Law firms spend heavily on marketing. Many have entire departments handling websites, events, rankings, directories, social media, sponsorships, business development, and dozens of other responsibilities.

Then I talk to a partner and hear some version of the same complaint:

“We have all these marketing people, but nobody is getting me in the news.”

That’s because law firm marketing and law firm PR aren’t the same thing.

Marketing is a broad function designed to help a firm build its brand, generate business, and support its attorneys. Public relations, particularly earned media, is a specialized discipline focused on getting attorneys and firms into credible news outlets, business publications, television, radio, and podcasts.

A law firm can have an excellent marketing department and still have almost no meaningful media presence.

What Is Law Firm PR?

Law firm PR is the process of building the public visibility and credibility of a law firm and its attorneys through earned media, strategic communications, and reputation management.

For most firms, that means identifying attorneys who can become credible media sources, developing story opportunities, pitching reporters, responding quickly to breaking news, and positioning lawyers as authorities in their practice areas.

For a deeper look at the strategy, see our Complete Guide to Law Firm PR.

The key phrase is earned media.

Advertising can buy space in a publication. Sponsored content can buy visibility. A firm’s marketing team can publish a LinkedIn post.

Earned media is different.

When a Wall Street Journal reporter interviews an attorney about a major antitrust case, Bloomberg calls a former federal prosecutor for analysis, or CNBC brings an attorney on television to explain a regulatory development, the law firm didn’t buy that credibility.

It earned it.

That distinction matters.

What Is Law Firm Marketing?

Law firm marketing is the broader effort to attract, develop, and retain business by promoting the firm, its attorneys, and its services.

Depending on the firm, the marketing department may oversee:

• Website development and SEO
• Social media
• Events and sponsorships
• Chambers and other legal directories
• Attorney biographies
• Email marketing
• Advertising
• Business development
• Requests for proposals (RFPs) and pitches
• Client alerts
• Branding
• Conferences
• Internal communications

Those functions are important.

The problem comes when firms assume that because they have a large marketing department, they automatically have a strong media relations operation.

They don’t.

Law Firm PR vs. Marketing: What’s the Difference?

The simplest distinction is this:

Marketing helps a law firm promote itself. PR helps other credible people and institutions talk about the firm and its attorneys.

A firm’s website can say an attorney is one of the country’s leading authorities on an issue.

It carries considerably more weight when a national reporter decides that attorney is the person readers should hear from.

That is the value of earned media.

PR also operates differently from most traditional law firm marketing.

Reporters don’t care about a firm’s marketing calendar. They care about what is happening right now.

A major lawsuit gets filed. The Justice Department announces an investigation. The Supreme Court issues an opinion. A company files for bankruptcy. Regulators announce a new rule.

The media opportunity may exist for hours, not weeks.

Effective law firm PR requires someone to recognize that opportunity, identify the right attorney, develop a useful angle, and get it in front of the right reporter quickly.

Why Law Firms With Large Marketing Teams Still Struggle to Get Media Coverage

I’ve spoken with attorneys at firms with substantial internal marketing and communications departments who are frustrated by how little earned media they receive.

That doesn’t necessarily mean their marketing departments aren’t good.

Often, they’re simply responsible for too many things.

A marketing professional may spend the morning working on a Chambers submission, the afternoon preparing for a client event, and the next day dealing with website updates, attorney biographies, sponsorships, and an RFP.

Consistent media pitching requires a different workflow.

Someone needs to be watching the news, understanding what reporters are covering, and asking:

Which attorney at this firm can add something useful to this story right now?

Then somebody has to pitch.

That’s where many firms break down.

It’s also why waiting until the firm has news to begin pitching the media is one of the biggest PR mistakes law firms make.

What Does a Law Firm PR Agency Actually Do?

A law firm PR agency identifies opportunities to put attorneys into relevant news stories, builds relationships with journalists, and helps lawyers become credible media sources.

A good agency should do much more than distribute press releases.

Its job is to create opportunities for attorneys to become part of the news.

That can include:

• Pitching attorneys as expert sources on breaking stories
• Developing relationships with reporters covering relevant industries and practice areas
• Identifying news trends before they become saturated
• Positioning attorneys for television, radio, and podcast interviews
• Developing thought-leadership opportunities
• Promoting significant cases, transactions, hires, or firm developments when they are genuinely newsworthy
• Preparing attorneys for interviews
• Helping manage communications surrounding litigation or a crisis
• Finding media opportunities even when the firm doesn’t have an announcement

That last point is especially important.

One of the biggest mistakes law firms make is believing they need firm news before they can earn media coverage.

They don’t.

In many cases, the best media opportunities have nothing to do with announcing something about the firm.

They come from helping reporters explain what’s happening in the world.

Do Law Firms Need PR If They Already Have a Marketing Department?

Not necessarily. But having a marketing department doesn’t mean a law firm has an effective media relations operation.

Some firms have sophisticated internal communications teams with strong reporter relationships and dedicated media-relations professionals. If they’re consistently generating the type of earned media the firm’s attorneys want, bringing in another agency may not make sense.

But having a marketing department by itself doesn’t answer the question.

