It’s tempting for attorneys to think they need not cover, through thought leadership, legal, business, or geopolitical developments other attorneys are covering. But if they don’t, they’re missing out on eight key benefits to being on the record about such developments.
Have you ever seen so many attorneys and law firms produce thought leadership about a major legal, business, or geopolitical development that’s relevant to your clients, that you question whether there’s any benefit to you adding your two cents in the form of your own thought leadership content about that development?
You think, “Why should I bother covering this if plenty of others have already?”
You’re probably not alone. But you’re definitely wrong.
In today’s competitive legal market, your failure to comment on developments within the areas of law you practice that are relevant to your clients is a missed opportunity for you to assert your authority and solidify the perception that you’re a leading attorney.
But even worse, you’re opening the door to letting your competitors assert their authority and solidify that perception—particularly in the eyes of your current and prospective clients and referral sources.
Today, in our content-driven world, being “on the record” about developments of relevance to your clients is a non-negotiable for attorneys who want to be perceived as leaders in, and grow, their practices.
The importance of attorneys being on the record about legal, business, and geopolitical developments
Every legal, business, and geopolitical development of relevance to your clients presents another opportunity for you to get in front of them and other members of your target audience — such as referral sources, networking contacts, media members, and event organizers — by producing thought leadership about the development that shows off the knowledge, wisdom, and insights you possess.
If you’re trying to develop your authority and be seen as a thought leader, you can’t ignore such opportunities, especially because you can’t predict when the next opportunity will arise.
What if a few months pass before another development arises? Do you want to let that much time pass without getting out in front of your target audiences, particularly when you have to assume your competitors aren’t waiting that long to reach out to them? Of course not.
Also, just because other attorneys and law firms are discussing a particular legal, business, or geopolitical development doesn’t mean that everything that’s to be said about that development has been said already.
After all, you’re probably not going to be analyzing the development from the same perspective as other attorneys who have covered the development. You’re providing your own opinion and guidance about it based on the knowledge, wisdom, and insights you’ve developed over your career. These are unique to you, which allow you to position yourself differently from other attorneys based on how you’re approaching these developments.
Eight benefits of attorneys being on the record about legal, business, and geopolitical developments
Going on the record through thought leadership regarding legal, business, and geopolitical developments of relevance to your clients is important for at least eight reasons.
First, it positions you as having your fingers on the pulse of your legal practice and on developments that could impact your clients.
If your clients and others don’t regularly perceive you as staying up-to-date on current events, they’ll perceive you as lagging behind your competitors.
In addition, by regularly going on the record, you’ll develop a library of thought leadership regarding certain topics that could be of interest to prospective clients down the road. They’ll see that you have a library of content regarding current events that were/are presumably relevant to them, which will give them confidence that you’re the right attorney for them to retain regarding whatever legal matters they need assistance with.
Second, going on the record through thought leadership is important for client service and client confidence reasons.
When you go on the record, you’re providing added value to your clients through your thought leadership. That’s Client Service 101. You should assume other attorneys are doing the same thing, especially those that are serving your clients in another capacity, or with whom you share referral sources. So, you’ll want to make sure that you’re at least staying on par with other competitors’ client service efforts, if not surpassing them, through your thought leadership.
In addition, your thought leadership gives your clients confidence about your abilities. If they don’t hear from you regarding certain developments that are relevant to them, they might think you’re not up to speed on them and that you aren’t the right attorney to help them with their various issues because they’re not seeing indications from you that you’re staying abreast of developments that could impact their organizations.
Third, going on the record through thought leadership is important for discoverability purposes.
If prospective clients or referral sources are looking for guidance regarding a particular legal issue or business issue due to a recent legal, business, or geopolitical development, and you want those people to discover you, you’ll increase the chances of that happening when you regularly produce thought leadership about those kinds of developments.
Fourth, on a related note, going on the record through thought leadership can help you secure media opportunities and speaking engagements.
When members of the media, conference organizers, and CLE planners look for people to talk to their audiences about legal, business, and geopolitical developments, they search online or ask people they know.
If you’re not regularly creating content about those kinds of developments because you assume other attorneys have said all there is to say about them, you’re losing the opportunity to raise your hand and show (i) the media, (ii) conference/CLE organizers, and (iii) the people they approach for advice about who they should speak with for their articles or ask to speak at their events, that you’re someone they should know.
Fifth, going on the record through thought leadership provides inspiration for business development opportunities.
When you create content regarding legal, business, and geopolitical developments of relevance to your clients, you obviously have to devote time to thinking about the developments so you can write or speak about them.
When you do so, you’re naturally going to have thoughts and ideas about the issues these developments might cause for your current clients, or how you might be able to help new clients navigate them based on work you’ve done for current and previous clients. These thoughts could inspire you to approach current and prospective clients about these issues, creating business development opportunities.
Sixth, going on the record through thought leadership can help boost your recruiting efforts.
When you’re consistently producing thought leadership content regarding legal, business, and geopolitical developments and how they intersect with the areas of law you practice and affect the kinds of clients you serve, you’re going to be seen as a leading practitioner in the field. Your practice group will likely be perceived similarly, as will your firm.
Potential lateral partners and associates, potential new associates out of law school, and even staff members who see your thought leadership regarding those developments are going to be drawn to you if those developments raise the kinds of issues they want to work on, or already work on, and your practice group is the kind of practice group they want to work within.
Seventh, going on the record through thought leadership provides cross-selling opportunities.
Every piece of content you produce regarding legal, business, and geopolitical developments of relevance to your clients is another piece of content your colleagues can use to cross-sell your services to their clients—particularly when their clients could have the kinds of issues you’re discussing in your thought leadership content and you expect to arise from these developments.
Eighth, finally, going on the record through thought leadership provides professional development opportunities.
Every opportunity you get to cover a legal, business, or geopolitical development of relevance to your clients in a piece of thought leadership content is an opportunity for you to get smarter.
You have to learn about the development. You have to think about the ramifications of the development. You have to connect dots, especially if you serve clients in a particular industry that could expect to have to deal with several issues as a result of a development.
Thus, each time you go on the record about such a development, you’re getting smarter. You’re learning more, which helps you become a better attorney, a better counselor, and solidify your position as a true authority regarding the work you do for your clients.
You have much to lose by not regularly going on the record
Imagine your client comes across thought leadership content from three different law firms about a legal development that’s going to impact their business. They come across nothing from you or your law firm.
That silence speaks volumes.
The most dangerous place for an attorney to be isn’t in a seedy part of town at 1:00 AM; it’s in obscurity.
An effective way to avoid obscurity is to make sure you’re on the record through thought leadership content concerning legal, business, and geopolitical developments that are relevant to your clients.
Thinking about bringing on an outside writer to help your law firm strategize and create compelling thought-leadership marketing and business development content? Click here to schedule a 30-minute Content Strategy Audit to learn if collaborating with an outside writer is the right move for you and your firm.