Eimer Stahl

Eimer Stahl is a trim, agile firm with extraordinary client relationships that uses advanced technology and strategic insight to quickly mobilize to big firm capacity.

Eimer Stahl Klevorn & Solberg LLP (Eimer Stahl) is a national litigation firm in Chicago founded in 2000 to resolve the largest, most complex legal matters for America’s corporations. It performs securities and antitrust work, multidistrict environmental and product liability litigation, and high-stakes contract disputes. The four founding partners left an established global legal firm to create a different kind of law firm.

Goals

Build recognition for the new law firm and transcend the category.

Articulate a differentiated brand strategy and positioning.

Create a visual identity system across media.

Establish a fluid, effective, strategic marketplace communication system.

When we formed Eimer Stahl in 2000, we set out to create a different kind of law firm—one that would deliver outstanding results for clients, but take a more personal, creative approach to getting there. And that’s what we’ve done. Nate Eimer

Managing Partner Eimer Stahl

Process and strategy: Unlike traditional litigation firms, Eimer Stahl wanted to make litigation more cost-effective, more successful, and more enjoyable. Despite their stellar individual reputations, the partners acknowledged that launching a new small law firm was a risk. None of the partners had ever created a new company. They retained Crosby Associates to help them develop a brand value proposition, a mission statement, a positioning platform, and an identity. Crosby Associates facilitated an off-site meeting with the founding partners to discuss the new firm’s goals, philosophy, personality, and unique strengths. Joining Crosby’s team was Cheryl Slover-Linett, a strategist and joint facilitator. The team drafted a list of key marketing strategy deliverables, using a hierarchy of brand values and associated client benefits. After the partners’ agreement, Crosby began to design. Creative solution: Crosby designed a very confident, streamlined sans serif logotype and applied a new sensibility across media. Dramatic black-and-white photography is used in the website and in the firm brochure. A marketing system was designed to be sent out regularly to clients and other lawyers. The format, a 4" x 5" gatefold card, is used consistently regardless of the announcement or invitation. But the mailing is always a surprise. The first one was an invitation to a Rolling Stones concert for the band’s opening event. Others include newsworthy announcements, such as an open house or a firm anniversary. Results: Being a small firm with a big firm capability has proven to be a successful strategy. Eimer Stahl was named one of the best boutique firms in the country by The American Lawyer, and Crain named it the best law firm in Chicago in 2004. Crosby Associates developed a launch plan to help Eimer Stahl implement its new brand in the legal marketplace. The firm has doubled in size since its founding, from twenty-five attorneys to fifty. Marketing is integral to growth.

Crosby has designed a system for us that continues to bring our message to the market, in a way that is clever, appropriate, and differentiated. Nate Eimer

Managing Partner Eimer Stahl