#LMA26 LMA Conference Session Recaps by Nancy Myrland

#LMA26 – Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference Content Curation

Nancy Myrland#LMA26, All Posts Leave a Comment

There has never been a better time to use “Tradition Meets Transformation” as a conference theme.

If you are a return visitor looking for curated content from the LMA conference, just scroll down and look for the large green heading. I’ll keep adding content as you and I find it.

1300+ Will Gather For The 2026 LMA Annual Conference

The Legal Marketing Association (LMA) annual conference will take place Monday, April 20, through Wednesday, April 22, in New Orleans, LA.

Our industry and the profession we serve are going through enormous change. Technology, AI, the evolution of perspectives and positions, and the need to discuss and keep pace with all of that are palpable in our daily lives, both personal and professional. The boundaries are nearly indistinguishable when we are accessible and resourceful from every corner of the earth at all hours of the day.

The LMA community is known for coming together to discuss topics that aren’t always easy, but they aren’t always hard either. Sometimes, we just need to be reminded where we started, what is essential, and what needs to be held onto to remain successful. We draw from the brilliant minds of those leading the way, as well as those who have served us from the start of our association. Those are often the same people because they have made it their mission to never stop learning, experiencing, and teaching. They are our constant reminders that tradition is not to be tossed aside but blended with the transformation we are going through.

Through this and every conference and event LMA hosts, we have the opportunity to become smarter and more connected each time we choose to participate. This conference will surely fill those buckets.

A Heartfelt Thank You To The Annual Conference Advisory Committee (ACAC)

Huge thanks to the 2026 Annual Conference Advisory Committee (ACAC), led by Board liaison and 2026 LMA President, Rachel Shields Williams (Director, Client Intelligence, Sidley Austin LLP). The ACAC is co-chaired by Michael Coston (CEO, Coston Consulting), Tom Helm (Chief Marketing Officer, Smith Gambrell & Russell, LLP), and Jenna Schiappacasse (Director of Client Development and Strategic Growth, Winston & Strawn).

#LMA26 Conference Co-Chairs

They are joined by a committee of selfless volunteers:

Zena Applebaum, SVP, Market Development, Harbor Global

Sarah Blanchard, Client Development Manager, Jones Walker

John E. Dewey, Senior Business Development & Marketing Manager, Sheppard Mullin

Heather McCullough, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer, Society 54, LLC

Katie Munroe, Chief Marketing Officer, Zuckerman Spaeder

Carrie Remhof, Director of Firm Intelligence, Troutman Pepper Locke

Erin Ryan, Director of Partner Integration and Business Development Coaching,
McGuireWoods LLP

EJ Stern, Co-Founder, Fractional Law Firm CMO

Amy Verhulst, Senior Business Development Manager, Jackson Lewis, PC

Gaëlle Pacheco Buys, Senior Business Development Manager – Europe, Charles Russell
Speechlys

#LMA26 Conference ACAC

Also, a HUGE shoutout to Ashley Stenger and the entire LMA HQ staff for making all of this happen behind the scenes. You are appreciated and noticed more than you know!

Keynote Presenters

Monday’s keynote speaker will be Carla Johnson. Carla’s topic is “Applied Curiosity: The Hidden Power Behind Breakthrough Ideas.” She will discuss: “While efficiency, productivity, and artificial intelligence dominate today’s conversations, teams are struggling to keep pace with change. What if, instead of being a time-consuming distraction, curiosity is the ultimate competitive advantage that’s right under our noses?” Watch her conference intro video here.

Tuesday’s keynote speaker will be Cassi Chandler. Cassi’s topic is “Transformative Leadership: Succeeding in Difficult Environments,” where she will challenge how we think about innovation, leadership, and change. Watch her conference intro video here.

General Counsel Fireside Chat

GC panels are always a big draw at our conferences. This one is sure to be the same as it features A Case Study of Agility in a Complex Geopolitical Landscape with:

Michael Coston, Moderator, and CEO, Coston Consultancy (ACAC Co-Chair)

Kerry Price, Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, Bass, Berry & Sims

Richard Wolfson, Senior Vice President – General Counsel and Corp Secretary, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.

Pre-Conference Programs

We have thoughtful and smart pre-conference programs that allow attendees to take a deep dive into topics and disciplines they care deeply about.

Special shoutout to the tireless pre-conference co-chairs:

Ashley Elliott, Competitive Intelligence Manager, FBT Gibbons

Rafeedah Keys, Head of Privacy & Tech Practice Marketing, Perkins Coie LLP

Michelle Woodyear, Co-Founder, Mount Insights

Jennifer Bonesteel, Director, Business Development, Littler Mendelson P.C.

Deb Ruffins, Managing Partner, Deb Ruffins Consulting Group

Debra Baker, Managing Director, GrowthPlay

Megan Senese, Co-Founder + Principal, Stage LLC

William Sleight, Senior Manager, Business Development & Communications, Jones Day

Brie Leung, Founder and Principal, Red Bird Strategy

Juliana Son, Director of Business Development, Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes

#LMA26 Pre-Conference Co-Chairs

All of this year’s Pre-Conference Programs include:

I am excited to present during one of the AI sessions at the AI, BI, CI – The ABCs of Data and Law firm Intelligence pre-con program this year, titled The AI Marketing Stack: Tools & Prompts for Every Role with fellow early AI adopters, Rosa Colon and Greg Gendren. 

#LMA26 AI Presentation with Nancy Myrland, Greg Gendron, and Rosa Colon

I am also looking forward to presenting during the main conference on the topic of video as a differentiator in this busy world of AI content, titled Make it Click: Empowering Attorneys to Create Video Content That Converts with the amazing Jennifer Scotton and Matt Scheetz.

#LMA26 Video Presentation with Jennifer Scotton and Matt Scheetz

 

 

 

 

 

My Message To You This Year (Yes, you know there are buttons and stickers!)


Legal Marketers Matter by Nancy Myrland		 As I began to prepare for the sessions I am lucky enough to present, one on AI and how it is evolving and can be used to help our lawyers generate revenue, and one on using video to cut through the maze of AI-generated content, I was reminded of a fact that has always been true, and that is that “Legal Marketers Matter.”

DEFEND Rule of Law logo created by Nancy Myrland
 For those who remain concerned about the rule of law in our profession, I will also make available a button or sticker that is built around a mini-non-partisan movement I created and sat on for the past year. It is called DEFEND. Don’t feel pressured to ask for one, but a number of them will be available if you are interested.

Again, please don’t ever feel any pressure to ask for or wear any of the buttons or stickers I create for conferences. They are something I like to create and share based on what is on my mind, in my sessions, or in the world at that moment.

Just walk up and ask! I have a few AI buttons and stickers, too, but I’ll wait to share until I’ve handed those out at our AI session first.

My Welcome Message To You

I, and so many others, are here for you!

Stay Tuned For Curated Content From The 2026 LMA Annual Conference Below

Just as I have done in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2014,2014, 2013, and 2013, this blog post will, once again, serve as a curation tool for those who would like a quick, easy place to find all of the information and recaps you might like to consume. I not only share my summaries and content, but I also link to conference-related content from others.

This post will be updated frequently, so I invite you to bookmark it as I will add content as I find it or as you let me know you’ve found it.

This section will be updated throughout this and the coming weeks with:

  • Audio reflections
  • Videos that capture important moments
  • LinkedIn posts
  • Blog posts
  • Photos
  • Takeaways from other attendees

Whether you are here in person or unable to join us this year, I will do my best to make this your ongoing window into #LMA26.

If you aren’t here this year, please know you are missed.

P.S. Should you forget, the link to this blog post is easy to remember:

https://www.myrlandmarketing.com/LMA26

Presenting Your #LMA26 Annual Conference Content

I will add content from the top down so you don’t have to scroll too much each time you return. 

#LMA26 Coverage by Nancy Myrland


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#LMA26 Coverage by Nancy Myrland


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#LMA26 Coverage by Nancy Myrland


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#LMA26 Coverage by Nancy Myrland


This placeholder is waiting for the content you and I create! 

If I’ve missed anything or made any mistakes, you can always feel comfortable letting me know.

If you see or hear non-promotional content out in the wild, please share that link with me via private messages on LinkedIn, or via email at nancy@myrlandmarketing.com.

Also, don’t forget to ask me for buttons and stickers. I don’t want to take hundreds of these home with me…seriously!

Thanks!

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is an Integrated Marketing and Business Development Advisor specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media, and AI Discernment for legal ande business professionals. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing strategies and skills to build their reputations and relationships, which in turn drives practice growth.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brands.

Nancy is also the founder of the LinkedIn online course called  The Linked Course*, where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and consistent adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also assists firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, and AI discernment. Nancy also works with numerous firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to help them excel when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social and digital media strategy when handling high-stakes, high-profile cases and executive orders.

Long story short, Nancy spends a lot of time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program on LinkedIn featuring a global group of experts who cover a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.

Will AI Learn The Tough Mental Health Lessons Of Social Media?

Will AI Learn The Tough Lessons Of Social Media’s Past and Present?

