Case study · Liebert Cassidy Whitmore · 2025 to 2026
Making complex legal marketing easier to run.
At Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, a 120-attorney California law firm, I helped recover five quarters of unbilled training fees, rebuilt the brand guidelines in three weeks, and built the AI workflows for my role.
Scope: Billing, webinar, and publication results were team efforts, and each section names my part. Numbers compare June 2025 to June 2026 with the year before.
On-Demand training fees billed, year over year
+92.1%
Practice Group webinar revenue supported
$37K+
Publication click rate, 1.86% to 2.63%
+41.0%
Newsletter production per batch of three, after my AI workflow
16 to 8 hrs
THE ROLE
A four-person marketing team behind a 120-attorney firm.
LCW advises California public agencies, schools, and nonprofits. Its attorneys give 900+ presentations a year, and the firm publishes six client newsletters and sells on-demand training. I handled the design, platforms, and workflows behind all of it.
LIEBERT CASSIDY WHITMORE
Between design and operations
I handled both the design and the tech behind it. I designed webinar ads and 20-page newsletters, built Cvent event registration pages, and answered clients' questions about accessing their training.
Our marketing side was only four people, so every repeat task I turned into a template or checklist gave us time back for new work. When LCW formally rolled out AI and asked each role to build its own workflows, I built all of mine.
ROLE
Senior Marketing Technology Coordinator
DATES
June 2025 - June 2026
TEAM
Reported to the Marketing Manager and Director of Marketing & Training. Worked daily with attorneys, Training, and Accounting.
PLATFORMS
Cvent, WordPress/LexBlog, Issuu, ActiveCampaign, Nexl, Excel, Access, ChatGPT, Adobe Suite
WORK
Publications, webinars, events, On-Demand training, social, web, reporting
MY PART
Design, workflows, platform support, reporting
THE CHALLENGE
BILLING
Five quarters unbilled.
Usage-based billing for On-Demand training was too complex to run every quarter, so it stalled for most clients.
BRAND
A draft guide with wrong hex codes.
The only guidelines were a 2024 draft, and six client publications each had their own look.
PRODUCTION
16 hours for three newsletters.
Each ran 10 to 20 pages, and every formatting fix was done by hand in InDesign.
REPORTING
Reach was falling.
Impressions alone made the publications look like they were slipping.
THE APPROACH
01 FIX THE PROCESS
Start where work gets stuck.
Before designing anything, I looked at where the process broke down.
02 BUILD ONCE
Make it reusable.
I turned repeat work into templates teammates could edit themselves.
03 USE AI CAREFULLY
AI does the first pass.
I used AI for repetitive work, then checked every output myself.
O4 MEASURE ACTION
Look past reach.
I reported clicks, downloads, and reader location, not just views.
RECOVER REVENUE
Getting five quarters of unbilled training fees paid.
01
The problem
Every quarter, someone had to count each client's completions by course, remove duplicates, match vouchers, and invoice. The review took several days, so it slipped. When I arrived, five quarters had gone unbilled for most of our roughly 60 clients.
What we did
-
Rebuilt usage tracking in Excel and Access so each client's completions, vouchers, and history lived in one record.
-
Set rules for removing duplicate completions before anything was billed.
-
Built mail-merge invoice and follow-up templates for roughly 60 clients.
On-Demand training is billed by usage. When the quarterly review got too complicated to run, billing stopped for most clients. Our senior training specialist and I rebuilt it.
On-Demand promo:
These are state-mandated trainings, like harassment prevention, that clients buy in bulk. The old ad was a title card, so I showed a real course on a laptop and led with the reason to buy: stay compliant.
-
Sent catch-up invoices for all five overdue quarters. Most were paid.
-
Ran the review on schedule every quarter after.
01
Pull usage
Count completions per client and per course.
02
Remove duplicates
Clear repeat completions before billing.
03
Match records
Bring vouchers and client history into the same file.
04
Review
Check every account before anything goes out.
05
Flag exceptions
Edge cases get a human look, not a guess.
06
Mail-merge invoices
Templates produce consistent invoices and follow-ups.
07
Close out
Accounting sends the invoice, or we resolve the client's voucher or question.
08
Repeat quarterly
Same steps every quarter, in hours instead of days.
+92.1%
On-Demand training fees billed, year over year.
+34.9%
On-Demand vouchers, year over year.
Also at LCW
I moderated live webinars almost every week, including rehearsals and Zoom setup, and produced about 12 Practice Group webinars start to finish. The program brought in $37K+ that year. I also designed the Cvent registration sites for the 2026 and 2027 LCW Annual Conferences and FLSA Academy. When the firm replaced ActiveCampaign with Nexl Engage, I ran the testing, wrote the evaluation comparing deliverability, mobile display, link tracking, and reporting, and owned the email design. I found Nexl easier to use and better tied to our CRM, but weaker on reporting, which mattered most for the teammate who ran eblasts. The firm kept it because it came free with the CRM. I also traced outdated links in WordPress/LexBlog notifications to a vendor-controlled setting and got them removed.