The better question is:

Are the attorneys who should be in the news actually getting interviewed?

If the answer is no, the firm may have a media-relations gap regardless of how many people work in marketing.

That’s something we explored in more detail in Why Your Law Firm Hired a PR Agency but Your Lawyers Still Aren’t in the News.

Outside PR can also complement an internal team rather than replace it.

The internal department knows the firm, its attorneys, and its priorities. A specialized PR agency can bring reporter relationships, newsroom experience, proactive pitching, and a narrower focus on earned media.

Those functions can work together.

Why Newsroom Experience Matters in Law Firm PR

Before moving into public relations, I spent about five years working as a reporter, including as an ABC News Radio correspondent.

That experience fundamentally shaped how I approach PR.

When you’re a reporter on deadline, you’re not looking for a lawyer who wants publicity.

You’re looking for someone who can help you tell the story.

You need an expert who understands the issue, responds quickly, speaks plainly, and can tell you something useful that isn’t already in the press release.

The best law firm media strategy starts there.

Instead of asking:

“What does our firm want to promote?”

Ask:

“What does the reporter need?”

Solve that problem consistently, and media coverage becomes much easier.

What Makes an Attorney Valuable to Reporters?

The attorneys who become strong media sources generally aren’t just the ones with the most impressive résumés.

They’re useful.

They respond quickly. They can explain complicated issues without sounding like they’re reading a legal brief. They’re willing to offer an actual point of view when appropriate. And they understand that a reporter may need ten minutes today, not a scheduled call next Thursday.

I break down that process further in How Lawyers Get Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Bloomberg.

Expertise gets an attorney considered.

Being useful gets the attorney called again.

That second call is where media relations starts becoming valuable.

Once reporters begin viewing an attorney as a trusted source, the dynamic changes. Instead of the PR team constantly trying to create opportunities, journalists may begin reaching out directly when relevant news breaks.

Earned Media Can Do Something Advertising Can’t

Advertising gives a law firm control.

Earned media gives it third-party credibility.

Those are different assets.

A firm can purchase an advertisement saying its attorneys are experienced in white-collar investigations, antitrust litigation, or complex transactions.

But imagine a prospective client searching for an attorney and finding that same lawyer interviewed by Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, or a major television network about the exact issue the client is facing.

The attorney is no longer simply claiming expertise.

A credible news organization has independently decided that the attorney’s expertise is worth including.

That can influence reputation, recruiting, referrals, business development, and how prospective clients perceive the lawyer before the first conversation ever takes place.

PR and Marketing Work Best Together

The choice shouldn’t be PR or marketing.

The strongest law firms use both.

PR creates credible third-party visibility. Marketing makes sure the firm capitalizes on it.

A strong media interview can become part of an attorney biography, social content, a client newsletter, business-development outreach, or a practice group’s website.

One earned media placement can have a much longer life when the marketing team knows how to use it.

The reverse is also true.

SEO data, client questions, practice-group priorities, and business-development intelligence can help a PR team identify subjects where attorneys should be building media authority.

The two functions should reinforce each other.

How Should a Law Firm Evaluate Its PR Efforts?

Don’t judge law firm PR by how many press releases were distributed or how many emails were sent to reporters.

Look at outcomes.

Are attorneys being interviewed by publications their clients actually read?

Are reporters returning to those attorneys as sources?

Are lawyers becoming associated with the practice areas where the firm wants to grow?

Is the firm appearing in credible search results when prospective clients research its attorneys?

Are media opportunities contributing to business-development conversations?

And increasingly, there is another question:

When someone asks an AI platform about experts, law firms, or attorneys in a particular area, does the firm’s broader digital footprint give that system credible evidence of its expertise?

There isn’t one metric that answers all of these questions.

But meaningful earned media should create something more valuable than a monthly activity report.

It should build authority.

How Much Does Law Firm PR Cost?

Law firm PR pricing varies based on the size of the firm, number of attorneys or practice groups involved, markets being targeted, and whether the engagement includes crisis or litigation communications.

Some agencies work on monthly retainers. Others structure engagements around specific matters or projects.

Price alone isn’t particularly useful without understanding the scope.

A firm seeking occasional help distributing announcements has very different needs from one trying to establish several partners as nationally recognized authorities who are regularly interviewed by major business and legal publications.

Before hiring an agency, law firms should ask what the PR team will actually do each week, who will be doing the pitching, what types of media they will target, and how they identify opportunities when the firm itself doesn’t have news.

The Bottom Line

Law firm marketing and law firm PR serve different purposes.

Marketing encompasses the broad effort to build the firm’s brand and generate business. PR focuses on reputation, media relationships, and earning credible third-party attention.

A firm can have a sophisticated marketing operation and still be virtually invisible in the news.

If your attorneys have the expertise but aren’t getting interviewed, the issue may not be the quality of your lawyers or your marketing department.

It may simply be that nobody is consistently connecting their expertise to what reporters need.

Jonathan Beaton is President of Inside Advantage PR and a former ABC News Radio correspondent.

If your law firm wants to strengthen attorney visibility through earned media, contact Inside Advantage PR to discuss a tailored media relations strategy.