Nancy MyrlandAI - Artificial Intelligence, All Posts Leave a Comment

On August 4, 2025, OpenAI published a blog post titled “What we’re optimizing ChatGPT for,” revealing something interesting. They appear to be applying lessons learned from two decades of social media evolution.

After nearly 3 years observing how people use ChatGPT, OpenAI noticed troubling patterns:

  • Some users are developing unhealthy attachments to AI
  • Others spend excessive time in conversations
  • Some are seeking answers to personal problems, relying on ChatGPT for relationship advice

Rather than celebrating active engagement as early social platforms did, OpenAI is implementing changes prioritizing user well-being over usage metrics.

If successful, this represents a significant shift in how a major tech platform approaches success. OpenAI Launches Study Mode

Your Choice: Podcast or Blog Post

If you’d like to listen to this via my podcast, Legal Marketing Minutes, please click the player below. If you’d rather read the blog version, I invite you to keep scrolling.

The Early Days of Social Media: Promise and Potential

I remember when social media transformed how we connected. I joined LinkedIn in September 2004, excited by networking without boundaries. Facebook came next because I wanted to stay connected with my nephew, Sean. But my defining moment came in 2008 during the election cycle. While watching CNN’s Rick Sanchez report with a live Twitter wall behind him displaying real-time global conversations, I was excited about the conversation and joined Twitter within five minutes.

These platforms arrived with minimal guardrails and grandiose promises: reconnect with colleagues, stay in touch with family and friends, and share your thoughts with the world. I’m in!

Social media has delivered on many promises: connecting billions, launching careers, building businesses, and creating communities. However, as these platforms grew, we learned important lessons about human psychology and technology. The constant notifications, endless scroll, and dopamine hits created behavioral patterns we hadn’t anticipated.

The lesson wasn’t that social media was bad. The lesson was that powerful technologies need thoughtful design from the start.

OpenAI Launches Study Mode

The Education Dilemma: Can Study Mode Change Everything?

Perhaps nowhere is OpenAI’s approach more evident than in their launch of Study Mode on July 29, 2025.

With one in three college-aged Americans using ChatGPT for learning, a potential and complicated crisis has emerged. Students have been using it as an “answer machine” rather than a learning tool, which may potentially harm their critical thinking skills.

Study Mode employs the Socratic method, teaching through questions rather than answers and guiding students to discover knowledge independently. When students try to get ChatGPT to write essays with typos to make them look authentic, Study Mode responds, “I’m not going to write it for you, but we can do it together.”

Developed in partnership with teachers, scientists, and pedagogy experts, Study Mode offers:

  • Interactive prompts combining Socratic questioning and self-reflection
  • Scaffolded responses starting simple and building complexity
  • Personalized support tailored to skill level
  • Knowledge checks through quizzes with feedback
  • Flexibility to toggle Learning Mode on/off during conversations

The Reality Check: Challenges and Limitations

This Study Mode approach isn’t perfect. Students can easily switch back to regular ChatGPT for quick answers. As one Reddit user noted: “The challenge, of course, will be getting people to use it. I suspect that the allure of a quick answer will still prove irresistible to many.”

As MIT Technology Review pointed out, Study Mode is “more like the same old ChatGPT, tuned with a new conversation filter.” It has read not just textbooks but also “every flawed explanation of the subject ever posted to Reddit, Tumblr, and the farthest reaches of the web.”

The Deeper Concern: When AI Becomes Too Human

My friend James Barclay, CEO of Passle, recently shared a sobering statistic from Dr. Andrea Elkon at the Fisher Phillips AI Advantage conference: “Upwards of two-thirds of Gen Z males are open to having a romantic relationship with an AI partner.”

James points out that this isn’t accidental. AI is designed to make us feel intelligent and insightful. When ChatGPT says “great question,” we feel validated. James asked ChatGPT why it’s always so nice, and the response was revealing:

“Consistent politeness helps build trust and lowers emotional resistance to using the tool. When users feel safe from judgment or hostility, they are more likely to engage openly and explore use cases more fully.”

Why This Matters for Legal Professionals

Dr. Andrea Elkon acknowledged that while AI offers “wonderful functions” and “efficiencies,” we must be mindful about treating AI as a “partner.”

James made a crucial point for professionals: “If you are an attorney, what you know is your value. Thought leadership is you demonstrating that value. Your authority on your subject has been hard-earned. You cannot cheat it. It can’t be faked.”

This constant affirmation encourages a natural human instinct to get attached to AI, blurring the lines between human and AI interaction.

OpenAI Launches Study Mode

Looking Forward: The Critical Questions

  • Can OpenAI maintain these principles as competitive pressures mount? When rivals offer instant answers without educational study mode guardrails, will users choose the harder path?
  • How do we strike a balance between accessibility and responsibility? AI tutoring can expand educational opportunities, but who gets to decide if it genuinely promotes understanding?
  • What happens when AI becomes more sophisticated at simulating human connection? As James Barclay warns, “we need to remember what they are – AI.”
  • How can we ensure that lessons from social media’s mistakes are applied across the entire AI industry?

The Bottom Line

OpenAI is making these adjustments after almost 3 years, not the 10+ years it took social media platforms to even acknowledge issues. While social media platforms have added band-aid features and promises, such as screen time dashboards and assurances to congressional bodies, their core engagement-based business models remain unchanged. That is what social media is all about: engagement. It is the methods and the dependency that we continue to discuss.

Whether OpenAI can maintain these principles as technology evolves, pressure from investors increases, and competition intensifies remains to be seen. For those of us who are AI and social media forward, but who have witnessed the emotional dependence that social media has created for some, their approach offers hope with measured caution, drawing on lessons learned from our digital past.

The question isn’t whether AI will become central to our lives; it’s whether we will become central to AI.

The question is whether we’ll build these tools to serve us, or whether we will, once again, find ourselves serving them by using our content to train their models and succumbing to the allure of interaction.

OpenAI Launches Study Mode

Final Thoughts

The real test comes in the real world with millions of users. The difference between the development of social media and generative AI is that, this time, we’re having conversations about healthy usage patterns closer to launch, not years later.

As someone who has spent my career in strategy, planning, social, and digital media, I’ve seen firsthand how these technologies can transform businesses, build communities, and create amazing and meaningful connections. I’ve been the beneficiary of many and look forward to saying the same going forward.

I remain optimistic. I remain cautious. I remain discerning…for you and for me.

OpenAI Launches Study Mode

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and relationships, which in turn leads to the growth of their practices.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brands.

Nancy is also the founder of the hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, The Linked Course*, where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and consistent adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also assists firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, livestreaming, and AI discernment. Nancy also works with numerous firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to help them excel when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social and digital media strategy when handling high-stakes, high-profile cases and executive orders.

Long story short, Nancy spends a lot of time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.

Lawyers Beware Of Serious Ethics Issues With The New AI Browsers That Are Launching

Lawyers Beware: There Could Be Serious Ethics Issues With The New AI Browsers That Are Launching

Nancy MyrlandAI - Artificial Intelligence, All Posts Leave a Comment

Artificial intelligence just took a major step forward. Before you let it take a step into your firm, let’s discuss.

Two of the most well-known AI platforms, ChatGPT and Perplexity, have launched something called AI, or agentic, browsers. Similar to AI agents that I have discussed here:

These browsers are built to act on your behalf, not just generate information for you like you might be familiar with when studying or using ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, CoPilot, Gemini, Grok, Llama, and others. That may sound interesting and efficient, but for law firms, lawyers, and business professionals who handle or have access to sensitive information, this raises a serious concern about confidentiality.

Let’s walk through what’s happening, what these tools actually do, and why it matters for legal and business professionals right now.

Your Choice: Podcast or Blog Post

If you’d like to listen to this via my podcast, Legal Marketing Minutes, just click the player below. If you’d rather read the blog version, keep scrolling.

What Are “Agentic” AI Browsers?

The word “agent” means something that acts for you. I’ve covered agentic AI before because it is not just on the horizon; it is already here. Unlike generative AI, which you request additional information from, or “prompt,” agents act autonomously to accomplish research and tasks on your behalf.

These new AI browsers do exactly that.

Unlike typical web search tools like Google Chrome, Edge, Safari, and others, these AI browsers can:

  • View what’s on your screen
  • Gather information from your emails, documents, or browser tabs
  • Automatically fill out forms, click buttons, and follow links
  • Use that information to make decisions, purchases, communicate with others, create content without waiting for you to ask, and much more.

They are promoted as a convenience. In reality, they are more like digital assistants that run in the background while you work.

Without being fully aware of their capabilities, they may access far more than you intend to share.

What ChatGPT and Perplexity Just Launched

ChatGPT’s (AI) Browser, “GPT Agent”

OpenAI introduced a new browser that allows ChatGPT to run what they describe as a virtual computer. With your permission, this allows it to act autonomously on your behalf.