WEBINARS
Moderated almost weekly; produced about 12 start to finish
EVENTS
Cvent sites for two Annual Conferences and FLSA Academy
Tested and designed the move to Nexl Engage
WEB
Fixed WordPress/LexBlog notification links with the vendor
BRAND IN THREE WEEKS
Rebuilding the brand guidelines without pausing the work.
02
What was broken
LCW's materials ran from webinar ads and recruitment posts to virtual backgrounds and event collateral. Six client publications each had their own look, and the only guide was an unfinished draft.
What I built
-
A brand guide for color, type, logo use, photography, accessibility, layout, and misuse examples. AI helped me brainstorm. I made the calls and added audience persona research.
-
All six client publications brought under the firm's brand, instead of six separate looks.
-
About 60 templates for social, flyers, ads, and video.
-
Simple templates in Canva so teammates could update them. Complex ones in Adobe.
-
Headshot guidance and vendor sourcing so attorney photos matched.
-
About 25 outside ads redesigned for association publications like CSDA and ACSA, since every recurring ad needed a refresh.
-
The full set for the 2026 and 2027 LCW Annual Conferences: save-the-dates, ads for social, email, web, and print, the Cvent site, event app graphics, signage, posters, slide templates, handouts, and a flyer with the schedule on the back.
I had three weeks to replace an unfinished 2024 draft, which even had the wrong hex codes, while keeping up with my regular work. The new guide had to cover everything from social posts to conference collateral.
Brand guidance snapshot
Rules, hierarchy, and application
My rule: If a teammate would need to edit it, I built it in Canva. If it needed precise layout, I built it in Adobe.
Who the brand speaks to: One of six audience personas I added to the brand guide. Each one sets what to lead with, what to prove, and what to avoid. You can see this one at work in the seminar flyer below: real officers and firefighters, and POBR and FBOR up front.
Lead with the reader
Open with their problem or a hook, not "We're pleased to offer."
One message per piece
One event, one headline. Dates, places, and prices each get their own zone.
Seminars: The old flyer packed three programs into a page of paragraphs. I gave each seminar its own flyer, built to be reused for every location, with a QR code on the print version and none on the newsletter version.
A clear next step
Register Now, a link, or a QR code on print versions.
Show the product
Show the course, the library, or the people it's for, instead of only naming it.
LRCP: The old ad was a purple newsletter page that was mostly dates. I redesigned it as a program flyer that leads with what the certificate builds and a schedule page with workshop descriptions, prices and a QR code, both in the firm’s brand.
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Liebert Library ad: The old ad announced one book. I led with a practical tip from the Wage and Hour Compliance Checklist and put the library itself on screen. To pick each month's feature, I checked which library pages clients visited most and asked attorneys what changes were coming.
FLSA Academy: The firm's website listing opened with five paragraphs. I built a Cvent registration site that puts the dates, price, credits, and Register Now on the first screen.
Webinar: Most webinar ads open with "Don't miss" and a date. I wrote a meme to grab attention.
Video series: Recorded, edited, and posted short attorney tip videos.
Webinar Flyer
Presenter and Takeaways
Service Sheet
For community college districts
My concept: the pets of LCW card. Clients wrote back calling it the best card they'd ever gotten.
Conference
Annual Conference, Napa Valley
Recruitment
Culture and Talent
Client Resource
Program Template
Association ad
One of about 25 outside ads
Attorney Spotlight
Investigations
Workplace Investigations
Investigations
Firm-wide
The guidelines rolled out across LCW in May 2026. Teammates could now handle routine edits themselves.
+87.9%
LinkedIn comments, year over year, while I designed the firm's graphics. A team result; I made the visuals.
CLARIFY COMPLEX INFORMATION
Making 20-page legal newsletters easy to scan.
03
Client Update: built from modules, not one template
Each issue mixes case summaries, risk notes, benefits guidance, firm news, timelines, and training promos. I built reusable page sections, like Q&A boxes and timelines, so each issue could mix and match them without a new layout.
What I contributed
-
A cover with one clear promise and a lead story.
-
A guided index so readers can jump to what they need.
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Consistent section labels and headline sizes.
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A closing page that sends readers to subscribe, register, or contact the firm.
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A redesigned delivery email, with a custom subject line pulled from each issue's lead story.
Design rule: The page should show readers how to read it. Hierarchy and grouping do more work than decoration.
