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women want? What Cristi Cooke, founder of Majority Marketing, explains that women tend to differ from men in the ways they com- municate, socialize, make decisions, and manage their time. "Men tend to use language a lot more to talk about data and facts and statistics, in order to prove and demon- strate expertise, whereas women tend to use language more often to build and maintain relationships," she says. "They focus on finding things in com- mon and sharing experiences and feel- ing understood." Cooke says lawyers should ask ques- tions that allow a woman to feel under- stood. "What's keeping you up at night with respect to this area of your busi- ness?" is better than "What is the legal issue you are having problems with?" "Do you see how this question is so much more holistic? It really gets to the vulnerabilities of where the woman is feeling exposed," she says. "This is not a question necessarily that would work with a male counterpart, because you don't want to ask a lot of questions to men that expose vulnerabilities." Next time you're at an event, take note of the different ways in which men and women socialize, says Cooke. "Men build relationships by doing activities together, while women build relation- ships by sharing conversations together. Men build relationships shoulder to shoulder while women build relation- ships face to face." Law firms generally stick to shoulder- to-shoulder events like golf because "they've built their business based on the male-style norms — which is fine, that's what worked because most of their clients were men — but this is why golf tournaments and hockey games work well with male clients but the tick- ets go unused and unappreciated by their female counterparts." A key consideration when planning client events with women is the time constraints they face, says Cooke. Stats show that women who work full time still shoulder the majority of household and childcare duties. This is why all-day golfing may not fly with female clients. "If you're going to have a golf tourna- ment for your company, fine, but make it nine holes." — KM know what we can do for them," explains Borsook. "There are a lot of different marketing goals that can be achieved by these kinds of events." Their larger events include a guest list of their own clients, the female clients of their male colleagues at the firm, and a "wish list" of businesswomen who aren't yet WeirFoulds' clients. "I even had one client actually send me flowers the next day because she had such a good time and because she made a client contact," says Duffy. "We got several handwrit- ten notes in a day and age where people rarely do that." As more women leave private practice and enter the corporate world as in-house counsel, more women are in charge of doling out legal work to law firms. It's a market segment that smart firms are tak- ing note of and tailoring their marketing efforts towards. At Borden Ladner Ger- vais LLP, a national women's committee is in place under the firm's professional development committee, explains Lynn McGrade, a partner at the Toronto of- fice. "I think the business development committee saw an increasing role for women leaders in the community and women making decisions about where to send their legal work," she says of why the group was formed. The group looked at whether the firm needed to improve business-develop- ment tools when marketing to women, and gave lawyers the access to the rel- evant information, tools, and resources they needed for ongoing business-devel- opment activities. "We wanted to take a real focused look at what networking op- portunities are out there and make sure that our lawyers knew those opportuni- ties were out there," she says. Women- centred client events at BLG include golf tournaments in Vancouver and Mon- treal, and a speaker series in Toronto, at which clients are welcomed at a cock- tail reception followed by a salon with a prominent female guest. Past speak- ers include Margaret Atwood, Roberta Bondar, Jeanne Beker, and Elizabeth May. "It's been very popular, actually, and the mailing list has grown from 270 contacts to 740 contacts," says McGrade. Two associates at Cox & Palmer in Halifax, Michelle Kelly and Robin Ait- ken, realized their firm's traditional cli- ent events were falling short when it came to their female clients. "Robin and I were talking, and we were just saying how most of the marketing events that we're told to go to, and a lot of things that the firm puts on for clients, are re- ally geared towards men," recalls Kelly. "The background is a sporting event most of the time, and the networking format is men in business suits standing around and talking to one another." The firm now has an annual female cli- ent event where it rents out a spa for the night and serves martinis and desserts and offers mini spa services to attendees. But this isn't just a night of manis and pedis. "It was amazing. Women found common threads to talk about with one another. There were great connections that were made and there was this in- tense vibe that went around the room where women were just opening up, and I don't think women are really able to open up at the male-geared marketing events," Kelly says. "We have a chance to recognize our existing clients and build relationships with our existing clients in this women-only setting. In addition to that, all of our clients are developing dif- ferent business clients for themselves." These types of activities are on the right track for attracting women and should be part of a broader marketing strategy, says Cristi Cooke, founder of Majority Mar- keting, a consultancy that helps compa- nies attract, retain, and increase sales to women. "Women are more attracted to events that empower, educate, and enter- tain them, and connect them. One of the main challenges that women business ex- ecutives have is getting exposed to those informal networks." While these types of events are a piece 30 JUNE 2008 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com