It can:

  • Open a browser
  • Log in to websites
  • Read files
  • Communicate with others via email
  • Take actions online without you having to walk it through all of the steps
  • and more

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, explained:

Sam Altman warns about new AI Agentic Browsers“Today we launched a new product called Chat GPT Agent.

Agent represents a new level of capability for AI systems and can accomplish some remarkable, complex tasks for you using its own computer. It combines the spirit of (ChatGPT features) Deep Research and Operator, but it is more powerful than that may sound — it can think for a long time, use some tools, think some more, take some actions, think some more, etc. For example, we showed a demo in our launch of preparing for a friend’s wedding: buying an outfit, booking travel, choosing a gift, etc. We also showed an example of analyzing data and creating a presentation for work.”

Sam went on to identify some of the risks involved with using the current versions of agentic browsers.

This Is Where I Want You To Pay Serious Attention

Sam continued:

“Although the utility is significant, so are the potential risks.

We have built a lot of safeguards and warnings into it, and broader mitigations than we’ve ever developed before from robust training to system safeguards to user controls, but we can’t anticipate everything. In the spirit of iterative deployment, we are going to warn users heavily and give users freedom to take actions carefully if they want to.

I would explain this to my own family as cutting edge and experimental; a chance to try the future, but not something I’d yet use for high-stakes uses or with a lot of personal information until we have a chance to study and improve it in the wild.

We don’t know exactly what the impacts are going to be, but bad actors may try to “trick” users’ AI agents into giving private information they shouldn’t and take actions they shouldn’t, in ways we can’t predict. We recommend giving agents the minimum access required to complete a task to reduce privacy and security risks.

For example, I can give Agent access to my calendar to find a time that works for a group dinner. But I don’t need to give it any access if I’m just asking it to buy me some clothes.

There is more risk in tasks like “Look at my emails that came in overnight and do whatever you need to do to address them, don’t ask any follow up questions”. This could lead to untrusted content from a malicious email tricking the model into leaking your data.

We think it’s important to begin learning from contact with reality, and that people adopt these tools carefully and slowly as we better quantify and mitigate the potential risks involved. As with other new levels of capability, society, the technology, and the risk mitigation strategy will need to co-evolve.”

Perplexity’s AI Browser, “Comet” 

Perplexity also launched Comet to its Enterprise and other beta testers, calling it “a browser built for the AI era.” It includes a sidebar assistant that can:

  • Monitor your browsing activity
  • Suggest actions
  • Summarize information from the web or your open files
  • Learn and adapt based on how you work

Perplexity says it is the browser that thinks with you, and touts that it can

“…boost your focus, streamline your workflow, and turn curiosity into momentum.”

The Perplexity app tells us that

“Comet is powerful” because it offers “Unified AI search, instant context, and automation across every site. Summarize, shop, schedule, and research—directly in the browser.”

Also, Comet is designed to

“…remove friction with every thought.”

My Caution When Considering AI Browsers Anywhere Near Your Firm

If the friction that Perplexity would like to remove is intended to protect client confidentiality, it is worth asking whether the tradeoff is worthwhile.

Here’s the Bottom Line

These tools don’t just help you write faster or search smarter. They gather, analyze, and act on your data.

That may include:

  • Draft documents with client names or details
  • Read and act on internal notes about client strategy or case preparation
  • Read file names that contain matter-specific or personally identifiable information
  • Access email and calendars that show privileged meetings or deadlines

If an AI browser sees that data, it may use it to improve its output.

  • That might mean sending it to external servers.
  • It might mean storing it for future context.
  • It might mean sharing it with model trainers, meaning the way that these LLMs (large language models) like OpenAI and Perplexity train their models with the intelligence they need to serve their customers.

Client Confidentiality 

If any of that happens, you could face a breach of confidentiality. Your client may never know how or why it happened.

What Law Firms, Lawyers, and Legal and Business Professionals Should Consider Doing Now

As someone who leans into “AI Discernment,” it is my job not only to teach about the effective use of all of this, but also to advise and alert you when I think there is potential for misuse or harm.

In that spirit, I advise you to consider the following:

  1. Disable these features unless you fully understand how they work and are aware of where your data is being sent.
  2. Ask questions about data flow. Specifically:
    • Does this tool access your desktop files or local folders?
    • Does it send data back to the cloud or store it?
    • Is anything retained or used to train the AI model?
  3. Update your firm’s AI and tech use policy to reflect new AI (agentic) browsers and assistant tools. Make sure everyone understands these tools are not just smart search engines like those we have been using for many years.
  4. Train your teams so they understand that these tools act on what they learn from your actions and are not just passive tools that observe what you do on your computer.

Why Is This An Ethics Issue?

This is not just a matter of productivity. It is part of your and our professional responsibility.

Under ABA Model Rule 1.6, lawyers must protect the confidentiality of all client information, including data that is unintentionally revealed through technology.

Specifically:

ABA Model Rule 1.6: Confidentiality of Information

(a) A lawyer shall not reveal information relating to the representation of a client unless the client gives informed consent, the disclosure is impliedly authorized in order to carry out the representation, or the disclosure is permitted by paragraph (b).

(b) A lawyer may reveal information relating to the representation of a client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary:

  • (1) to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm;
  • (2) to prevent the client from committing a crime or fraud that is reasonably certain to result in substantial injury to the financial interests or property of another and in furtherance of which the client has used or is using the lawyer’s services;
  • (3) to prevent, mitigate or rectify substantial injury to the financial interests or property of another that is reasonably certain to result or has resulted from the client’s commission of a crime or fraud in furtherance of which the client has used the lawyer’s services;
  • (4) to secure legal advice about the lawyer’s compliance with these Rules;
  • (5) to establish a claim or defense on behalf of the lawyer in a controversy between the lawyer and the client, to establish a defense to a criminal charge or civil claim against the lawyer based upon conduct in which the client was involved, or to respond to allegations in any proceeding concerning the lawyer’s representation of the client;
  • (6) to comply with other law or a court order; or
  • (7) to detect and resolve conflicts of interest arising from the lawyer’s change of employment or from changes in the composition or ownership of a firm, but only if the revealed information would not compromise the attorney-client privilege or otherwise prejudice the client.

(c) A lawyer shall make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of, or unauthorized access to, information relating to the representation of a client.

What Does This Mean For Lawyers and Law Firms?

  • If you allow an AI assistant or agent to access files or communications that include client information, even without naming the client, you could be in violation of your ethical obligations.
  • If business professionals in the firm are using AI tools that surface or store sensitive client data, this also poses a risk.
  • Protecting client confidentiality doesn’t just mean keeping your files locked up. It now also means understanding how your technology handles information behind the scenes.

Final Thoughts

This is not about being afraid of AI, generative AI, agents, or other new technology. It is about understanding what is at stake and making smart, informed decisions.

These new agentic browsers will become more common. Many of your clients will also be testing them. That is a certainty. I am already seeing beta testers post about their use and test results. What is not certain is whether your firm will have the right policies, training, and awareness in place to use them safely.

Let’s make sure we stay ahead of that curve.

Remember, I am here to help.

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and relationships, which in turn leads to the growth of their practices.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brands.

Nancy is also the founder of The Linked Course*, a hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and consistent adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also assists firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, livestreaming, and AI discernment. Nancy also works with numerous firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to help them excel when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social and digital media strategy when handling high-stakes, high-profile cases and executive orders.

Long story short, Nancy is an integrated marketing specialist, spending her time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was awarded the designation of being a LinkedIn Top Voice starting in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.

What Is Ambient AI & Why Does It Matter to Lawyers & Legal Professionals?

What Is Ambient AI and Why Does It Matter to Lawyers and Legal Professionals?

Nancy MyrlandAI - Artificial Intelligence, All Posts, Business Development/Sales Leave a Comment

Let’s take a few minutes to step back and look at the broader picture to see where AI is headed. Artificial intelligence isn’t just logging into ChatGPT or other LLMs to prompt them so they can provide intelligent output that helps us do what we do more efficiently, creatively, or strategically.

AI is physically becoming a part of the environment we work in. From smart glasses to AI-powered earbuds, ambient AI represents a significant shift in how we interact with technology, and it’s one that every legal professional should understand.

Your Choice: Podcast or Blog Post

If you would like to listen to this via my podcast, Legal Marketing Minutes, just click the player below. If you would rather read via an abbreviated blog post, keep scrolling and you will find it below the player.

Defining Ambient AI

Ambient AI is artificial intelligence that is always on. It’s quietly listening and even observing. It is supporting you in the background. It is proactive. It examines the context of your situation, including where you are, what you are doing, who you are talking to, the details of the discussion, its implications, and how your client is feeling. It takes in the world around you. It’s becoming more common by the day and smarter by the minute.

How Can Ambient AI Help You?

Imagine walking out of a client meeting and your ambient AI device has already drafted a follow-up plan, including next steps and key deadlines. Or maybe you come out of a deposition and your ambient AI has already analyzed the transcript of the deposition to find inconsistencies or risky language. That’s the power of ambient AI, and it’s already here.

