Function series · The 2027 Class · Nominations open
Behind the Brand
The people who build the brand while the lawyers build the practice.
Marketing, business development and communications leaders at law firms, legal providers and legal departments.
The 2027 Class
The class is forming.
The first names appear here as leaders accept and approve their own card. 12 names have been put forward so far.
Featured in this series
The long form.
Features and lists published in this series. Every piece is the leader's own, approved word by word.
Cover Stories · Sep 2026
Marketers Wanna Market. Let ’Em.
Roy Sexton, Chief Marketing Officer at Vedder and past International President of the Legal Marketing Association, on why legal marketing is a career, not an accident. The lead piece of…
Read→
In Conversation · Sep 2026
There Is No Such Thing as a Legal Issue
Read→
In Conversation · Sep 2026
The Third Option
Read→
AI · Aug 2026
The Question the Risk Register Cannot Answer
Read→
In Conversation · Aug 2026
Best Idea Wins
Read→
Culture · Aug 2026
Commercial First
Read→
In Conversation · Aug 2026
The Same Bet, Twice
Read→The record
Behind the Brand, Edition Two
45 leaders, 35 organizations, 2026. It stays as the record; the 2027 class builds on it.
See the 2026 list→
Why this series
Every firm has a growth function, and almost nobody outside it knows who runs it. This class names the marketers, business developers and communicators who decide how a firm is seen, and it opens with Roy Sexton on why the work is a career, not an accident.
Built the function
Took a department, a brand or a pitch process and made it the thing the firm relies on.
Earned the room
The attorneys call before the task is defined, not after.
Named by peers
Nominated by the people they work with, then reviewed by our desk.
The path
Nominated to featured.
Four steps. Free at every one. Nobody buys a place, and the leader signs off on every word.
Nominated
By a peer, a partner or our desk. Free.
Recognized
A card in the class, from your own answers, approved by you.
In your own words
A longer record from your portal, when you want one.
Featured
A full feature, chosen editorially, never sold.
How the class is chosen
- NowNominations open. Names arrive from peers, partners and our desk.
- As names arriveEach nominee gets a private portal. They accept, answer in their own words and approve their card.
- 2027Features drop through the year, newest first, here.
- December 2027The class is revealed together, as one record.
Trusted partners
The firms this class names.
Leaders name the firms and vendors they trust from inside their portal. Listing is free and comes from the leader, never from a form.
The first names appear here as leaders accept.
Partners of the series
Firms that stand beside the class.
Partners pay to stand beside the class: their name on the series, their ad beside the stories they bring in, and their brand beside the cards of the leaders they bring. The recognition is earned either way. They never choose who is recognized and never touch a word. See the 2027 partner levels→
Bring someone with you.
Know a leader who belongs in this class? A nomination takes five minutes and costs nothing. They hear from us, not from a form, and they approve every word before anything publishes.
