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Baretz+Brunelle Acquires Leading Legal Industry Advisory Firm Berardi Consulting

Business Wire

October 20, 2021

 

NEW YORK - October 20, 2021Baretz+Brunelle today announced that Jeff Berardi, an executive widely regarded as one of the legal industry’s most respected marketing and business development advisors, has joined the firm as a partner after merging his consulting firm, Berardi Consulting LLC, into B+B.

Berardi previously served as chief marketing officer at global law firm K&L Gates, chief marketing & communications officer at global management consulting firm Ankura and, for the past two years, founder and principal of Berardi Consulting. There, he amassed a strong client roster of Am Law 100 law firms and other legal industry businesses, including Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Lowenstein Sandler and VLP Law Group, among others, all of which he will continue to serve at B+B.

Berardi’s services will provide a perfect complement and bridge to B+B’s growing NewLaw practice, which is focused on helping businesses in the legal industry to develop, build and deploy new legal services delivery initiatives, with the ultimate goal of increasing revenue and profitability. With Berardi, Baretz+Brunelle adds the ability to offer additional advisory services focused on growth and profitability to the firm’s world-class legal industry clients. These services include:

  • Developing tactics and integrated programs to strengthen existing client relationships;
  • Creating new revenue opportunities via client acquisition strategies in established and new markets as well as through the exploration/launch of new service lines; and
  • Identifying operational efficiencies to prioritize high-value activities within a department, practice group or administrative function.

In addition to his advisory services, Berardi also delivers interactive and customized training and coaching for law firm partners, associates and C-suite executives; organizational design and architecture for marketing/BD functions; and merger integration services for law firms and other growing businesses.

“Jeff is one of the most respected legal marketing professionals in our industry. He has built a reputation as a go-to advisor for top law firm CMOs, but also many others in law firm leadership as firms continue to mature in their support of marketing and BD as a critical business function,” said Spencer Baretz and Cari Brunelle, co-founders of Baretz+Brunelle. “It is truly an honor to now call him our partner and have the ability to offer his expertise to our clients.”

During his more than 15-year tenure at K&L Gates, Berardi was responsible for managing marketing, business development and sales, and leading a team of more than 100 professionals. His successes include personally directing the launch of the K&L Gates brand in 2007, which quickly grew to become a top 20 global law firm brand under his oversight. In his role at Ankura, a firm that was recognized as one of the five fastest growing consulting companies in Consulting Magazine, Berardi was responsible for overseeing a global team of marketing professionals who supported the firm’s operations in its offices around the world.

“B+B is widely regarded as the most sophisticated advisory firm in the legal industry, especially in the marketing and communications space,” said Berardi. “When our discussions began, I quickly realized the firm’s platform was a perfect place for me to expand my own practice and be even more valuable to B+B’s current roster of world-class legal industry clients. I, too, am honored to be here.”

A regular speaker at industry conferences, Berardi has been interviewed by various publications, including being quoted in a 2019 book titled “Best Practices in Law Firm Business Development and Marketing,” and contributed chapters to the “Inside the Minds” series published by Thomson Reuters. In 2011, Berardi was named the international “Marketing Professional of the Year” during the Hildebrandt Institute’s 18th Annual Marketing Partner Forum, an award recognizing the most innovative marketing professionals. In addition, Berardi has served as a Seven Generations board member for the international nonprofit organization, City Year and in an advisory capacity for the Legal Marketing Association and the Professional Services Growth Alliance. Berardi received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his MBA from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester.