Last week, Jaffe colleagues from across the country came together for a two-day retreat and a meeting of the marketing minds in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is a tourist city where historic buildings, stories of witchcraft, gift shops, and a healthy appreciation for the dramatic all live on the same block. You can get your tarot cards read, buy an ice cream cone, perform a séance, and visit a cemetery full of alleged witches, all by lunchtime.
We also made our way to nearby Marblehead, where, long before Yankees-Red Sox became one of New England’s signature rivalries, the little harbor city had its own clash of identities with Salem. Salem had the Puritans and its strict rules. Marblehead had fishermen, its feistier independent streak, and a lot of boats and bars.
Two entirely different cultures, but two small towns very comfortable in their identities and way of life. And there was something very fitting about a small but mighty remote company of nearly 20 employees gathering to celebrate an identity built on a mix of talents that, on their own, are impressive, but together become something even better.
Because Jaffe is a remote-work organization, there was something especially meaningful about gathering in person. But rather than feeling like a first introduction, the retreat felt like a continuation of chemistry and synergy, and conversations, collaboration, and relationships that had already been built through working together every day across different cities and time zones.
It was a chance not only to spend time together in person, but also to reflect on what makes Jaffe such a distinctive and diverse team: the breadth of experience, perspective, and talent that exists across the agency.
Jaffe is made up of former journalists, news editors, and broadcasters who understand media relations. Former in-house law firm communicators – Am Law 100 and 200 chief marketing officers, directors, and managers – who understand the operational complexity of running an in-house marketing department. Former lawyers who know how to translate complex legal work into compelling media opportunities. Rankings professionals who understand how credibility still matters. Digital website experts, along with some of the most creative design professionals in the business, who understand how AI is changing business and marketing.
We talked shop constantly — the rapid rise of AI in legal marketing, the importance of website backend structure and the evolving value of earned media, and the broader challenges law firms face as they compete for visibility, credibility, and business in an increasingly crowded market.
Those topics alone would have made the retreat worthwhile. But the more interesting part was how many different roads had led people into the same room. Different paths, different strengths, different perspectives — all contributing to a stronger agency.
One colleague had once worked as a launch-boat driver in Marblehead, where she gained her early communication skills, before becoming an attorney and CMO. Another colleague learned early client-service skills by talking to customers at his mother’s nail salon, before he became a marketing design professional. Another had spent years on TV interviewing members of Congress. Others came from law firms themselves, understanding how decisions get made, and how to position professionals who are brilliant lawyers but not always natural self-promoters.
That is the stuff clients do not always see when they look at an agency website. They see titles. They see bios. They see services. What they do not always see is the way those experiences layer on top of each other.
Jaffe’s own history explains part of it. The nation’s oldest public relations and full-service marketing agency tied exclusively to the legal industry was founded in 1978. For nearly 50 years, Jaffe has helped law firms adapt to change as law firm marketing has evolved from taboo to accepted, from print to digital, from brochures to brands, from press clips to analytics dashboards, from relationship lunches to AI search summaries.
But history alone is not what makes Jaffe work. What makes Jaffe work is that its talent is not static. It is curious, collaborative, and continually adapting to meet the moment. That matters because legal marketing today demands more than one skill set. It demands people who know how to spot a story, frame a message, build a brand, and recognize the ability to connect those dots in ways that are useful for clients. It demands range.
That is where Jaffe’s value becomes especially clear. The retreat was a first-hand reminder that when you bring together people from different backgrounds, different corners of the country, and different areas of legal marketing, you do not just build a stronger team. You build a stronger agency, one that is better equipped to help clients navigate complexity, adapt to change, and stand out in a competitive market.
If last week in Salem was any indication, Jaffe’s greatest strength is not just its history. It is the range of experience, perspective, and talent that continues to shape its future.