Real-World Examples: Healthcare and Legal Parallels

Let’s take healthcare. When you go to the doctor and notice they are typing notes on a keyboard instead of focusing on you, ambient AI can change that. Some are already using devices that listen during the visit, transcribe the conversation, summarize the diagnosis, flag symptoms and issues that might have been missed, and update your chart. That allows doctors to truly listen and be present with you as the patient.

Now, picture that same technology inside a law firm. Some firms are already experimenting with practice management systems that include ambient features. These tools capture and organize client conversations automatically, drafting follow-ups, summarizing next steps and deadlines, finding relevant case law on the spot, drafting a course of action, and even creating team debriefs. All of this is only with your permission, of course.

A Glimpse Into the Future: Smart Devices and Wearables

When I attended the Women + AI Conference at Vanderbilt Law School several months ago, after her session, one speaker shared that she could see her presentation slides right in her smart glasses. No glancing down, no side screens, just seamless delivery. She was smart to tell us after she finished her presentation because the entire room was nothing short of amazed and curious, and they wanted to know more. We had many questions! This type of technology is already in use and serves as a precursor to ambient AI, which is always with you.

Think about something similar in a legal setting: Smart glasses feeding you case law while you and/or your clients speak, or earbuds offering talking points you might have missed in your presentation to a potential client. These ambient tools may live in devices you wear or carry. They could be something that sits on your desk, or even pinned discreetly to your clothing. It won’t necessarily need a screen or keyboard to assist you.

OpenAI and Jony Ive: Designing the Next Ambient Device

OpenAI recently acquired the design firm co-founded by Jony (“Johnny”) Ive for over $6 billion. Jony is the man behind Apple’s most iconic products. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has tapped him to develop a new type of always-on ambient AI device, something you could carry or wear that blends seamlessly into daily life. It won’t be a phone or a laptop. It’ll be something altogether different.

The project is highly secretive, but Altman and Ive are investing heavily to get it right. While it may take a year or more, the goal is to create a tool that accompanies you, organizes your business and personal life (if you choose to), and interacts discreetly, not intrusively.

Legal Implications and Ethical Considerations

This shift from you and your team “searching and responding” to your AI being able to “oversee and assist” is transformative, but it comes with risk. When AI is always listening, confidentiality and ethics are very important.

Lawyers must ask:

  • Where is this data going?
  • Who has access to it?
  • Are these tools compliant with our ethical obligations?

Several state bar associations are developing guidance for transcription technologies and ambient AI. As legal professionals, we all need to stay current and cautious.

Getting Started with Ambient AI in Your Practice

Ambient AI isn’t something on the horizon. It’s already here. The question is whether your firm is prepared to use it wisely. Start by identifying the most routine, manual aspects of your day, such as note-taking, follow-ups, interview processes, and repetitive communication. These are perfect starting points for introducing ambient AI, as well as generative AI without ambient features.

Make Sure There Is A Human In The Loop

My constant reminder during AI discussions and consulting is to always, for now, keep a human in the loop. AI is powerful, but human oversight remains essential for ensuring accuracy and ethical compliance.

Let’s Continue This Conversation

I plan to define more AI-related terms and advances in future episodes and posts, as well as to discuss and demonstrate current and future AI platforms and models. Would a private community focused on helping legal professionals learn about AI in a trusted and practical way interest you? If so, I’d love your feedback. Feel free to email me.

Let’s keep learning together.

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and relationships, which in turn leads to the growth of their practices.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brands.

Nancy is also the founder of The Linked Course*, a hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and consistent adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also assists firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, livestreaming, and AI discernment. Nancy also works with numerous firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to help them excel when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social and digital media strategy when handling high-stakes, high-profile cases and executive orders.

Long story short, Nancy is an integrated marketing specialist, spending her time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform beginning in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.

#LMA25 Cross-Selling Session With James Barclay, CEO, Passle Inc.

#LMA25: Harnessing AI For Cross-Selling: Don’t Miss An Opportunity For Growth

Nancy MyrlandAll Posts Leave a Comment

Because cross-selling, or cross-serving as some prefer to call it, can be a challenging endeavor in many law firms, and given James Barclay’s friendship, I didn’t want to miss his session at our recent Legal Marketing Association annual conference in Washington, DC.

James, who is the CEO of Passle, delivered a compelling session titled “Harnessing AI for Cross-Selling: Don’t Miss an Opportunity for Growth!” With his trademark humor, intelligence, approachability, and clarity, James guided us through a practical, numbers-backed exploration of how AI can help solve one of law firms’ oldest and most persistent challenges: getting lawyers to cross-sell.

Why Cross-Selling Is the Growth Engine Hiding in Plain Sight

James kicked off with an undeniable truth: cross-selling remains the most significant opportunity for revenue growth in law firms. He cited statistics from law firm leaders and marketers showing that more than 84% of firms admit to leaving money on the table due to missed cross-selling opportunities. That is a very large and startling number.

“If you’re an Am Law 100 firm, even a 10% increase in cross-selling could mean $135 million in new revenue.”

Despite its potential, few firms consistently do it well.

James challenged the audience to treat cross-selling not as a mystery, but as an internal communication and systems problem.

A Brief History of Why Law Firms Struggle with Cross-Selling

James traced the structural roots of the issue back to the Cravath system, developed in 1902. That model helped law firms grow in response to increasingly complex client needs, but it also created a hierarchy and specialization structure that often impedes internal collaboration today.

“Cravath transformed lawyers from individual actors into a cohesive force, but that cohesion is fraying.”

Fast forward to today, where hybrid work, global teams, and compensation models built around origination often isolate lawyers from one another, causing them to work in siloes. The result? Many attorneys are unaware of what their colleagues do, fear being perceived as salesy, or feel the “ick” factor, as James puts it, causing them to hesitate in trusting someone else with their clients.

This Isn’t New

I have seen this challenge in varying degrees ever since I was in-house as the senior marketer at Baker & Daniels. We must continue to chip away at this issue because it is costing our firms deals, dollars, and cohesion both within and outside the firm.

What Clients Actually Want: Connection and Relevant Content, Not Silence

James shared data from 200+ general counsel, revealing a major gap in perception:

  • GCs spend at least 8 hours a week staying informed…an ENTIRE DAY!
  • They consume content in short bursts, often outside work hours.
  • Half said they only work with firms that demonstrate subject-matter expertise.

And the unfortunate quote that James shared with us:

“The number one complaint from clients is: ‘You only talk to us when there’s a bill.'”

This mismatch between clients who want proactive, helpful insights and lawyers who fear being pushy creates a massive opportunity for marketers to bridge the gap.

What Marketers Can Do Right Now

James and volunteers from the audience highlighted solutions already working at law firms:

  • Key client programs
  • Fast Pitch Fridays, where attorneys explain their practice to peers
  • Cross-practice group collaboration on content
  • Internal success storytelling to show what good cross-selling looks like
  • Partner retreats that encourage meaningful connection

One attendee shared that their firm had recently put a member of the management committee in charge of cross-selling to increase accountability and momentum.

Speak Their Language: Make the Case With “Evidence”

Legal marketers are often told to “show the value of marketing,” but James, and speakers like my other dear friend and colleague, Gina Rubel, suggested a reframe:

“Don’t call it data. Call it evidence. Speak to your lawyers the way they hear best.”

Gina is a lawyer and the head of a very successful PR and Crisis Comms agency, Furia Rubel Communications, so the reframing comes authentically. Gina shared that this mindset shift can help you gain buy-in when presenting cross-selling success stories, especially when you frame them around shared client wins.

How AI Can Turbocharge Cross-Selling

Here’s where the session became especially actionable. James walked through how legally trained AI can:

  • Analyze attorney bios and blog content.
  • Identify themes and client-relevant topics, both in bios and in content being created inside the fir.m
  • Match those topics and thought leadership with other internal attorneys who should or could share it with specific clients who need to know about these topics and issues.
  • Automate the notification to those lawyers so they understand why they might want to share that specific piece of content with specific clients.
  • Provide easy, editable email templates that eliminate the “ick factor” so they can share something with their clients that they now know would be relevant to them.

As James said:

“AI doesn’t just write content. It can quietly orchestrate the distribution of relevant insight to the right people at the right time.”

James took a few quick moments to show us Passle’s approach to automating the bullet points I mentioned above. The Passle AI feature triggers new smart notifications, where lawyers receive an alert when their colleagues publish content that would resonate with their clients, along with a summary, a suggested email message, and an explanation of why it matters to their practice, company, or business.

Final Takeaways: The Future Is Now

  • Cross-selling is the lowest-hanging fruit for firm growth.
  • Law firms already have the necessary inputs (bios and thought leadership).
  • AI helps streamline the messy middle, matching, summarizing, and sending

The time to act is now: As so many of us who spend time in the AI space have been sharing for a few years, “AI is the worst it will ever be today. It’s only going to get better.” As James shared, whether you complete this process manually or automate it with a tool such as the one he and his colleagues at Passle provide, it is essential to do so.

Conference Content Can Be Found Here

For a running collection of content created about the conference, please visit and bookmark this blog post and check back frequently as I will be adding to it over the next several weeks.

