Thelen’s accelerated schedule

Originally posted 2008-09-12 09:00:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Grim branding days at Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner! What do you do when you’re called Thelen Reid & Priest, having once been Thelen, Marrin, Johnson & Bridges and having changed your name after merging with Reid & Preist, and you like how that went so much that you figure why, let’s do it again, and you merge with Brown Raysman & Steiner ….

. . . and change your name to Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner . . .

. . . and within two years you lose Brown . . .

. . . Raysman . . .

. . . and Steiner?

Why, you do that branding-name-change thingy you had planned all along, that’s what!

In a move to present a clear and strong brand in the legal marketplace, Thelen LLP, an international Am Law 100 law firm, announced today that it is officially shortening the firm name.

The name change will be effective September 9 and will better reflect the firm’s 80-year history as one of the world’s premier law firms. A single corporate identity also has the added benefit of consistent branding in the domestic and global markets in which Thelen operates.

The change of the legal name follows the firm’s decision last year to implement a new “Thelen” logo for purposes of branding and marketing.

Good timing.  Actually, the claim is mainly credible.  One-namers are all the rage, and Thelen, with its carousel of acquisitions, mergers and name changes, was indeed hard to track.

On the other hand, it’s also hard to comprehend how “The name change . . . will better reflect the firm’s 80-year history as one of the world’s premier law firms.”  Not because it’s not true or anything about 80 premier years and stuff.   That’s not for us to say (others are less shy).  But there’s a decided lack of logical flow here.  How exactly does shaving a name that once bespoke the heritage of a generation of crusty, estimable founders down to a slick, logo-based legal version of “Coke” or “Google” uh, do all those things?

Well, let’s say you’re called Thelen Reid & Preist and you merge with a firm called Brown Raysman & Steiner andwithin two years you lose Brown… Raysman… and Steiner . . .

“Better reflect . . . premier . . . 80 years . . . yeah, that’s the ticket!”

UPDATE:  Uh oh.

Originally posted 2015-07-25 23:11:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Ron Coleman