THE GROWTH OF DESKTOP PUBLISHING HAS LED TO AN INCREASE IN NEWSLETTER PRODUCTION BY LAW FIRMS.

STEPHEN WARD LOOKS AT WHAT IS ON OFFER.A newsletter is the public face of a firm.

The recipient judges the firm not just on the words, but on the publication's design and quality.Paul Wilson who is marketing manager of Irwin Mitchell, puts his finger on the nature of the dilemma of producing a newsletter for clients.

He says: 'You have to use reasonably good paper, quality printing and so on.

You do not want to look cheap.

But on the other hand you do not want to look too extravagant, because clients know that the money to produce it comes from the fees they pay.'There is no correlation between the wealth of a firm and the glossiness of its publication.

Lovett White Durrant (LWD), based in the City and with almost 150 UK partners, produces two-colour, A4 sheets stapled together.

Arguably a firm which can put 'London, Chicago, New York, Paris, Brussels, Prague, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo' addresses inside the back cover does not need to display its success in a newsletter.

There are no photographs in their publications, only law reports and legal commentary.According to Janet Frangs, of LWD's business development department, which oversees the publications: 'We have to balance what we are providing with the amount of energy that needs to go into it.'A more typical format is an A4 sized booklet, made by folding an A3 sheet in half to give four sides of copy.

Wragge & Co in Birmingham has around 50 partners and produces newsletters of between two to four sides of A4, depending on subject area, on glossy white paper, in two or three colours.Some of Wragge & Co's newsletters have photographs.

The pages display a symbol behind the text -- scales of justice.

The newsletters contain legal news, plus a profile of a solicitor and plugs for staff who have won awards.Irwin Mitchell, a similar-sized firm, uses glossy A4 paper for its newsletter.

Its design includes lots of black text boxes and different headline sizes and typefaces.

It has small photographs of new employee s, and sometimes the odd cartoon.Addleshaw Booth is a union of two firms in Manchester and Leeds which merged in February.

The firm now has almost 100 partners.

Its first newsletter published following the merger is purely marketing -- introducing the new structure and the new faces; there is no legal information.Clifton Ingram in Wokingham, a much smaller firm with eight partners, uses a two-colour, A4 format for its newsletter which contains cartoons from Private Eye.Lewis Sitkin, which has won Design and Art Directors Association awards for its newsletters uses a different format -- by folding A4 paper in half along its length the newsletter's appearance is tall and thin, laid out as a single column newspaper cutting on each page.

Professional designers created the format and produce each cover.Stephen Groom, a Lewis Sitkin partner, and head of intellectual property, explains: 'It's an established format for us, and one which we hope is quite distinctive.'The burgeoning of newsletter production has coincided with the computer and printing revolution of the 1990s.

The size of a firm seems to affect how many editions of a newsletter are published, rather than how glossy it is.

Clifton Ingram produces two publications -- one for private and one for corporate clients; Wragge & Co produces four; white LWD have produced 15 on specialist areas such as environmental tobacco smoke and a document running to 40 pages on updated European Union law.LWD is big enough to have its own desktop publishing and print departments, but paradoxically this is not the luxury it may sound to smaller firms.

According to Janet Frangs: 'Photographs take a long time to set.

Our print room is extremely busy.

Whenever we send down anything with photos, they just throw it back, so we keep it as simple as possible.'Clifton Ingram contracts out layout and production to a constant who used to be an employee before moving into desktop publishing.

Irwin Mitchett employed designers to create a newsletter, but in-house staff lay out editions using an Apple Macintosh computer and DTP software.

According to Paul Wilson, the marketing manager, this gives flexibility and speed.SJ Berwin & Co, which produces a two colour, A4 newsletter, has an in-house designer, Sue Ryder, and contracts out the printing.In all firms solicitors write the legal content, with varying amounts of informal or formal editing.

Irwin Mitchett has an editorial committee of two partners and two staff from its marketing department.Which are the cost-effective ones? It is hard to know for sure, because different firms want them to achieve different things.

Stephen Groom of Lewis Sitkin says his firm's newsletters combine the role of a brochure listing services on offer in each area, with that of a legal information provider giving value to the client.

He adds: 'We also hope they are a highly useful marketing tool.'Like other firms Lewis Sitkin distributes newsletters not only to clients, but to potential clients, for example at seminars.

Other firms distribute through banks and insurance companies.