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and relationships, which in turn leads to the growth of their practices.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brands.

Nancy is also the founder of the hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, The Linked Course*, where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and consistent adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also assists firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, livestreaming, and AI discernment. Nancy also works with numerous firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to help them excel when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social and digital media strategy when handling high-stakes, high-profile cases and executive orders.

Long story short, Nancy spends a lot of time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.

#LMA25_ GC Panel Coverage by Nancy Myrland

#LMA25 GC Panel Reveals What Clients Really Want From Law Firms

Nancy Myrland#LMA25, LMA Leave a Comment

The In-House Counsel Panel at the 2025 Legal Marketing Association (LMA) Annual Conference offered something that our conference attendees always find valuable: unfiltered client insights.

Moderated by Tasneem Khokha, Co-Chair of the Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference and Managing Director of GrowthPlay, the panel featured three senior in-house leaders who shared exactly what law firms get right, and what they get painfully wrong, when trying to win or keep their business. Tasneem guided the in-house counsel through critical topics, from law firm branding to RFPs, billing, and client loyalty.

Meet the In-House Counsel Panelists

#LMA25 In-House GC Panel by Nancy Myrland

  • Belinda E. Nixon, Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at Internet2

  • Eric Dodson Greenberg, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary at Cox Media Group

  • Lillian Howard Potter, Head of Enforcement, Compliance and Investigations Office at Ericsson

Each panelist brought experience from both in-house and law firm settings, offering a 360-degree view on firm-client relationships. From RFPs and relationship management to branding and billing, nothing was off-limits.

Interactive Format

Tasneem and the committee chose for this session to be interactive, meaning attendees were invited to vote on the same answers she would pose to the panelists so we could see how our answers stacked up to those on the panel.

I will do my best to state the questions correctly, along with the corresponding answers for the right panelists, below.

What Shapes Their Impressions of Law Firms?

In the first poll, attendees were asked to rank what most shapes their impression of a law firm:

  • Thought leadership

  • Website and social media

  • Media mentions

  • Rankings (Best Lawyers, Chambers, etc.)

The panel generally agreed that thought leadership ranked highest, especially when tailored to their needs and interests.

“The firms that send us relevant updates based on our industry and their familiarity with us — that’s invaluable,” said Belinda.

Eric stressed how a firm’s reputation can matter more internally than some lawyers might assume.

“It’s not just my decision. Sometimes I want the reassurance that the firm’s brand will validate my choice, especially if something goes wrong,” he said.

What Law Firm Communications Add the Most Value?

The next question asked which law firm communications are most valued:

  • Alerts about legal developments

  • Alerts about cases filed against the company

  • Invitations to firm events

  • General firm updates

Legal developments topped the list.

“It’s not marketing. It’s a relationship,” Eric added. “The best outreach is personal, thoughtful, and relevant.”

Commenting about the communications process when she left Perkins Coie to move to Internet2, Belinda shared that she was surprised by how little outreach she received when she moved from Perkins Coie to Internet2.

What Gets Them to Consider a New Firm?

Attendees then ranked triggers that prompt switching law firms:

  • Poor service from current counsel

  • Billing or pricing issues

  • Relationship investment by a new lawyer

  • Input from stakeholders outside legal

Poor service ranked highest.

Belinda shared that she kept most of Internet2’s law firms when she joined, but replaced its government relations firm after discovering it lacked the right industry focus. She respected the existing relationships her colleagues had with outside counsel.

Eric warned that firms underestimate the value of internal champions:

“Your GC might love you, but if someone in HR or finance is frustrated, that could cost you the relationship.”

The Most Important Part of a Pitch

Regarding pitch meetings, the panel was asked to rank what matters most:

  • Time spent listening

  • Pre/post-meeting follow-up

  • Lawyer-to-lawyer interaction

  • Pitch materials

Listening ranked #1.

“The firms that actually dig in and ask questions? That shows me they’re paying attention,” said Lillian.

Eric emphasized that team dynamics during a pitch are telling:

“We passed on a firm because one person dominated the pitch while the rest stayed silent. It felt off.”

He also advised against sending senior lawyers who won’t do the work:

“Don’t parade people into the room who won’t be on the matter. We notice.”

Belinda agreed, sharing how a firm lost a CEO search engagement because the lead dominated the presentation without true team interaction.

What Closes the Deal?

Attendees then weighed what closes the deal:

  • Team composition

  • Pricing

  • Value adds

  • Law firm values

Team composition was the clear winner.

Lillian stressed the importance of associates:

“They’re doing the work. I want to know them. I want my junior in-house lawyers to be comfortable with them, too.”

Eric added:

“The billing department is your worst enemy. A $400 bill for work done six months ago tells me no one is paying attention.”

The small details matter, from who is actually on the team to how firms communicate around billing.

What Role Do Values Play?

The final poll question asked how much firm values matter in hiring decisions.

While it ranked lowest among the options, Belinda pushed back:

“For a mission-driven organization like ours, if I bring in a firm whose values clash with our team, I’ll be second-guessed.”

Eric noted the complexity that law firms need to be aware of:

“We have dual duties as officers of the court and fiduciaries to our companies. That tension is real and growing.”

In some cases, values alignment can make or break the relationship, particularly in today’s highly charged environment.

Who Should Lead Expansion of the Relationship?

All panelists agreed: firms should take the lead.

Eric shared a powerful anecdote:

“One lawyer took on a tiny, miserable matter and did it well. Now he works with our private equity sponsor. He built that relationship one small win at a time.”

But Belinda warned:

“We’ve had to ping a firm multiple times just to get an answer. That becomes untenable.”

Clients expect responsiveness, initiative, and consistency — especially when they have already entrusted a firm with their work.

Final Thought: A Two-Way Street

The session closed with consensus: building and maintaining law firm relationships is a two-way street. Clients have a role to play, but firms must be proactive, personal, and prepared to listen.

Again, firms must be:

  • Proactive
  • Personal
  • Prepared to listen

Belinda summed it up best:

“Law firms don’t need to wait for an RFP or an incident to build trust. Just show up, know our business, and be responsive. That’s what wins.”

Conference Content Can Be Found Here

For a running collection of content created about the conference, please bookmark this blog post and check back frequently as I will be adding to it over the next several weeks.

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and their relationships, which leads to building their practices.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brands.

Nancy is also the founder of the hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, The Linked Course*, where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and constant adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also helps firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, livestreaming, and AI discernment. Nancy also works with many firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to be the best they can be when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social and digital media strategy when handling high-stakes, high-profile cases and executive orders.

Long story short, Nancy spends a lot of time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.

#LMA25 Keynote by Obama Speechwriters by Nancy Myrland

#LMA25 Keynote Recap: Obama Speechwriters Deliver Lessons On Leadership, Authenticity, and Values

Nancy Myrland#LMA25, All Posts, Content Marketing, Crisis Management, LMA Leave a Comment

Former Obama speechwriters Cody Keenan and Terry Szuplat opened the 2025 Legal Marketing Association (LMA) Annual Conference (#LMA25) with a keynote that brought this attendee to her feet once or twice. Moderated masterfully by Katie Munroe, Chief Marketing Officer at Zuckerman Spaeder and Co-Chair of this year’s Annual Conference Advisory Committee (ACAC), the session delivered powerful lessons on storytelling, leadership, crisis communications, and standing firm in your values, especially when the pressure is on.

I posted a shorter overview on LinkedIn, but what follows is a more in-depth look at Cody and Terry’s full keynote.

Setting the Stage: Background and Books

Cody Keenan served as Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama, helping shape some of the most memorable moments of his presidency. Today, Cody is a professor at Northwestern University and the author of Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America, a narrative built around 10 extraordinary days in June 2015, spanning the Charleston church shooting, landmark Supreme Court rulings, and President Obama’s moving eulogy in Charleston where he sang “Amazing Grace.”

Terry Szuplat served as a Senior Speechwriter and Special Assistant to the President, focusing on foreign policy and national security. He is now a speechwriting professor at American University and the author of Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience, a guide to public speaking based on lessons learned firsthand while working with President Obama.

Together, they shared valuable lessons about leadership communication, authenticity, and the importance of staying true to your values; lessons that resonate deeply in today’s uncertain landscape.

Finding the Voice of Leadership

When asked how to write authentically for someone else, Cody advised that authentic speechwriting starts with building trust.

“Spend time with the person. Bring them into meetings. Learn how they see the world, not just what they want to say but why they want to say it.”

Terry reinforced the point, warning that if leaders do not invest time with their communications teams, they should not expect their voices to be accurately reflected.

“If the most powerful person in the world could sit down with his speechwriters every day, so can the head of a law firm.”

Terry echoed the need for leaders to invest time with their communications teams:

“That ten minutes of guidance up front can save hours of work on the back end.”

Both warned against the “filter effect,” meaning that too many intermediaries can exist between a leader and the person writing their message, resulting in generic and lifeless communication.

Talk Like a Human: Battling Legalese

A major theme was the importance of sounding human, especially in professional environments.

