-house professionals.  “From the courthouse and in-house.”

It’s an astonishingly credentialed organization; I’m not sure the CIA vets its spies as vigorously or rigorously as the FDCC does its members.

There are a handful of these types of groups, and many of them look somewhat alike.  The challenge is to figure out the difference, and market it effectively.  One of the problems is its tag line, although technically accurate, is a bit more descriptive than memorable.  Here’s what they had been using: 

“An organization of recognized leaders in the legal community dedicated to representation of insurers and corporations.”

Technically accurate, but a bit generic, and entirely too bland for a dynamic group like this. 

Instead, we’ve recommended, “Defense Lawyers.  Defense Leaders.”

Four words. Alliterative.  And it says who they are, what they do, how they do it, and includes both the lawyers and litigation managers who may not be lawyers, but are leaders nonetheless. 

Pretty good, we think.

There’s a lot more to this campaign we’ll write about later.  But this is a nice start.

I have to say, if I need a litigator in some geographic area where I don’t know someone, I’d look hard at the FDCC member.  They’ve vetted their members far beyond the ability of any individual client or prospect to have done so.  We just need to tell their story more visibly – it’s pretty compelling. 

Not only do they ask for references, they seek information from the judges they’ve practiced in front of, the opposing counsel they’ve tried cases against, co-counsel, clients…  They send dozens of letters seeking comment – often over 100 or 200 distinct communications looking for feedback.  No, really. They’ll send as many as 200 info-seeking letters, calls, and emails to judges, former clients, etc.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they contacted candidates’ pre-school teachers to see if they ate paste and played well with others.

I’m only glad my wife didn’t seek this enhanced level of scrutiny before saying “I do.”