News: In the News
Local Law Firms Use Social Events to Enlarge Their Client Base
Offit Kurman Featured in The Daily Record
As Published in the Daily Record
October 10, 2019 |

Offit Kurman's Tesla Test Ride Event, Owings Mills, MD
Tasting events for local craft beers and free rides in a Tesla probably aren’t the first things most people associate with law firms and their marketing strategies.
But for many Baltimore-area firms, educational lectures and social events have become a popular way to reach out to potential clients and help get them in the door.
Each year, Offit Kurman hosts several events at which business executives socialize and try out local brews, including Craftoberfest (Oct. 16), Distillerama and Wine-A-Palooza.
Jim Ries, Offit Kurman’s director of business and marketing, emphasized that the events allow business people to socialize and that the firm does not interrupt to tout itself.
“All we’re doing is providing an opportunity to give value to the public and inform business owners about our firm when they ask,” Ries said.
Other free services at Offit Kurman include a monthly meeting for members of the medical cannabis industry.
On the first Friday of the month, from 9 to 11 a.m., the firm’s cannabis industry affinity group invites anyone with a license to work in the medical cannabis field to attend a lecture. Afterward, the featured speaker records a video for the Cannabusiness Key webinar series, which is uploaded online and is free for all viewers.
A recent talk by Will Tilburg, director of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, drew about 50 people, Ries said.
The firm’s free meetings also address topics such as mergers and acquisition, cybersecurity and data privacy, among other hot topics. Ries said that the firm seeks to enhance its relationship with clients and potential clients and that the meetings have helped to significantly expand the firm’s client base.
At Gordon Feinblatt LLC, the firm’s lawyers give lectures to hospitals and their physicians, as well as to intellectual property and technology companies and banks.
Gordon Feinblatt CEO Barry Rosen said annual seminar and dinner events for physicians have been particularly successful, with a focus on topics such as the opioid epidemic and policy changes that affect physicians.
Rosen said the lectures show current and potential clients that Gordon Feinblatt’s lawyers are experts in their specific fields, meaning the firm can answer clients’ legal questions about medical matters without having to check with outside experts.
ABOUT OFFIT KURMAN
Offit Kurman, a full-service AmLaw 200 law firm with offices throughout the East Coast and in Southern California, serves dynamic businesses, individuals and families. Founded in 1987, the firm’s 280+ attorneys counsel clients across more than 30 areas of practice. Offit Kurman helps maximize and protect business value and personal wealth by providing innovative and entrepreneurial counsel that focuses on clients’ business objectives, interests and goals. The firm is distinguished by the quality, breadth and global reach of its legal services and a unique operational structure that encourages a culture of collaboration.