About

“The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time.”

Henry Ford

Our Story

Umbrella’s co-founders have a combined total of over 25 years of experience working in the legal industry. Prior to forming their own marketing firm, Lanna and Dan both worked for one of the largest and most respected legal information companies in the world. They have devoted their entire careers to helping lawyers improve their business efficiencies, legal marketing and client development strategies. They have seen the limited marketing options available to legal professionals, and knew they could offer something bigger and better. They handpicked a team of talented and uniquely qualified individuals with a variety of skill sets and backgrounds, in order to produce better results in every respect. The Umbrella team of creators is comprised of intelligent, talented and creative innovators at the top of their games, who are skilled at interpreting and reflecting each client’s wishes in all aspects of a marketing strategy.

Umbrella Legal Marketing offers a boutique experience in brand building. Based on a foundation of true partnership, customization and comprehensiveness we consistently deliver excellent results for our clients. We are a small company, and we pride ourselves on our personal service. We only work with a certain number of clients at a time, in order to ensure that each client always receives individual attention. With Umbrella, you won’t be lost in the crowd.

Co-Managing Partner

Lanna Barrison,

LL.B

Lanna is a lawyer by training and a legal marketer by passion. She began her professional career at a well-known mid-sized Toronto law firm and for more than 14 years has been immersed in the legal industry, including her work with one of the largest and most respected global providers of legal information in the world. During her tenure there, Lanna held a variety of roles where she developed a strong understanding of the business of law.   As a lawyer, legal marketer and business owner, Lanna brings a unique point of view and comprehensive knowledge to the multi-faceted, complex and highly-competitive legal sector. Lanna is meticulous and analytical with a creative eye and proven aesthetic flair. She is a strategic thinker by nature, which when coupled with her varied and extensive experience proves to be a powerful combination.   When Lanna isn’t helping lawyers with their brand and business development, she’s hiding from her family looking to catch up on some much needed sleep and/or Arrested Development reruns. Lanna foolishly married a criminal defence lawyer with whom she has two beautiful children and a shee-shee-poo-poo shih tzu. Lanna is a zealous advocate for narcolepsy awareness and is the author of an award winning blog on the subject. Lanna’s big heart drives success.   Email: lanna@umbrellalegalmarketing.com Phone: 416-560-8806

Co-Managing Partner

Dan Davidson

An established industry professional with over 15 years of experience in the legal and technology sectors, Dan has a unique perspective and in-depth understanding of the legal marketing landscape in Canada.   His avant-garde sense of creativity and non-linear approach to seemingly straight forward situations allows him to help his clients standout in a saturated market. Dan’s clients appreciate his passion for challenging the status quo, his astute business acumen and his drive for positively impacting a firm’s bottom line.   Dan lives in Oakville, humbly and happily taking his place in a four-tiered family pecking order that goes beautiful wife, spirited daughter, moderately-intelligent Boston Terrier and him.   Dan is an sub-average golfer, a bit of a wine snob and an extremely enthusiastic Jays fan. Go Jays!   Email: dan@umbrellalegalmarketing.com Phone: 416-356-4672

Public Relations & Community Marketing

Carol Endicott

With over 10 years of media and influencer relations, marketing communications, social media engagement and event management experience, Carol manages Umbrella Legal Marketing Public Relations, Social Media & Community Marketing client programs.

Carol’s extensive consumer, corporate and retail PR background includes in-house as well as agency experience and she has worked on various local and global brands.  With her extensive experience in media relations and strategic planning, Carol is a self-described multi-tasking ace and passionate about all-things communication.

When Carol isn’t developing powerful PR programs, she loves spending time with her husband at the cottage, travelling to warm destinations and day tripping on the motorcycle.

 

Lead Developer

Derek Leung

As Lead Developer, Derek spends time on pushing pixels, and working with the team on crafting awesome digital experiences for our clients.   Coming from a background in design and then moving on to front-end development after graduating College, Derek has always enjoyed the creative process in addition to the developmental work that goes into creating any digital work. He primarily speaks HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript and enjoys working with the latest tools and frameworks that emerge through the fast-growing world of code.   When he’s not designing or developing, Derek loves to travel and occasionally likes to pretend he’s a professional photographer.

Account Manager

Natalie Maizlin

Natalie Maizlin completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree with honours at York University and later went on to earning her diploma as a paralegal.  She has many years of legal experience as a paralegal where she worked for a personal injury firm. Following that, she worked as an in-house law clerk for a fast-pasted corporation, which prides its self on being a leader in the consumer loyalty program industry.   After many years in the legal industry she took time off to be with her family and to raise her 4 beautiful children ranging in ages from 2 to 11 years old.  Raising her 4 kids has made her a master at managing deadlines, juggling multiple schedules and keeping organized.   When she isn’t working hard at keeping her clients needs met and her co-workers organized, she’s volunteering at her kids school events and classroom activities, cheering them on at soccer, basketball and karate, and most recently taking up skiing lessons to try and keep up with her boys!

Director of Legal and Marketing Content

Cary Jackson

As Director of Legal and Marketing Content at Umbrella Legal Marketing, Cary oversees our clients’ website and blog content. She is dedicated to helping clients grow their business through articulate and engaging written content. Cary is a skilled writer with an analytical mind and has been lucky enough to use her skillset in research, writing, editing, and presenting in a variety of professional forums.

