Wearing all black, including a petite witch's hat and dark eye shadow, Leigh Tyson is surrounded by (digital) skulls. A labor and employment partner in the Atlanta office of Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, Tyson turns to the camera and welcomes her audience to a special Halloween-themed episode of ConstangyTV: Close-Up on Workplace Law, the monthly video series she hosts. The episode, “HR Horror Stories,” included segments on terrifying time-keeping practices, noncompete nightmares and the harassment chamber of horrors.

Robin Hensley, Raising the Bar (Photo: John Disney / ALM)

Videos are nothing new on law firm websites, but engaging videos like those produced by Constangy are breaking new ground in the law firm world. While many firms produce videos that seem calculated to test the wakefulness of viewers, Constangy's videos actually hold viewers to the end. Chief Marketing Officer Tori Whitaker knew when she pushed for videos that they would have to be entertaining as well as smart and packed with useful information in order to develop a following among the firm's audience of busy, high-level clients. She wanted a marketing tool that allowed the personalities of the firm's lawyers to come through. ROI has shown opportunities for cross-selling, and the firm is getting plenty of positive, anecdotal feedback. People are watching.

In the Halloween video, the energy between Tyson and her interviewee, partner Jena S. Cottreau (wearing red devil horns), an employment lawyer in the Washington, D.C. Metro, office, is palpable. Cottreau deadpans into the camera, warning viewers to be “afraid, very afraid,” as she explains the case of a West Virginia company that employed a biometric timekeeping system. An employee refused to use it, claiming it imprinted the “mark of the beast” on timesheets. The employer thought it was ridiculous until a jury ruled in the plaintiff's favor. The lesson on religious accommodation is interspersed with cuts between Tyson and Cottreau, both of whom change holiday headgear each time. It took them several takes to record the interview because they were laughing so hard.

“We try to make it like two friends talking about things,” says Tyson. The firm has almost 200 lawyers but the culture of a smaller office, and the easy back-and-forth on the videos conveys the firm's real-world camaraderie. Explains Tyson: “We're real people, not just these nerdy lawyers.”

The wizard behind the curtain is partner Robin Shea. Based in the firm's Winston-Salem, N.C., office, she is editor-in-chief of firm publications, including its “Employment & Labor Insider” blog. She writes the video scripts and edits the interviews.

The firm launched ConstangyTV early this year and typically produces the episodes monthly. In the beginning, the partners read the scripts word-for-word. As they logged more experience, they ad-libbed more and realized it gave the videos a more authentic voice. Tyson remembers her first interview with partner Cara Crotty, “We were practicing facial expressions and didn't know what to expect. Once we realized the benefits of editing, it made it a lot easier,” she recalls.

Tyson says there is a learning curve for videos. There are lots of technical lessons—lighting, software, choice of backgrounds and clothing—but the biggest lesson she has learned is to encourage her subjects to relax and make all of it fun for the viewer. Attorneys are used to giving presentations, she says, but being on camera is a different world for most people.

For firms thinking about adding a video component to their marketing spend, Tyson stresses the amount of time it takes to make a short video. Five minutes of video may be the product of an hour in front of the camera and hours of editing followed by internal feedback and approvals.

The firm has no plans to slow down in 2018. And before the year ends, the firm will consider a holiday-themed episode. After all, when it comes to labor and employment issues, there's no shortage of interesting real-world stories from the ghosts of holiday parties past.

Robin Hensley is president of Raising the Bar and has coached lawyers in business development for more than 25 years. She is the author of “Raising the Bar: Legendary Rainmakers Share Their Business Development Secrets.”