Should Lawyers Have Personal Brands?
Founder, Lexlinc
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A professional reputation already creates an identity
When lawyers recommend other lawyers, they rarely describe them only by their title.
They may say that somebody is excellent with complex trademark disputes, particularly strong on transactions in a certain sector or very good at explaining difficult issues to clients.
Those descriptions form part of the lawyer's professional identity long before anybody creates a content strategy around them.
A website profile, LinkedIn account, article, conference appearance or interview simply allows more people to see some of the same information.
This does not mean that lawyers need to manufacture a different personality for the internet.
It means that they should think about whether the professional information available online reflects the reputation they actually want to build.
Personal branding becomes uncomfortable when it feels artificial
The idea usually begins to feel wrong when lawyers are encouraged to turn every experience into a personal story, publish opinions simply because they are likely to attract attention or follow a format that has very little relationship with the way they naturally communicate.
None of that is necessary.
A professional presence can be built through consistently useful writing about subjects the lawyer genuinely understands.
If a lawyer regularly explains developments in competition law, discusses recurring issues in cross-border transactions or shares thoughtful observations about trademark enforcement, readers gradually begin associating that person with those areas.
There does not need to be a moment when the lawyer formally announces what they want to be known for because the pattern of their work can do that quietly over time.
Individual visibility can strengthen the firm
There is sometimes a concern that strong individual profiles may compete with the firm's own brand, particularly when partners begin attracting significant attention through their personal accounts.
In practice, clients often want to understand the people behind the firm, and a lawyer who is visible for the right reasons can make the wider practice easier to understand.
A well-written article by a partner may bring somebody to the firm's website, while a useful LinkedIn post by an associate may introduce a potential client to a capability they did not previously know the firm had.
The lawyer and the firm do not need to compete for attention when both are communicating consistently.
The useful question is whether the profile explains the lawyer
Instead of asking whether lawyers should have personal brands, it may be more useful to ask whether somebody who does not already know the lawyer could understand their work after spending a few minutes looking at their professional presence online.
Would they know which areas the lawyer works in, what kinds of issues they understand particularly well and how they tend to think about those subjects?
If the answer is yes, the profile is already doing much of what a sensible personal brand is supposed to do.
Lawyers do not need to become influencers but they need to make their professional expertise easier for the right people to recognise.