According to Janet Frangs of LWD: 'The purpose is not to get new clients -- if we do that it is a bonus.

The intention is to keep clients informed about the law.'Paul Wilson of Irwin Mitchett agrees the process is more subtle than a sales pitch.

The point of a newsletter is to develop the profile of the firm, to point out how fast it has grown, and that it is now expert in areas it did not cover ten years ago.Mr Wilson explains: 'Every article is written by a solicitor and at the end r eaders are invited to contact the solicitor for more information.

Although work may not develop from it, it is part of a relationship and we're building on that.'WRITING, DESIGNING AND DISTRIBUTING A FIRM'S NEWSLETTER CAN SEEM A DAUNTING BUSINESS.

PAT PORTER GIVES ADVICE ON WHERE TO START.Providing that it is done well, a newsletter is as good as a tap on the shoulder and gentler than a phone call at reminding existing and potential clients that a firm is available.While it can be relatively informal a newsletter must be visually appealing and reflect the status of the firm.

The tasks involved in producing a newsletter include: -- writing the content-- designing a masthead and style guidelines-- page layout, proof-reading and corrections,-- printing (including scanning photographs) -- distributionCollect some newsletters and try to figure out what makes some attractive and why others head straight for the bin.Think about how readers approach newsletters.

They probably look at pictures, headlines, captions and text in that order.

This initial scan is so quick that everything on the page must help the reader.

How the page looks or is laid out has as big an impact as the text.A newsletter is meant to impress clients so spend time on the appearance.

Bad design will undermine a firm's image.

The golden rule is to keep it simple by following a few tried and tested guidelines.

A designer can produce each newsletter or create a style guide and page templates for in-house staff to use in conjunction with word-processing computer software.

In the long-term the second option might be cheaper than buying desktop publishing (DTP) software.

All software takes time to learn and if untrained staff use DTP packages the result may not be worth either the time or money.

The software provides the tools, but knowledge and flair are necessary to implement them.However, design is an accessible skill and there are plenty of books and courses to help staff who are keen to learn.

Micwrosoft Publisher DTP software for PCs is available for less than £100.

It provides ready made templates for a newsletter and other items like leaflets, ways to format text and some typefaces.Hold back on gimmicks to avoid the risk of compromising the firm's style and authority.

Do not be tempted to fill all the space on a page.

White space around borders and short chunks of text with space between them will have much more impact than a densely packed page.

Column measures should be no more than 60 mm wide, while headlines and introductory paragraphs (standfirsts) can go the full width of the article.

Very narrow columns are not easy to read -- anything narrower than 45mm is likely to cause problems.

Cross headings are eye-catching and make the columns more easily digestible.

Justify text for the best legibility.

Bold or capitalised text tends to 'shout' at the reader so use it sparingly.Pictures are what people took at first so if a photo is used, make it worthwhile.

Cartoons can also be effective.

The Punch Cartoon Library will do a free 20 minute search and will fax copies of relevant cartoons which have previously been used in Punch.

They will charge a reproduction fee for each cartoon used which will vary depending upon the circulation.If the primary aim of a newsletter is to promote the authoritative image of a firm, it is likely to have articles about legal developments and legal pitalls.

A firm's status may also be enhanced by articles about a new office opening, new staff being taken on or promoted.

List business won and give example case his tories.A smaller firm will usually be concerned about generating immediate business and maintaining an existing client base.

Detail new services available or have a column dealing with frequently asked questions, hints and tips.Including a tear-off reply slip in each issue is one way of ensuring an interactive exchange.

Information on a particular service or a trial consultation can be offered, but always include a couple of questions for market research.

Decide on how to print the newsletter because that will affect the design and the amount of required content.There are three production choices: use the office laser printer, photocopy it, or use a commercial printer.

Consider whether it will it be a simple A4 format printed on both sides or A3 folded to make a four page newsletter? Should you use colour or keep to black and white? A second colour can add a lot of punch.A printer can supply an annual stock of paper pre-printed with a firm's logo and the name of its newsletter.

The newsletter's text can then be printed on the paper using an office laser printer.Using a commercial printer to produce each issue is generally better value for money for print-runs of over 500 copies.It is expensive to make corrections once the newsletter has been handed to the printer so make sure that at least two people have read the proofs thoroughly.Finally, remember a newsletter must appear on clients' desks at least twice a year so producing it entails a regular commitment from the firm.