Some of the biggest laughs came when Cody and Terry described their battles with lawyers over legalistic language.

One example: The lawyers wanted to replace the word “Americans” with “U.S. persons” in a presidential speech.

Another: A simple and powerful phrase like “We won” was changed to “We achieved a favorable result.”

Terry reminded everyone:

“A press release is not a legal brief. A speech is not a legal brief. People want to hear language that sounds real and human.”

Cody added that even artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT can mimic boring press releases because they all sound the same.

He shared:

“Press releases are so boring because they sound like every other press release.”

Their bottom line:

  • Speak plainly.
  • Use stories.
  • Inject humanity into everything you write.

Storytelling That Resonates

When asked how they approached unfamiliar topics, both emphasized the lasting power of stories. Szuplat reminded the audience:

“People remember the story, not the statistics.”

Even in technical, “serious” settings, they encouraged finding human narratives that connect audiences to complex issues.

Terry shared that when President Obama devoted the end of a State of the Union address to the story of Army Ranger Cory Remsburg, the entire nation remembered that story more vividly than any policy announcement.

When the time came to cut speeches down, it was never the stories that were deleted. It was always the data.

Handling Criticism and Feedback

They both discussed the emotional challenge of receiving edits to their work, especially late in the process.

Terry Szuplat stressed the importance of humility:

“Sometimes the most interesting edits come from the most unlikely people.”

Over time, they learned to stay open to feedback, even from unexpected sources. Junior team members sometimes spotted important issues that saved a speech from disaster.

They urged leaders to value feedback from unexpected sources, especially junior team members who often identify issues that others miss.

Cody shared a memorable lesson when President Obama encouraged him to leave room for silence in speeches. One day, prior to The State of the Union Address, Cody was called in to meet with President Obama, who told him that the speech was a 10; in fact, full of lines that were all 10s, which left no room for the audience to pause, breathe, and reflect. It was wonderful, all true, but potentially exhausting (my word, not his).

Cody said President Obama taught him the [Jazz musician] “Miles Davis Rule”:

“What made Miles Davis so great was the notes you don’t play.”

In other words, the moments of silence, or even statements that weren’t so powerful to be rated a 10.

In speechwriting and leadership, it’s not about cramming in everything. It is about the pacing, the silences, and the space you create for ideas to land with your audience.

Crisis Communication: Remember Who You Are

In a moving portion of the keynote, Terry offered this advice for firms facing today’s turbulent environment:

“In moments of crisis, keep coming back to who you are, what your values are, what you stand for.”

Both speakers gave straightforward advice about communicating in these moments of crisis:

  • Do not lose sight of who you are.

  • Return to your first principles.

  • Speak clearly about your values, even if it feels risky.

Terry urged firms to make decisions they can be proud of a year from now; an important reminder in a time when law firms are grappling with existential questions about their roles and responsibilities.

Cody added:

“Do not lose the forest for the trees. This is about something bigger. It is about the rule of law.”

Tell the Truth, Even When It Is Hard

Terry discussed the importance of addressing the “elephants in the room” directly. Trying to ignore them or using vague euphemisms only erodes trust.

He encouraged leaders to be honest about challenges and not to fall into the trap of “happy talk.”

President Obama, he noted, was always willing to speak about tensions and contradictions directly, using them as a foundation for deeper conversations.

How Firms and Lawyers Can Differentiate: Say What Only You Can Say

Both speakers challenged the audience to:

  • Differentiate themselves with authenticity.
  • Speak plainly, avoiding jargon and, as above, “happy talk.”
  • Always prioritize truth, even when it is uncomfortable.

Terry challenged the audience with a pointed question:

What can you say that nobody else can? Say what only you can say.

He advised firms to use the word “only” as a test. If your website or messaging sounds like everyone else’s, it is not just a marketing problem; it is a mission problem. Your true differentiation must come through clearly and consistently.

Terry Szuplat summed it up perfectly:

“Every organization has something unique to say. Say it well.”

Favorite Speeches and Personal Moments?

Terry’s favorite was the speech after the Boston Marathon bombing. He wrote it thinking specifically about connecting with people like his Uncle Dan, a Bostonian who did not always share President Obama’s politics but later told him he approved of his message, which Terry considered a high compliment.

Cody’s favorites included the Selma anniversary speech and, on a lighter note, the celebration of the 2016 Chicago Cubs’ World Series win at the White House. Cody asked President Obama if he could Tweet from his account after the Cubs won The World Series. The President said “sure,” so he Tweeted an invitation to The White House because he wanted to make sure they visited during President Obama’s time in The White House, not President Trump’s.

Cody joked that he also wrote a 20-minute congratulatory speech for their visit to The White House, one of the longest celebratory speeches in White House history, and considered it some of his finest work. It even brought tears to many eyes.

Final Advice from the Keynote

The keynote closed with two powerful takeaways:

  • Say only what you can say.

  • Build your messaging around authentic values, empathy, and human connection.

Terry encouraged everyone to resist the temptation to think their stories were too ordinary to matter. Every individual, every firm, has a unique story worth telling, and that is what sets you apart.

This keynote session was a profound reminder of what truly matters in communications today: clarity, authenticity, and courage.

As Terry said:

“You may not know what happens tomorrow or next week, but if you constantly come back to who you are, what your values are, and what you stand for, you will be able to look back a year from now and be proud of what you said and did.”

This moment demands that we stay grounded in what is right, and that we use our voices to build trust, connection, and lasting impact.

Conference Content Can Be Found Here

For a running collection of content created about the conference, please bookmark this blog post and check back frequently as I will be adding to it over the next several weeks.

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and their relationships, which leads to building their practices.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brand.

Nancy is also the founder of the hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, The LinkedIn Course*, which is a course where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and constant adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also helps firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, and livestreaming. Nancy also works with many firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to be the best they can be when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social and digital media strategy when handling high-stakes, high-profile cases and executive orders.

Long story short, Nancy spends a lot of time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.

#LMA25 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference Keynote by Nancy Myrland

#LMA25 Day 2 Keynote Recap: Forward Together – The Human Edge In An Era Of Rapid Change

Nancy Myrland#LMA25, All Posts, LMA Leave a Comment

Heather E. McGowan, a globally recognized future-of-work strategist and best-selling author, delivered a keynote that brought equal parts clarity, urgency, and inspiration to attendees of the Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Conference in Washington, DC.

I posted a shorter overview on LinkedIn, but what follows below is a more in-depth look at Heather’s full keynote.

One Unknown Person Changed the World

Heather opened by asking us to reflect on the last 100 years and name the individual who had the most impact on the world. While many might suggest our mothers, or innovators like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, Heather pointed to someone less obvious; someone who, to this day, remains unnamed.

Patient Zero of COVID-19. A 55-year-old individual in China unknowingly set off a chain of events that altered every aspect of life around the globe.

Heather walked through the enormous impacts of Patient Zero:

  • A global GDP decline of over 3 percent, much steeper than during the financial crisis
  • Temporary job losses of over 114 million people
  • 90 percent of students experienced some level of learning loss
  • A sharp increase in depression and mental health challenges
  • Massive government spending of over $17 trillion globally

Yet she also highlighted the positive accelerations that emerged:

  • Five years of digital transformation compressed into thirty days
  • Widespread adoption of remote work and hybrid learning
  • An explosion of entrepreneurship and innovation
  • A renewed focus on mental health and well-being
  • Greater awareness of systemic inequalities

One person. Global impact.

Heather’s point: Never underestimate the power of a single human being to change the trajectory of history.

Sailing in Fog: Why Prediction Is No Longer Possible

Heather used a vivid metaphor for today’s economic and social environment that I found disconcerting but easy to relate to:

We are sailing in fog.

We cannot clearly see the horizon.

Winds are shifting rapidly. Conditions are unpredictable. Global economic uncertainty has reached its highest levels in twenty-five years. In the United States, economic uncertainty has nearly doubled since January.

The implications are real:

  • Hiring freezes
  • Investment slowdowns
  • Delays in purchasing decisions
  • Reluctance to launch new products

Rather than relying on prediction, Heather encouraged leaders to embrace navigation. Adaptability, resilience, and comfort with ambiguity are the new critical skills.

The Power of Better Questions

Too often, organizations focus on finding the right answer instead of asking better questions.

Heather illustrated this through a powerful product innovation story from her early consulting work.

In the 1990s, a cleaning company asked for help developing a “new product for the shop.” They did not specify whether it should be a liquid cleaner, a device, or anything else. Rather than relying on surveys, the consulting team conducted “white space exploration,” observing how thousands of people cleaned their homes.

They discovered that people spent more time cleaning mops than floors and often used wet paper towels to pick up messes like spilled coffee grounds.

These observations, not customer requests, led to the invention of the Swiffer, a multi-billion-dollar product no one had specifically asked for.

Heather’s point:

  • Customers often cannot articulate needs they do not know they have.
  • Innovation requires listening to what is not being said.
  • Organizations that focus only on perfecting existing solutions miss entirely new opportunities.

