Personal LinkedIn Profile or Law Firm Page: Where Should Lawyers Publish?

A lawyer and a law firm are not the same publisher

A law firm may have a strong LinkedIn page, and a partner may also have a strong personal profile.

Both may talk about the same practice areas, the same cases and the same developments but they should not necessarily publish in the same way.

The personal profile represents an individual whereas the law firm page represents an institution. The difference affects the tone, the type of content and what the audience expects to receive.

The question is not: “Where should this post go?” but “Who should be speaking here: the lawyer or the firm?”

Personal profiles are usually better for perspective

People generally connect more easily with people than with institutions, and a lawyer's personal profile gives them room to:

• explain what they think;

• share observations from practice;

• comment on developments;

• discuss recurring client issues;

• tell short professional stories;

• share lessons from experience; and

• build recognition around their own expertise.

All of this is a challenge to recreate on a law firm page. Consider the difference.

A law firm page says: “The Supreme Court has delivered an important judgment concerning…”. On the other hand, a partner says: “The most interesting part of this judgment is not the outcome. It is the court's approach to…”

The second one instantly feels more personal because someone is interpreting the development.

Law firm pages are better for institutional content

A law firm page has a different job. It is useful for content that represents the organisation rather than an individual lawyer.

That may include:

• firm announcements;

• awards and recognitions;

• new hires and promotions;

• office openings;

• event participation;

• major publications;

• reports and research;

• firmwide legal updates;

• recruitment content; and

• important developments involving multiple practice areas.

The law firm page gives this information an official home. It also helps someone researching the organisation understand what the firm does, what it publishes and what subjects it is associated with.

The page therefore still matters, and should not be expected to perform exactly the same role as a partner's personal profile.

The same content should not simply be copied across both

One of the most common mistakes is to publish the same text on the firm page and then copy it to several lawyers' profiles. Technically, the information may be correct but strategically, very little has changed.

A better approach is to let the firm page publish the official version and let individual lawyers add their own angle.

For example:

The subject may be the same but the purpose of the post is different.

Personal profiles are stronger for building individual expertise

For many lawyers, the real value of LinkedIn is not just being seen. It is being associated with a particular kind of work.

• A technology lawyer may want to be known for AI contracting.

• An IP lawyer may want to be recognised for trademark strategy.

• A disputes partner may want to be associated with shareholder disputes.

• A competition lawyer may want to build visibility around merger control.

A personal profile gives that lawyer room to develop those associations repeatedly.

Over time, the audience begins to understand: “This is what this lawyer knows.”

The law firm page still reinforces credibility

This does not mean firms should abandon their company pages. A strong law firm page can reinforce the lawyer's credibility.

Someone may first discover a lawyer through a personal post and then visit the firm's page.

They may want to see:

• what the wider firm does;

• whether the lawyer is part of a recognised practice;

• what other lawyers at the firm publish;

• whether the firm works in relevant sectors;

• how active the organisation is; and

• whether the lawyer's expertise fits within a broader team.

The personal profile may attract attention, and the firm page can help validate the institution behind it. The two therefore work best when they support one another.

Not every lawyer needs to publish the same thing

Another common problem appears when law firms try to coordinate LinkedIn activity too tightly. Every partner receives the same article and everyone is encouraged to share the same caption.

There are also several lawyers who post almost identical text on the same day. This may indeed create activity, but it does not necessarily create strong individual positioning.

Different lawyers should be able to take different angles. One partner may focus on the commercial impact while another may focus on the litigation risk, and another may explain the regulatory context.

This variation is needed and is essential as it makes the firm's content feel like it is coming from practitioners rather than from a central publishing machine.

The firm page should not become a noticeboard

Some law firm pages contain almost nothing except:

• award announcements;

• rankings;

• birthdays;

• promotions;

• event photographs;

• new joiners; and

• congratulations.

There is nothing wrong with any of these posts individually. The problem begins when they become the entire page. A law firm page should also demonstrate what the firm knows.

That may mean publishing:

• legal commentary;

• industry observations;

• client guides;

• research;

• article highlights;

• short explanations of important developments; and

• perspectives from different practice groups.

Otherwise, the page may tell people a great deal about what the firm celebrates and very little about what the firm actually understands.

The personal profile should not become a duplicate firm page either

The opposite problem also exists. Some lawyers use their personal profiles only to repost firm announcements.

New office, new award, new article, new event, new ranking.

This keeps the profile active, but it does very little to build an individual professional identity, and a lawyer's personal page becomes more valuable when there is some element of the lawyer in it.

That may be:

• an opinion;

• an explanation;

• a lesson;

• a question;

• an observation;

• a short story from practice; or

• a reason why the subject deserves attention.

What should go where?

A simple framework can help.

This is not a strict rule but is simply a useful starting point.

Website content should usually remain the source

There is another layer that enters this dynamic. As LinkedIn is useful for distribution, the law firm's own website is where important long-form content should often live permanently.

A strong structure can look like this:

Website: full article or client alert

Law firm LinkedIn page: short official summary with the link

Partner's personal profile: personal interpretation, opinion or practical takeaway

That gives one piece of legal knowledge three different roles without just repeating the same copy. It also keeps the firm's substantive content on a platform it controls.

The lawyer usually carries the perspective

If the content depends on opinion, interpretation, experience or judgment, the personal profile will usually be the stronger home.

If the content belongs to the organisation, the law firm page is often more appropriate, and when a piece matters enough to appear in both places, it should rarely appear in exactly the same way.