Whether you are a first-time CMO or making a lateral move to a new firm, there are steps you can take to ensure success in your new position.

Start With the Firm’s Strategic Plan and Finances

Before you meet a single partner or start evaluating your team, get your hands on the firm’s current strategic plan—it’s your compass. Whether it’s robust or vague, it tells you what leadership cares about. (And yes, you may have immediate recommendations about necessary adjustments, but unless detrimental to your firm, parking lot those for at least three months until you determine which priorities are political choices.)
Equally important is understanding the firm’s financial key performance indicators (KPIs) against which your work will be measured and by which your firm will excel in today’s competitive environment. You may discover—even in the interview process—that the firm is not making critical measurements or is measuring the wrong items. In building a relationship with the individual in the chief financial officer role, what will you be looking for? Strategic plan metrics will certainly be part of that, but compensation system parameters and individual attorney data also will factor in: client metrics, service offerings, GAP analysis and profitability. Market breakdowns by geography, as well as practice group and industry sector. If no target lists, market research or sales pipeline information exist, that will also go on your parking lot. From there, you can begin aligning marketing priorities with firmwide goals—and avoid launching projects that don’t move the needle.

Map Your Stakeholders

Ask for a stakeholder list with prioritization from firm leadership—if one doesn’t exist, build it yourself. Prioritize these groups:

Practice Group and Industry Sector Leaders and Rainmakers: These are your internal clients—and don’t avoid skeptics who can teach you a great deal as well as become your greatest allies. Expect comments like, “I don’t use marketing,” or “The last person
didn’t get it.” Be open and curious, and don’t take resistance personally.

C-Suite and Functional Leaders: Develop trust with operations executives from every department: Finance, HR, IT, and BD. These relationships will shape your ability to execute big initiatives—and navigate budgets. Be deliberate from day one to share ideas and make it clear that you will not only share glory with each and every one of them, but you will even use your role to promote them internally and beyond.

Your Team: Meet one on one with everyone, from senior managers to coordinators. You’ll hear a range of voices: those eager to impress, others eager to vent and maybe someone who thought they should be in your chair. Listen. Take notes. Don’t make promises too fast, and never, ever come in guns blazing to make personnel changes unless it is well known that such changes are expected of you. This includes bringing in “your people” because you are insecure about your leadership and management abilities. You do not want the reputation of someone who makes changes or recommendations before they know what they’re talking about. You will look cocky, foolish or both right out of the gate if you do not complete basic, respectful due diligence.

Vendors: Get a full list of active marketing and BD contracts, including renewal dates. Ask them for expectations and results—from their perspective. Know who’s tied to whom, and whether the firm is locked in or has flexibility. Again, follow the same guidance about making changes here as with personnel. Sometimes vendor partners have been at the firm much longer than many others, and they can be an invaluable source of information. And yes, they have a personal interest in keeping your account—but this also means they are firmly committed to your success. Don’t underestimate their commitment to your new firm; that they may have been desperately waiting for your arrival as well. Calm down and rest assured, you will be able to hire your friends, in many ways, very soon.

“I always suggest an audit,” says Liz Locket, who has served as a CMO and CMBDO at multiple firms, “and talking to naysayers can even be a part of that audit. You can often uncover why they find business development and marketing not helpful or simply think of the department as overhead.

“I definitely like to interview team members, too—find out their level of satisfaction, how they feel they are contributing to the strategic plan and where they see themselves in one, three or even five years.”

Conduct a Strategic Marketing Audit

You don’t need to dive into every tactic on day one, but you do need a view from 30,000 feet.

• Make it clear that under your new leadership, planning, measurement and review—of strategies, tactics and people, including you as the leader in 360-degree perspective—will become essential components of departmental culture.
• Consider department-wide or divisional audits: What are you doing and why, and how well is it working?
• Review systems, processes and performance data where available.
• Look at how the team is structured relative to the firm’s needs—especially across content, client development, digital and design.

Build Your Calendar Around Key Firm Events

Law firms run on rhythms. Learn them quickly:

• Build your CMO network early: Former colleagues, peer CMOs and experienced mentors are invaluable, especially when facing firm politics or unfamiliar challenges.
• Attend high-level legal marketing or leadership conferences: A few standouts are Reuters Legal Leaders USA (January), which attracts top-tier CMO/CBDO attendees; Passle events, especially in New York City, which feature more intimate, peer-focused discussions; and the LMA annual conference, which now offers a CMO track.
• Behave like a partner of the firm and the executive you are: Join a corporate and/or nonprofit board, have outside hobbies that you can share and discuss, and have an active fitness and travel life. Get out and see the world so you can bring all of those wonderful experiences to bear in your role—and yes, even bring in some new clients from your own relationships.

Get to Know the Firm’s Top Clients

In the first 90 days, one of the most critical priorities for a new CMO is to gain a clear understanding of the firm’s top clients. These relationships are often the foundation of the firm’s revenue and growth strategy, and aligning marketing and business development efforts around them is essential.

Dig into client data, matter histories and billing trends, but also go beyond the numbers—speak with relationship partners, client teams and, if possible, the clients themselves. Understanding what makes these relationships successful, what challenges the clients face, and where there are opportunities to deepen engagement will allow you to shape more targeted, high-impact initiatives. This insight should inform your resource allocation, pitch support, content strategy and client experience improvements from the outset.

“One of the first things I recommend focusing on in a new CMO role is digging into the data on the firm’s top clients—not just to understand who they are, but how your firm is serving them,” says Kelly Enache, Saul Ewing’s chief strategic operations officer, who also supervises the firm’s marketing department. “Are these clients concentrated in key industries? Are they consistently cross-served, or is your firm primarily delivering single-service support? Which practices are driving the most revenue? These patterns reveal a lot about how well attorneys are collaborating across the firm, where untapped growth opportunities exist and which service lines are truly resonating with your most valuable clients. That level of insight is foundational for shaping a smart, focused marketing and BD strategy.”

Final Thought: You’re Not Just Running a Department—You’re Joining the Executive Table

Marketing is often still seen as a service function in law firms. It’s your job to change that—by tying your work to revenue, reputation and retention. But that only works if you take the time to understand the business first. Getting a few key early wins is important, and you may learn some “easy fixes” during your stakeholder engagement. Your first few months are about listening, aligning and laying the groundwork for long-term influence.

New to the CMO role at a law firm or changing to a different firm? You’re not alone, and you don’t have to figure it out on your own. This fall, Poston Communications will launch a dedicated resource center to support law firm CMOs with practical tools, expert insights and proven strategies for success. Stay tuned for more details.

Beth Huffman, a vice president at Poston Communications, has more than 40 years of experience in communications, media and marketing. Following two decades as a reporter, she spent the next two decades helping major law firms—including as the head of marketing for one Am Law 100 firm, and head of communications at another—as well as legal organizations and their global clients to create strategic narratives to elevate their reputations and work.

Reprinted with permission from the July 25, 2025 edition of Law.com © 2025 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited, contact 877-257-3382 or reprints@alm.com.