The Burrito Incident: A Cautionary Tale About Disconnection

Heather shared a fascinating, almost absurd story of the social breakdown we are seeing these days.

In Ohio, a woman threw a burrito at a restaurant worker because her order was wrong…twice. Instead of sending her to jail, the judge ordered her to work in the restaurant for six months. He called it “empathy service.”

Heather used the story to illustrate something much deeper.

Humans today are increasingly acting out, not because of isolated incidents, but because of systemic loneliness, social disengagement, emotional exhaustion, and the fraying of social bonds.

The broader implications for workplaces are significant:

  • Higher rates of workplace conflict and disengagement
  • Declines in emotional regulation and collaboration
  • A growing need for intentional efforts to rebuild trust, empathy, and connection

Heather emphasized that burrito-throwing is not just about bad manners. It is a real-world symptom of the emotional state employees and clients are bringing into professional environments.

Tectonic Shifts Beneath Our Feet

Heather drew historical parallels between the 1920s and the 2020s to help explain the magnitude of what we are experiencing now.

She pointed out that both eras share:

  • Pandemics that triggered massive social rethinking
  • Technology shifts that fundamentally changed labor (electrification then, AI now)
  • Rising income inequality
  • Increased global migration
  • Social and political polarization

Just as the Roaring Twenties gave way to profound societal changes, the 2020s are likely to lead to a full reordering of how we work, govern, and connect.

Gen Z Is Here, And They See The World Differently

Heather offered a thoughtful and sympathetic view of Generation Z, the newest entrants into the workforce.

Their lives have been shaped by:

  • Growing up during the global war on terror
  • Experiencing mass school shootings and climate change anxiety
  • Enduring financial instability and pandemic disruptions

They are:

  • The most diverse generation
  • The most highly educated
  • The most digitally connected but socially isolated
  • Potentially the most entrepreneurial

Rather than expecting Gen Z to adapt to old models, Heather encouraged leaders to meet them where they are and understand the life experiences that shaped their expectations.

The 5 Ms: What Today’s Workforce Craves

To succeed in today’s environment, organizations must deliver more than a paycheck.

Heather shared the “Five Ms” employees are seeking:

  • Money – Fair compensation is non-negotiable.
  • Mission – A sense of belonging to something larger than themselves.
  • Meaning – Daily work that feels purposeful.
  • Mentorship – Growth opportunities through learning and coaching.
  • Membership – A workplace culture that fosters belonging.

Companies that can deliver on at least three or four of these five will be the ones that attract and retain top talent.

Leadership Must Lead With Hope

Perhaps the most striking data Heather shared came from a recent Gallup study:

The number one thing employees want from their leaders is hope.

Not resources. Not even stability. Hope.

Leaders must offer:

  • A positive vision of the future
  • A credible path toward that vision
  • A genuine belief in the ability to adapt and succeed

Hope is not soft. It is now a leadership imperative.

Trust Is The Currency Of Performance

Heather emphasized that trust is built on three essential foundations:

  • Authenticity
  • Sound logic
  • Empathy

Without trust, innovation slows, collaboration breaks down, and organizational resilience weakens.

Heather reminded us that selling legal services is essentially selling trust, and that the same holds true internally for leadership.

Final Reflections: Time Is Our Only True Currency

Heather closed with a somewhat sobering reminder that resonated deeply:

“Time is your only non-renewable resource. You do not know your balance. Spend it wisely.”

For legal marketers, lawyers, and business development professionals navigating this era of rapid change, Heather’s message was both a challenge and an encouragement.

  • Be the leaders who offer hope.
  • Build workplaces where people truly belong.
  • Focus on what it means to be human in a world of accelerating technology.

Because in the end, it is not technology that will define the future. It is us.

Conference Content Can Be Found Here

For a running collection of content created about the conference, please bookmark this blog post and check back frequently as I will be adding to it over the next several weeks.

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and their relationships, which leads to building their practices.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brand.

Nancy is also the founder of the hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, The LinkedIn Course*, which is a course where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and constant adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also helps firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, and livestreaming. Nancy also works with many firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to be the best they can be when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social and digital media strategy when handling high-stakes, high-profile cases and executive orders.

Long story short, Nancy spends a lot of time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.

#LMA25 Annual Conference Recap by Nancy Myrland

#LMA25 Let’s Celebrate 40 Years Together – Annual Conference Content Curation

Nancy Myrland#LMA25, All Posts, Content Marketing, LMA Leave a Comment

I am here with more than 1300 of my colleagues in legal marketing and business development for the 2025 Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. This year is very special to us because it is LMA’s 40th anniversary. The theme the board of directors and conference committee has chosen summarizes how the association feels about what LMA does for its members:

“40RWARD: Proud Legacy. Exciting Future.”

#LMA25 Annual Conference Content Curation by Nancy Myrland

Each year, we come together as legal marketers, business development professionals, service providers, and content creators to learn, network, and elevate the legal marketing profession so that we can help our clients, law firms and lawyers, serve their clients in the best possible way. As always, I’ll be curating insights live and after the event right here.

A Few Conference Details

  • Over 1,300 legal marketing and business development professionals are expected to attend
  • The largest global event focused exclusively on the legal marketing and business development profession
  • 35+ education sessions featuring 140+ expert speakers
  • 5 Pre-Conference Programs happening on Wednesday, April 23
  • The main conference kicks off Wednesday afternoon with meet-ups, breakout sessions, and the first General Session + Keynote
  • A Well-Being Room is open daily for quiet reflection
  • Evening events include the Welcome Reception, Regional Meet-Ups, and so much more

Helpful Conference Links

Thank You To The ACAC

A heartfelt thank-you goes to this year’s Annual Conference Advisory Committee, whose work has made this 40th celebration one to remember.

The #LMA25 ACAC, Annual Conference Advisory Committee, Legal Marketing Association, taken by Nancy Myrland

ACAC Leadership

  • John Byrne, Chief Marketing Officer, Gould & Ratner
    (President-Elect, LMA International Board of Directors)

  • Tasneem K. Khokha, Managing Director, GrowthPlay
    (ACAC Co-Chair, Pre-Conference Focus)

  • Katie Munroe, Chief Marketing Officer, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP
    (ACAC Co-Chair)

  • Nikki G. Sherrill, Chief Business Development Officer, Parker Hudson
    (ACAC Co-Chair)

ACAC Members

Keynote Presenters

There will be two keynote presentations this year.

Crafting Messages That Resonate: Lessons from Presidential Speechwriters on Connecting with Your Audience
Speakers: Cody Keenan and Terry Szuplat, Presidential Speechwriters, Professors, and Bestselling Authors
Date & Time: Wednesday, April 23 | 4:30 p.m. ET

Forward Together: The Human Edge in an Era of Rapid Change
Speaker: Heather McGowan, Future-of-Work Strategist
Date & Time: Thursday, April 24 | 8:30 a.m. ET

‍The Most Important Thing I Can Share With You This Year

As I began planning for this year’s conference, the theme took on even greater significance for me, extending beyond LMA’s 40th anniversary celebration. There is a lot going on right now, in our firms and in the world.

This is a moment to reflect on who we are as legal marketers, as professionals, as advocates, as businesspeople, and yes, as superheroes.

Our work is about more than tactics.

That’s why the commemorative button I’ve created this year honors every one of us who shows up with courage, clarity, and consistency. Whether you are navigating firm politics, driving strategic growth, or simply advocating for what is right inside your organization:

You are a superhero.

Truth Justice Legal Marketing Button by Nancy Myrland

 

My Message To All LMA Members: I Am Here For You

Stay Tuned As I Will Make This Your Curated Content Hub

As I have done in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2014, 2014, 2013, and 2013, I will be curating or creating content and linking to it from this blog post to provide a quick, easy place so you can find all of the information and recaps you might like to consume. I will also link to conference-related content from others.

This post will be updated frequently, so I invite you to bookmark it, as I will add content as I find it or as you let me know you’ve found it too.

This section will be updated throughout this and the coming weeks with:

  • Audio reflections
  • Videos that capture important moments
  • LinkedIn posts
  • Blog summaries
  • Photos
  • Takeaways from other attendees

Whether you are here in person or unable to join us this year, I will do my best to make this your ongoing window into #LMA25.

If you aren’t here this year, know that you are missed.

Presenting Your #LMA25 Annual Conference Content

This placeholder is waiting for the content you and I create!

 

 

 

This placeholder is waiting for the content you and I create!

