Frank Somerfield, President of Sommerfield Communications, Inc., described the importance of personal branding to me this way: 

“A dynamic professional services career – one that produces good results for clients and builds a firm – now needs three solid legs.  The first is, of course, quality work and commitment; the second is a broad, growing network of valuable contacts and informal advisors; the third is a personal brand.  An authentic brand grows out of one’s novel ideas, thought capital and perspective.  The challenge is to package those ideas – market them – so they’re seen as legitimate ‘thought leadership.’”

As Frank notes above, a powerful brand grows out of unique thoughts–in other words, thought leadership.

Thanks to their highly dynamic specialty, international lawyers encounter new trends; those that develop interesting perspectives on those trends are well poised to become known as thought leaders.  They key is to publicize those original observations as part of a good branding strategy.  Sometimes a good PR agency (like Sommerfield Comunications) is just what a lawyer needs to create this publicity. (Sommerfield Communications –a corporate communications firm and PR agency–specializes in business thought leadership.)

 Having original thoughts isn’t enough.  A lawyer must share his or her thought leadership to make an impact. If you need help sharing yours, call a pro like Frank.