With over two decades of executive experience in top-tier Canadian and U.S. law firms, Suzanne Donnels is a global marketing and communications strategist, fractional CMO, and technologist. She helps law firms and legal tech partners make smart investments work. In the real world. With real people. Under real time pressure. Suzanne has more than 30 years in business development and firmwide transformation, and she brings a clear-eyed view of how firms operate: what leaders need to see, what partners will (and won't) use, and how client expectations shape everything from messaging to technology decisions.

Suzanne is a former Chief Marketing Officer for leading international firms in Canada and the United States. She builds integrated strategies that connect marketing, client development, and technology. When those pieces live in separate lanes, the work breaks down. A lot of what she does is translation. She takes client feedback, relationship intelligence, and internal priorities and turns them into decisions leaders can make quickly. Then she turns those decisions into guidance partners can use.

She's often brought in when growth initiatives stall in the gaps: strategy versus execution. Marketing versus business development. Technology capability versus day-to-day adoption. Suzanne aligns people, data, and messaging so the firm can move. Sometimes that means cleaning up and interpreting what the data is saying. Sometimes it means sharpening the story partners are expected to use. And sometimes it means building a rollout plan that respects lean teams and real partner behavior. The goal is the same -- better decisions, stronger client trust, and measurable ROI. Without adding a big new burden to already busy teams.

She also supports firms through combinations and integrations, where business development can lose momentum just when clarity matters most. Suzanne uses relationship intelligence to map shared clients, surface account ownership and conflict risks early, and help leaders make fast, low-burden decisions about client coverage and collaboration. She pairs the data with practical messaging and internal enablement so partners can explain the value of the combination with confidence and protect continuity in service delivery.

Suzanne is known for client interviews that surface clear, usable insights. Not platitudes. Not a list of "clients want more communication." She listens for what's driving decisions, where trust is being built (or eroded), and what specific opportunities and risks the firm can address through service delivery, relationship strategy, and succession planning. Paired with internal stakeholder input, that feedback helps leadership teams decide what to fix, what to double down on, and how to communicate change in a way that lands.

In parallel, Suzanne advises legal tech partners on the legal marketplace -- how law firms run, what drives buying and hiring decisions, and what "law firm language" sounds like. She helps teams translate product value into the politics, priorities, and pressures inside the firm. And she doesn't stop at the deal. She often bridges sales, product, and the client's internal stakeholders to support rollout, adoption, and sustained ROI -- so a well-intended deployment doesn't become shelfware.

Her work sits at the intersection of trust and technology -- including AI and modern client intelligence tools. Suzanne helps leaders sort signal from noise: what will improve client experience and lawyer effectiveness, and what is simply shiny. Then comes the hard part. She designs governance, communications, and change management that support adoption and manage risk. Practical alignment is the through-line -- people, data, and messaging working together so investments protect client trust and future-proof growth.

Suzanne is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management. She serves on the board of ALIGN, and on the editorial boards of the Legal Sales and Service Organization (LSSO) and LMA Strategies and Voices. She works with managing partners, CMOs, COOs, CFOs, and legal innovators who want clear direction, internal alignment, and outcomes they can measure.

LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/suzanne-donnels
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sdonnels/