Branding is no longer just for cattle. But if you're not careful you'll still get burned.

Dan Pallotta's "A Logo Is Not a Brand" in his blog at the Harvard Business Review. If you still think lawyers don't need to worry about "brand," then you need to read this post. Right away. (The rest of you can wait until you've had your morning coffee.) Because, as Pallotta writes, your brand isn't your name, or your logo. Your brand is your strategy, your customer service, your people. It's your facilities, your communication practices, your website and the way it is organized. It's the way you respond to inquiries. Your brand is everything your clients and peers and colleagues and friends think when they think of you, be it "hard-working" or "smart" or "slow to get back to me" or "always looking to run up the bill on work that doesn't seem relevant."