Cary spent the first seven years of her career as a general civil litigation lawyer, focusing on employment law and child protection matters. Her practice refined her courtroom presence both within Winnipeg’s city limits and in remote northern communities. After leaving private practice, she worked as a public interest disclosures investigator, tasked with investigating allegations of serious wrongdoing in the Manitoba provincial public service. Her investigations resulted in the implementation of several recommendations to improve public operations and provide greater protections to whistleblowers within the government and provincially-funded agencies.

As a born and bred prairie girl, Cary is based in Winnipeg and is passionate about the local arts scene. She spends as much time as possible at the theatre, museums and art galleries, music festivals, live concerts, and the opera. She also loves animals and is currently owned by two entitled cats and a crazy terrier.

Lead SEO Strategist & Developer

Ross Merriam

Ross Merriam has been designing and coding websites professionally for the last ten years. While living in Vancouver, he worked with some of Canada’s leading digital agencies on campaigns with clients such as: Hootesuite, Moto Guzzi, AOL, and F-Cancer.

 

Ross is an experienced back-end and front-end developer with experience in Linux servers, web scraping, and business automation.

 

When Ross isn’t looking at a computer screen he’s probably walking his dog.

Sr. Legal Writer & Blog Specialist

Kiah Cato

Kiah Cato is Umbrella Legal Marketing’s Senior Writer and Blog Specialist. She has a Juris Doctorate from the University of Ottawa specializing in International Law, and a Baccalaureate in Criminal Justice and Public Policy from the University of Guelph. She also has a Diploma in Paralegal Studies from Sheridan College.

A self-described “Renaissance woman,” Kiah’s professional experience spans law, government, media, and wellness. Previously, she worked as a public servant for the federal government focusing on International Trade. She has also worked in public relations for a record label and has written scripts for video content. Through the years, Kiah has modelled in print and commercial ads for brands including Bell Canada, Sportchek, Woods Canada, and General Motors. However, the better part of her career has been spent running her own business as a yoga instructor.

Creating engaging and personal content is something Kiah has been passionate about since she could first access a computer. This passion led to the creation of her own podcast between 2020-21, called Not All Millennials, where she conducted long-form interviews with various friends and professionals with atypical life experiences. Although her podcasting days are more or less behind her, Kiah is always looking for a new creative project to dive into in her free time.

What Our Clients Say About Us

  • I could not say enough good things about Umbrella. My firm has been working with Umbrella for several years and everyone there has been great to work with. Thanks to Umbrella my firm has had very positive results in developing our reach online and in social media. There is no doubt that our practice has grown thanks to Umbrella. They are good people who do great work.

    David Derfel

    Derfel Injury Lawyers

    • “Umbrella Legal Marketing assisted enormously in transitioning and re-branding Petker Campbell Postnikoff.  Dan was an invaluable resource, with long-range strategic advice, hands-on practical design ideas and a willingness to work with us to give shape to our vision.  Lanna was OK, too.  It was refreshing to work closely with talented professionals who clearly care about the service they provide, the product they deliver and the people they work with.  We collaborated with ULM to make sure that our web presence was an expression of what we represent as lawyers, not a modified template solution that we had to make ourselves fit into.  Try ULM if you want to stand out.”

      Richard Campbell

      Personal Injury Lawyer

      • “Since I hired the Umbrella Legal Marketing, my expectations have been exceeded.

        When I first met ULM, I really wasn’t interested in online marketing, or much marketing for that matter. However, after several meetings, I decided to give them a try. As a result, my online presence has skyrocketed and I am dominating the local market.

        What I like best about ULM is the balance of their service. For several years, I went with a high profile “national” webpage developer. While the product was very good, initially, there was no personal follow-up. With ULM, I get the best of both worlds: high quality and professional development along with tremendous individual attention.

        I recommend ULM to everyone, but my competitors!”

        Jason Howie

        Certified Specialist in Family Law

        • “Dan, Lanna, and the team at Umbrella have been great to work with (even when we have not made it easy for them to work with us).  We are extremely pleased with the website they produced (and their ongoing services) and have seen tangible results in terms of an increase in traffic, lead generation and new clients.”

          Peter A. Hertz

          Duncan, Linton LLP

          • “We are very impressed with the quality of the website and other services Umbrella Legal Marketing has provided. They understand our target market, have strengthened our brand and have helped increase our profile within the community.”

            Paul Affleck

            Criminal Defence Lawyer

From Our Blog

open laptop with a blue screen and the internet explorer logo in white
It’s Time to Move On From Internet Explorer

Jun 29th, 2022

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Umbrella Legal Marketing

The internet wasn’t always around, and neither was Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. But now that we’re all online so much, it’s hard to imagine a world without either.…

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Red umbrella standing out amongst others
Law Society of Ontario Votes to Discontinue Certified Specialist Program

Jun 16th, 2022

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Umbrella Legal Marketing

The Law Society of Ontario recently announced that the Board of Directors approved a new Competency Framework to enhance the career-long competence of lawyers and paralegals. In…

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an image of actor Steve Guttenberg in character on sitcom The Goldbergs
The New Gutenberg Editor in WordPress: Will it Affect Your Site?

May 31st, 2019

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Umbrella Legal Marketing

Big changes were recently rolled out by WordPress, the open source content management system that powers approximately one-third of all websites on the internet. Given WordPress’ popularity,…

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