Chief Marketing Officer - Cleveland, OH or Los Angeles, CA

Legal Resource Group has been retained by a mid-sized general practice law firm to assist the firm in its search for a legal marketing professional to assume firm-wide marketing, communications and business development responsibilities. The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is responsible for directing all of the firm's marketing, business development, client relations, brand development and promotional activities. This is an exempt managerial position, reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer. The position will be resident in the firm's Cleveland headquarters or its downtown Los Angeles office

The CMO is responsible for conceptualizing and implementing business development programs for the firm. Specific responsibilities include new business development; development of programs to expand existing client relationships; market research and planning; strategic direction for marketing, business development and advertising; media relations; and hiring and directing the day-to-day activities of marketing staff. The CMO is also responsible for the training of all lawyers on business development skills and will work with all attorneys, including the Managing Partner, to establish long-range business development goals, strategies, plans and policies to support the strategic direction of the firm. The CMO operates at the Partner/Counsel level and reports to the Managing Partner and the Chief Operating Officer.

It is anticipated that the CMO will work with all of the firm's offices but will devote significant portions of time to the Cleveland and Los Angeles offices, including spending proportionately large amounts of time in each office, regardless of the location in which the position is resident.

The successful candidate will be a marketing and business development professional with appropriate education and experience in the professional services industry. It is expected that candidates will have a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing or a related field. An MBA would be preferred. A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in managing a sophisticated marketing function is required. A substantial portion of that experience must be in a professional services setting with some specific experience in the legal industry. Experience with a large multi-office law firm is preferred.