 

 

 

(Video) Describe LMA In One Word, a beautiful video by Gittings Global

 

 

 

What Law Firm Clients Really Want: Relationships, Reputation, and Responsiveness, a keynote podcast recap by Gina Rubel and Jennifer Simpson Carr, Furia Rubel

 

 

 

(LinkedIn) Making Strategy Stick, a recap by Emily Gallagher, Womble Bond Dickinson

 

 

 

LMA 2025 | Leveraging Client Feedback for Value Creation and Increased Revenue, a recap by Catie Anderson, Passle

 

 

 

LMA 2025 | A Blueprint for Legal BD in the Age of Change, an overall recap by Alex Haidar, Passle

 

 

 

LMA 2025 | Using Activator Research to Drive Real World Results, a recap by Charles Cousins, Alistair Gone, and Will Eke, Passle

 

 

 

LMA 2025 | Aligning Digital Transformation with Strategic Growth, a recap by Will Eke, Passle

 

 

 

(Expanded Blog Summary) Harnessing AI For Cross-Selling: Don’t Miss An Opportunity For Growth by Passle CEO, James Barclay, a recap by Nancy Myrland

 

 

(LinkedIn) The Human Edge In An Era Of Rapid Change, Heather McGowan keynote takeaways by Dawn Sheiker

 

 

LMA 2025 |Crafting Messages That Resonate: Lessons From Presidential Speechwriters on Connecting With Your Audience, a keynote recap by Charles Cousins and Will Eke, Passle

 

 

(LinkedIn) What Two Former Obama Speechwriters Taught Me About Leadership, Storytelling, and Speaking Human by Jennifer Scotton

 

 

(LinkedIn) List of Miscellaneous Golden Nuggets by Kirstin Rojo

 

 

 

(LinkedIn) Key Takeaways From The In-House Panel by Michelle Calcotte King

 

 

 

(Expanded Blog Summary) #LMA25 GC Panel Reveals What Clients Really Want From Law Firms, a recap by Nancy Myrland

 

 

What In-House Counel Really Want: Insights from the LMA Annual Conference Panel, a keynote recap by Rebecca Edwards Hnatowski, Edwards Advisory 

 

 

(Podcast) What Law Firm Clients Really Want: Relationships, Reputation, and Responsiveness, a keynote recap by Gina Rubel and Jennifer Simpson Carr, Furia Rubel

 

 

LMA 2025 | The Anatomy Of A Successful Sales Pursuit: Insights From Clients, a keynote recap by Will Eke and James Barclay, Passle

 

 

LMA 2025 | The Biggest Missed Opportunity for Growth: Harnessing AI for Cross-Selling, a recap by Yasmin Zand and James Barclay, Passle

 

 

(Expanded Blog Summary) #LMA25 Keynote Recap: Obama Speechwriters Deliver Lessons On Leadership, Authenticity, and Values, a recap by Nancy Myrland

 

 

(Expanded Blog Summary) #LMA25 Day 2 Keynote Recap: Forward Together – The Human Edge In An Era Of Rapid Change, a Heather McGowan keynote recap by Nancy Myrland

 

 

(LinkedIn) Day 12 Keynote Recap: Obama Speechwriters Engage LMA Members As Annual #LMA25 Conference Kicks Off, a recap by Nancy Myrland

 

 

(LinkedIn) A Few Words Of Advice For Those Heading To LMA For The First Time. From A Veteran, Clinton Gary

 

 

Thank you so much for spending some of your valuable time here in this post. If you have a moment, would you please share it with others in our community, too?

If I’ve missed anything or made any mistakes, you can always feel comfortable letting me know.

Also, don’t forget to ask me for a button. I don’t want to take 800 of these home with me!

Thanks!

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and their relationships, which leads to building their practices.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brand.

Nancy is also the founder of the hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, LICFL*, which is a course where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and constant adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also helps firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, and livestreaming. Nancy also works with many firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to be the best they can be when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social media strategy when dealing with high-stakes, visible cases.

Long story short, Nancy spends a lot of time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.

AI - Do Women Have A Seat At The Artificial Intelligence Table?

AI: Do Women Have A Seat At The Artificial Intelligence Table?

Nancy MyrlandAI - Artificial Intelligence, All Posts Leave a Comment

I recently had the privilege of attending the Women + AI Summit in Nashville, an event that brought together 150 to 200 incredibly smart and passionate individuals.

The common theme among us is that we are all committed to leading, teaching, supporting, and engaging in the critical conversations surrounding artificial intelligence.

Your Choice: Podcast or Blog Post

If you would like to listen to this via my podcast, Legal Marketing Minutes, just click the player below. If you would rather read, keep scrolling and you will find it below the player.

A Vision for Inclusion in AI

The summit was the brainchild of Professor Cat Moon of Vanderbilt University Law School. In just 60 days, she put together an event that ensured women had a seat at the AI table. Cat recognized a glaring issue: many articles and reports were highlighting male-driven AI advancements and overlooking womens’ contributions. Rather than simply observing this disparity, she took action. If you don’t know Cat, you should because she’s amazing.

Her goal was clear, which was to create a space for women and allies of women to contribute to and lead discussions about artificial intelligence. The event was open to anyone interested, and while predominantly attended by women, it was inclusive. After knowing him for many years via social media, I was happy to finally meet Dennis Kennedy, a well-respected name in the legal profession.

The Power of In-Person and Virtual Connections

Just like meeting Dennis, one of the most rewarding aspects of the summit was the opportunity to meet people I had only interacted with online. Out of all of the attendees, I had only previously met one, Lydia Flocchini, a very smart legal tech advisor, before the event. I met Lydia during Ari Kaplan, another legal tech leader’s Virtual Lunch, which he has hosted since the pandemic started. Lydia and I met at the LMA, or Legal Marketing Association, conference a few years ago, so it was wonderful to see her again. Thanks to social media, we had already built a friendship.

This reinforced something I often talk about, which is the power of virtual relationships. Social and digital media allow us to develop meaningful professional relationships long before we meet in person. I consider this a gift that we have all been given, and that is waiting for each of us to take advantage of.

Learning Beyond Legal

I enjoyed the diversity of attendees at the summit. While the summit was rooted in legal because of Cat Moon, she posted the invitation publicly on LinkedIn so that anyone who was interested knew they were welcome to attend.

I met new friends from inside and outside the legal profession, including professionals from, among others:

  • WebMD
  • Microsoft
  • Education
  • Public health organizations
  • The Washington Court System

This interdisciplinary approach is invaluable to me. Learning from professionals outside the legal bubble expands my perspective and helps me provide better guidance to my law firms clients.

“Expertise” in AI: A Journey, Not a Title

A key takeaway from the summit was a sentiment shared by one of the speakers: “There aren’t necessarily a lot of people who can call themselves experts in AI, but there are a lot of people with expertise.”

I like that distinction because, like you, I am on a journey of AI discernment, which means I help firms think through their AI adoption strategies. I am committed to continuing to learn from experts and those with expertise. AI has been around since the 1950s, and while some AI pioneers are true experts, many of us are still developing our expertise in this fast-evolving field.

What’s Next? More Insights to Come

I’ll be looking at my notes to share a few summaries of key sessions from the summit in the coming weeks. Some of this content will be written (blog and social media), some will be spoken (my 2 podcasts), and some will be visual (videos and graphics on social media), a concept I teach called The Relationship Continuum.

As AI becomes an integral part of the legal profession, I will help firms integrate AI wisely, effectively, efficiently, and ethically while continuing to focus on the foundational marketing and business development strategies I teach every day, such as:

  • LinkedIn
  • Podcasting
  • Personal branding
  • Video
  • Livestreaming
  • Zoom and virtual presentation skills
  • Content marketing, and
  • Marketing and business development planning

Let’s Continue the Conversation

I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions. Feel free to leave a comment, or message me privately at  nancy@myrlandmarketing.com.

About Nancy Myrland

Nancy Myrland, Legal Marketing & Business Development Advisor

Nancy Myrland is a Marketing and Business Development Advisor, specializing in Content, Social & Digital Media. She helps lawyers grow their practices by integrating the most important marketing practices to build their reputations and their relationships, which leads to building their practices.

Highly regarded internationally as a top independent* LinkedIn consultant, Nancy is a highly respected LinkedIn trainer and content marketing specialist. She helps lawyers, law firms, and legal marketers learn and implement content, social, and digital media strategies that cut through the clutter, making them more relevant to their current and potential clients.

She is also a personal branding speaker, trainer, and advisor, helping legal and business professionals understand the importance and the impact of defining and reinforcing their personal brand.

Nancy is also the founder of the hybrid self-study and online course about LinkedIn, LICFL*, which is a course where she personally guides lawyers through the sequential creation of their LinkedIn profile and presence.*

As an early and constant adopter of social and digital media and technology, she also helps firms with blogging, podcasting, video marketing, voice marketing, and livestreaming. Nancy also works with many firms and lawyers on Zoom and virtual presentation training and coaching to be the best they can be when presenting online.

She also helps lead select law firms through their online social media strategy when dealing with high-stakes, visible cases.

Long story short, Nancy spends a lot of time helping lawyers and legal marketers with:

*Nancy is not an employee or consultant hired by LinkedIn, although she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice on the platform in 2024! Top Voices is an invitation-only program featuring a global group of experts on LinkedIn covering a range of topics across the professional world, helping members uncover valuable knowledge relevant to them. Top Voices was previously known as the Influencer program before October 2022. Top Voices are vetted to ensure that they meet high trust standards, are consistently active on the platform, and share valuable expertise through content that demonstrates their unique, original contributions to a topic.