Please join us as together, our chapter partners with the Virginias Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, to present Trends in the Legal Industry.  The panel, consisting of legal industry leaders in various key roles, will discuss trends and changes affecting the legal industry. Hear General Counsel, a Chief Financial Officer, a leader in Information Technology and Chief Marketing Officers from both large and small firms, sharing their perspectives on what is driving business and strategic planning.

 Moderator: Darryl Cross, Vice President, Performance Development- Lexis Nexis

• Darryl Cross joined LexisNexis in 2004 and has consulted with over 500 law firms around the world to collect and share best practices in marketing, law firm profitability and growth strategies. Additionally, he is responsible for coaching, sales training and performance development for a 1400 person, national sales force generating $1.5 billion in annual sales in the legal, corporate, government and academic sectors. Darryl’s direct experience in professional services organizations includes his service as Chief Marketing Officer and a member of the Executive Committee of a law firm.

Finance: Madhav Srinivasan, CFO – Hunton & Williams

• Madhav Srinivasan is the Chief Financial Officer at Hunton & Williams, leading the global finance organization. He has extensive experience in legal financial management combined with a deep background in corporate finance, financial consulting, capital markets and international business. He has published articles in leading journals and been a speaker at major conferences. Madhav currently teaches a graduate level course as adjunct faculty at Columbia Law School.

Information Technology: Sharon Nelson – President of VA State Bar and owner of Sensei Enterprises

• Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., is the President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc., a digital forensics, information security and information technology firm in Fairfax, Virginia.   Ms. Nelson is the author of the noted electronic evidence blog, Ride the Lightning and is a co-host of the Legal Talk Network podcast series called “The Digital Edge: Lawyers and Technology” as well as “Digital Detectives.” She is a frequent author (eleven books published by the ABA and hundreds of articles) and speaker on legal technology, information security and electronic evidence topics. She was the President of the Virginia State Bar June 2013 – June 2014 and currently serves as the President of the Fairfax Law Foundation

Marketing - Large Firm: Kristen Richardson, CMO - Williams Mullen

• Kristin Richardson serves as Williams Mullen's Chief Marketing Officer overseeing all marketing, business development and client service responsibilities across the AmLaw 200 firm. She and her team of 10 other marketing professionals support the growth of the firm and its 250 attorneys in 10 offices across Virginia, North Carolina and D.C. Throughout her 20-year career as a marketer, Kristin has helped companies in regulated and service industries go through tumultuous change. She joined the firm four years ago during the recession after working in healthcare and banking, and at traditional and digital advertising agencies. Today, she and her team have proudly helped contribute to the firm’s trend of increasing profits per partner over the past three years.

Marketing - Small Firm: Cristina Sweeney, Marketing & Business Development Director – Thompson McMullen 

• Cristina Sweeney is ThompsonMcMullan’s Marketing and Business Development Director. She is responsible for all marketing and business development efforts in the firm, including strategic planning, attorney development, corporate messaging, online communications, and branding. Cristina has been in professional services marketing and business development for 18 years, and legal marketing for 12 years.  She has worked as a legal marketing consultant and for law firms ranging in size from over 900 attorneys to firms as small as solo practitioners, and has seen firms through mergers and acquisitions, downsizing and rightsizing, and generational shifts.

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