Defining Moments: Legal Trends, Pay Gap Bot and International Women's Day

Welcome to our second edition of Defining Moments!

Another month is complete, which means our second edition of Defining Moments is ready and waiting for you!

In this edition, we will show you just some of our incredible work from February, top tips from our media and content consultant and advice on how you can approach International Women’s Day next week.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy!

??? Highlight Reel: Clio ???

We've been hard at work helping world-leading cloud-based legal tech provider Clio produce some top-notch research. Clio - Cloud-Based Legal Technology is one of the world's fastest-growing legal tech firms with offices in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, and European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.?

Recently, Clio released its latest Legal Trends Report – a deep dive into US lawyers' working lives and the current hottest trends in the legal world. We worked with Clio’s team in the UK and Ireland to gather the viewpoint from the UK market, surveying legal professionals working at British law firms.?

We helped Clio develop questions for the survey and determined key themes and angles as a framework, focusing on the areas Clio has observed as being the biggest challenges for their clients over the last 12 months. We then got stuck into a draft launch release and used our contacts as a B2B PR Agency to get the word out to some top business and legal media outlets.?

We got some pretty interesting insights, including:

• 64% of UK law firms are planning to raise fees in 2023
• 67% of legal professionals in the UK are working longer hours than before the covid-19 pandemic, despite saying they now have more 'flexible' working arrangements
• Seven in ten UK lawyers (68%) feel they have a better work-life balance than before the pandemic
• 50% of UK law firms expect rising costs and inflation to impact profitability in 2023
• 95% of UK law firms expect tech to play a key role in helping their business remain profitable?- however, there are continued barriers to transformation, including price (52%), training expectations (47%), and time (40%).

So far, we've secured some solid coverage in the likes of?Legal Cheek,?Legal Futures,?Law360?and?The Law Society's Gazette.?

But that's not all. Clio hit the ground running in 2023 and recently announced its expansion into the APAC region, with Australia being first on the list. To ensure this development got the best coverage, we worked with Clio's North America-based agency to spread the news at home?in the UK's premium legal media. These outlets include?Legal Futures,?Law.com?and?Legal IT Insider.

Erica Mills , content marketing manager, EMEA at Clio said: "These results provide a key and up-to-the-minute insight into legal trends in the UK right now and serve to strengthen the extensive research conducted in our annual Legal Trends Report.

“This research has helped us to open a conversation with the industry around issues and trends that are vital to them and to further our relationship with legal professionals. We were so pleased to work with Definition on this original and invaluable research and to secure?such great coverage with them."

Watch this space to find out more!

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?? Insider Knowledge with David Gatehouse ??

David Gatehouse is our media and content consultant and has been with us for 18 years.

David has worn many hats during his career, including communications for the NHS and MoD, working in Europe and New Zealand, and even a spot of journalism. After a while, he thought it was time to give agency work a go and hasn't looked back since!

David has worked on many public and third-sector accounts. In his agency life, most clients have been B2B, with an early heavy focus on legal, financial and professional services.

When it comes to working in content writing and media relations, here are David's top tips:

• Resilience:?it's getting harder and harder to get an audience with journalists - knockbacks and being ignored can be brutal. It's undoubtedly not for the faint-hearted and persistence is everything
• Research:?if you have to write about something you know next-to-nothing about, you must dedicate the time and resources to get familiar with both the subject and the organisation, no matter how tight the deadline is. Knowledge is power!
• Rescue:?always be ready to guide and support a colleague - especially a junior or new starter learning the ropes. It is the right thing to do in a civil working environment and makes for much stronger overall team performance
• Never be afraid to shout if you don't know something: no matter how experienced you are - or are perceived to be. The ONLY 'stupid' question is the one you don't ask

Well said, David!

?? Campaign Inspiration ??

We asked our senior PR and digital strategist, Matthew Robinson , what his favourite PR campaign is. His answer? The Twitter Gender Pay Gap Bot.?

Although more companies are using International Women's Day to tweet about their commitment to gender equality, there is still a very real pay gap between men and women that cannot be ignored. This is where the Gender Pay Gap Bot comes in…

Since 2017, all companies with 250 or more employees in the UK must register the gap difference between their male and female employees with the government. The bot then used this data for some much-needed truth-telling! Whenever a company tweets about "empowering women" and "gender equality", the bot will respond with the exact median hourly pay disparity between men and women at that company.?

The bot has been called "genius" for exposing companies who pay lip service to equality while maintaining sizable gender pay gaps – one company was even called out for having a 73.2% hourly rate gap!

Matthew says:?"I'm always fond of campaigns that make creative use of data or public information, as this data is often used to draw more attention to important issues.

"The Gender Pay Gap Bot is a fantastic example of a digital campaign that uses publicly available data sources to raise awareness around an issue. Most people don't even know this data exists; this campaign combined creativity, technology, and the power of social media to bring it to life and call out companies for celebrating International Women's Day despite most of them still falling short on gender pay parity."

?? Definition Coverage Check ??

We don’t just help our clients make the news – we were covered a fair bit ourselves last month. Check out where our team has appeared:

• Our very own Louise Watson-Dowell featured in PRmoment talking about Chat GPT
• Our brand protector service was featured in the Business Reporter with Louise Vaughan , Definition Group ’s chief client officer & co founder, talking about crisis management strategies and how our Brand Protector offer combines the expertise of our team, Brand Vista and Words&Pictures

Matthew Robinson , our senior PR and digital strategist, featured in PRMoment talking about how agencies must thrive to survive

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??? How to make noise with our media relations expert Jasmin Martin ???

Wednesday 8 March is International Women's Day! This is an excellent opportunity for businesses to recognise the achievements of women in the workplace and demonstrate commitment to gender equality and women's rights.?

Here are three ways companies can approach #InternationalWomensDay:

1. Promote women owned businesses: Showcase their products and offer promotions that benefit women entrepreneurs.
2. Create a gender-inclusive workplace: Implement policies and training programmes that promote diversity and inclusion, empowering women to advance their careers.
3. Partner with women's organisations: Collaborate with organisations advocating for women's rights and gender equality. Donate to causes and participate in events supporting women.

Businesses must recognize the intersectionality of women's experiences. Showcase the achievements of women of colour in your business and those who overcome significant barriers to achieve their goals!

Here are some potential media angles for female spokespeople:

1. Explore the challenges women face securing funding, and advocate for policies supporting female entrepreneurs
2. Shed light on how factors like childcare and menopause shape women's experiences in the workplace. Advocate for policies that address these gaps and offer strategies for employers to support their people
3. Advice on how to make work socials more inclusive – providing non-alcoholic beverages, a variety of food choices and planning activities accessible and appealing to all. Emphasise the importance of a respectful and inclusive workplace culture during work hours and socials.

That’s all for our February newsletter! Make sure you click subscribe for our next edition!