Legal content can't trade accuracy for simplicity. The job was to keep every detail while making the structure, priority, and next step obvious.
Front page
01
Guided index
02
Feature article
03
Mixed-density page
07
Action close
12
AI WORKFLOWS
When LCW rolled out AI, I built my role's workflows.
Every role was asked to build its own. I built all of mine, and teammates adopted two of them. AI handled the repetitive first pass. I made the decisions and checked every output before it shipped.
NEWSLETTERS
Writers' recurring errors became a ChatGPT checklist. Three newsletters went from 16 hours to 8. Our marketing assistant adopted it.
DESIGN DRAFTS
Fill-in-the-blank prompts generate layout options from the brand rules. I pick one and build the final.
PRESENTATIONS
Four AI-ready slide templates for a firm giving 900+ presentations a year. The whole team adopted them, and the firm's AI Innovations Director called the approach "spot on."
INTAKE
A SurveyMonkey request form, so every graphic request arrives with the specs I need.
IMPROVE DESCISIONS WITH EVIDENCE
Fewer views, but more readers clicking.
04
What the full picture showed
Publication impressions fell 8.3% and reads 13.5%. On their own, those numbers look like a bad year. So I compared clicks, downloads, and where readers were located.
Reporting rule: Reach tells you how many people saw it. Action tells you whether the right people cared.
Click rate rose from 1.86% to 2.63%. Clicks plus downloads, as a share of impressions, rose 28%. California readers, the firm's core market, grew 47.2%.
The takeaway in my reports: a smaller but more engaged audience. Then I dug into what was driving the clicks.
Publication performance: year-over-year change
METRIC
2024-2025
2025-2026
CHANGE
Impressions
43,007
39,431
-8.3%
Reads
11,811
10,213
-13.5%
Downloads
975
1,048
+7.5%
Click rate
1.86%
2.63%
+41.0%
Click + download rate
4.13%
5.29%
+28.0%
California readers
4,983
7,333
+47.2%
+41.0% YoY
Click rate
More of the people who saw an issue clicked through.
+28.0% YoY
Click + download rate
Clicks and downloads grew as a share of impressions.
+47.2% YoY
California readers
More readers in the firm's core market.
WHAT I FOUND NEXT • APRIL TO JULY 2026
Two things the newer reports showed
Timely stories get the clicks. Two April Client Update stories drew 21 of the issue's 45 clicks.
Renewing subscribers skipped the store. Liebert Library "My Account" visits jumped from 53 to 212, while home, benefits, and store visits fell.
What I recommend: Shorter, more urgent story teasers in each email, one matching call to action per story, and tagged links so we could measure it. The goal: 5% more issue clicks.
RESULTS
05
What changed in one year.
Five things that were different twelve months later.
MINE
What I built
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Brand guide and about 60 templates
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AI workflows for newsletters and presentations
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Cvent registration sites for the Annual Conference and FLSA Academy
-
Delivery emails and custom subject lines
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Annual Conference materials: slide and handout templates, ads, and flyers
-
Ads for association publications like CSDA and ACSA
SHARED
What I did with others
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Billing rebuild, with our senior training specialist
-
Practice Group webinars, with attorneys and Training
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Nexl Engage launch: I ran testing and owned design
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Publication reporting for management
SOURCES
How I report results
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Numbers come from billing records, Issuu, and LinkedIn reporting
-
Team results are labeled as team results
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Client details are removed
-
Some visuals are recreated for this page
REFLECTION
What I'm taking to the next job.
06
01
Unglamorous work can pay.
A billing spreadsheet isn't portfolio eye candy, but it got five quarters of fees billed.
Four lessons from a year of making legal marketing easier to run.
02
Good templates free you up.
The best template is one a teammate can edit without asking me.
03
AI drafts. People decide.
Every workflow I built ended with a human check before anything shipped.
04
Read the whole dashboard.
Impressions fell while clicks and California readers rose. One number would have told the wrong story.
NEXT
What I'd build next
With another year:
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A no-code page builder for the website. I proposed Elementor, and it was queued behind older system upgrades.
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One shared template library with clear owners.
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Written SOPs for billing and newsletters, so they don't depend on one person.
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A monthly dashboard that separates reach from action.
Let's Make Complex Marketing Easier to Operate
I'm in Los Angeles and open to hybrid or on-site roles. Let's talk.
"Kalle's a strong designer, which you'd expect, but the part people miss is how useful he is on the technical side too. He gets more out platforms like Cvent than anyone I've worked with, our sites came out looking like custom builds. He's also easy to work with, responds fast, doesn't get defensive about feedback, and helps people out when he doesn't have to. Glad he's on the team."
Nicholas Rescigno
Senior Marketing Technology Operations Specialist,
Liebert Cassidy Whitmore