THE CHALLENGE: Most law firms can offer up an embarrassment of riches. And therein lies the rub. With their respective litanies of degrees, specialty areas, high profile victories, power suits and penthouse suites, they all begin to blur together. How do we unearth a distinction worth building a brand around?

THE APPROACH: The answer came from talking (actually listening really, really carefully) to staff, former staff, clients and other members of the legal community. And though their responses were elusive, between the lines we saw a common thread emerging: Tonkon Torp lawyers were just plain good. Not in some quantifiable, statistical way but in that divine driven way great surgeons, house painters, mechanics and ball players prevail: talent.

THE WORK: Our resultant position? “Tonkon Torp. There’s no substitute for talent.” It not only aptly articulated what we’d learned, but dared to say something in a sea of legal advertising strangely leery of claiming anything. Even better, it’s impossible to be trumped. Hard work, diligence, service, etc. are great, laudable, respectable. But once you’ve laid claim to something as defining as talent, everyone else is playing for second place.