Plus! No, Batman is not on the list
Goodbye (Again)
Roger Federer retired from professional tennis in 2022.
But this past week, he came back to New York to say goodbye.
Federer’s last U.S. Open match came all the way back in 2019, when he lost in the quarterfinals. At the time, nobody knew it would be his last appearance at Arthur Ashe Stadium. He missed the tournament the following year while recovering from knee surgery, ultimately playing in his final Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2021.
So on Tuesday, the U.S. Open brought him back.
Federer returned to Flushing Meadows for an exhibition alongside Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi, and John McEnroe, giving thousands of fans another chance to see him swing a racquet—and giving Federer a chance to say thank you.
And the timing couldn’t be better: this weekend he’ll be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport.
Federer won 20 Grand Slams. He won the U.S. Open five years in a row.Nobody needed another match to remember him.
But there was something unresolved about the way his relationship with New York ended.
So the powers that be decided to rewrite it, giving Federer a sendoff worthy of his stature as one of the greatest to ever play the game.
“It really gives me a true opportunity to say thank you, goodbye,” he said before the exhibition. “Which is I think important for some.”
Law firms spend an enormous amount of time thinking about beginnings (How fast did we respond to the referral? What happens during intake? What does onboarding look like?)…but endings matter too.
The end of the case may be the beginning of the most important part of the relationship.
There’s a world where they won’t need your services ever again.
But the impression you leave on them as things close out is what turns them from a client into a referral source.
Take the time. Thank them in person. Ask how you could have served them better. Say you hope you can keep in touch.
Then do it (NOTE: A weekly email is a pretty solid way to stay in their life, and we know a few incredible writers who’d be happy to do the work on your behalf).
Because the client who remembers how thoughtfully you closed things out is the person who may recommend you to a neighbor three years from now.
Just remember that there are two moments when people are especially likely to remember how you made them feel: When you meet, and when you say goodbye.
Don’t lose sight of one because you’re so focused on the other.
And if you have, take a cue from the USTA, and make it right.
Four Quick Email Ideas: Michael Keaton Edition
You wanna get nuts? Here are four simple emails you can write this week, inspired by the works of the incomparable Michael Keaton, who turns 75 on Saturday, September 5.
MULTIPLICITY IN MULTIPLICITY, KEATON DISCOVERS THE OBVIOUS SOLUTION TO AN OVERSTUFFED LIFE: CLONING HIMSELF. THEN HE MAKES ANOTHER CLONE. THEN THE CLONES CLONE THEMSELVES. THINGS DEVOLVE FROM THERE. SINCE YOU CAN’T CLONE YOURSELF (YET), WHAT’S SOMETHING AT YOUR FIRM YOU HELD ONTO FAR LONGER THAN YOU SHOULD HAVE BECAUSE YOU WERE CONVINCED NOBODY ELSE COULD DO IT? WHAT FINALLY MADE YOU DELEGATE? IF YOU COULD CLONE YOURSELF TOMORROW, WHICH TASK WOULD CLONE #2 INHERIT IMMEDIATELY?
Spotlight
This is one of those movies that just shows a group of competent people doing their jobs, day in, day out. The reporters in Spotlight don’t uncover their story through one dramatic revelation. They grind through records, interviews, old directories, and seemingly minor details until the larger picture becomes undeniable. What’s a case where persistence mattered more than one brilliant moment? What tiny detail eventually changed everything? Why do the wheels of justice turn so so so slowly from time to time (read: most of the time)?
Birdman
Birdman feels like a magic trick, constructed to feel like one long, unbroken take, with the camera flowing from scene to scene as though the entire movie is happening in real time. Keaton is incredible, but the camera work is really the star. What part of your work looks seamless to clients only because of an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes preparation? What processes have you built so the handoffs, deadlines, calls, filings, and strategy all feel like one continuous experience?
Beetlejuice
At its core, Beetlejuice is a real estate dispute: Adam and Barbara die, someone else buys their house, and the former owners would very much like the new occupants to leave. They bring in someone (something?) to help with the problem, but end up making things significantly worse. How many times have you seen a similar situation with a client? How were you able to help?
Why We Go Live
On Wednesday, we held another edition of RKC Live.
We paid our respects to Dolly. And to Tim Curry. We talked about how to ride the wave of a culturally impactful death without steering into the morbid (or lingering too long on the mundane).
We talked about the power of specificity. We talked about Jeff’s dog. We talked about the right way to open presents over the holidays, then realized we might not agree.
But the most engaging part of the session was when we were asked about the reason the Roundup is “long” while the emails we write for our clients are often ⅓ the length of what we send out on our own behalf each week.
The short version of why this is a long email is that (because it’s a roundup) we try to offer a little something for everyone each week…
And a handful of little somethings add up to a long one thing.
For our clients, we’re typically writing on a single topic.
And we find that when we focus client emails on something personal and/or aligned with the clients’ practice area, we don’t need to write quite as much.
Sure, every now and again we’ll do a deep dive on an issue our clients are really passionate about, or a writer will get on a roll and the emails eclipse 500 words.
But most of the time, we’re in, we’re raising awareness or driving a call to action (or both), and we’re out.
It was a great question to receive (thanks, Larry!), and is also a reminder that good content is often derived from good questions.
And you know better than anyone that your clients are asking questions of you all the time.
They ask questions during intake. They ask questions during meetings. They reply to emails with “one quick question…” that ends up being one really, really long one.
So the next time you’re staring at a blank screen wondering what to write about, open your sent folder.
Look at the last 20 questions you’ve answered.
Or talk to whoever handles intake. Ask your paralegal what clients seem perpetually confused about.
Think about the sentence you’ve said so many times you could deliver it in your sleep.
There’s probably an email in there.
Maybe several.
One of the reasons our Creative Calls generate so many ideas is that we’re essentially doing the same thing: asking questions until we get to something specific or special…
Then we keep pulling.
Why do you believe that? When did you learn that? Has a client ever ignored that advice? What happened?
Think about the last great answer you shared. How’d you come to that knowledge?
Tell that story…and in so doing, answer one of your most commonly-asked questions.
Thanks for all who joined us for Red Kraken Live. If there’s something you’d like us to tackle during a future RKC Live, reply and let us know.
Or ask us in the moment…we can take it!