How to get creative with legal marketing

Plus: Another state is loosening firm ownership rules

Raise The Bar

09 Jan 2025 • 4 min read

Are lawyers too boring? One legal marketer says "probably" but suggests some creative approaches for websites, articles and other promo materials. We'll also look at how lawyers can benefit from less-strict regulations on attorney ownerships. Plus: Find out what this lawyer took to a client in jail that got him arrested.

In today's newsletter:

How lawyers can market more creatively
Wash. considers relaxed rules on attorney ownership
Will 2025 be just as kind as 2024 to lawyers?
States' roles in tech law

Moonlighting lawyers
Ethical considerations for a second job.

Trust but verify
Questions to ask in hiring laterals.

Copyright law (Taylor’s Version)
No Infringement Intended podcast explores the law behind Swift’s re-recording project.

Did you know…?
Tech tips for 2025.

Resolution quitters rejoice
New law makes it easier to quit the gym.

Legal marketing or 'an indistinguishable mass'?

Much of today’s legal marketing elevates form over substance, Lynda Decker of design agency Decker Design argues in a column at Print magazine. For many law firms, best practices and careful protocols have trumped creativity, she writes. “Our industry has optimized itself into oblivion. Law firm websites have become virtual carbon copies. Thought leadership pieces blur together in an indistinguishable mass,” Decker notes. “Our strategic plans could be mail-merged with different firm names, and nobody would notice the difference.” She encourages firms to leave room for creativity and be willing to take a chance on original ideas in marketing. (Print)

Wash. high court approves pilot for non-lawyer firm ownership

Washington recently became the third state to approve changes to rules requiring lawyers to own the entities that provide legal services. On the LawNext podcast, Terra Nevitt, executive director of the Washington State Bar Association, and Craig Shank, a member of the Washington Supreme Court’s Practice of Law Board, discuss the changes with host Bob Ambrogi. The state supreme court authorized a new pilot program that will test whether loosening ownership restrictions will increase access to justice over the next decade. Nevitt encourages attorneys to look at changes like this as opportunities to tap into new legal consumers. “One of my mentors and predecessors used to always say, you know, lawyers should be practicing at the top of their license,” she says. “They don't need to be the one drafting the form, but they can be the one sort of orchestrating everything. ... [T]here's a lot of opportunity there for lawyers who would like to access that group of consumers that currently are not really accessing the help of lawyers." (LawNext)

2024 a good year for firms; will trend continue?

According to a report from Thomson Reuters, law firms saw growth in 2024 but it is uncertain whether that will continue into 2025. The survey of more than 180 U.S.-based large and midsized firms found that demand growth was 2.4% in 2024, which the survey report found “incredibly atypical” as the average from 2007 to 2023 was 0.1%. As reported by Reuters, “a potential decline in demand — coupled with rising expenses and challenges to the traditional billable hour model spurred by the growing use of generative AI — could chip away at law firm profits this year, the study warned.” (Reuters)

States take the lead in tech law

According to Michele Benedetto Neitz, founding director of the Center for Law, Tech and Social Good at the University of San Francisco School of Law, states have often led the way in emerging technology law as the federal legislature has struggled to form a consensus on comprehensive tech laws. As federal agencies grapple with the implications of the end of Chevron doctrine on their rulemaking power, Benedetto Neitz, writing in Tech Policy Press, believes state courts will need to grapple with emerging technology issues. She suggests that specialized tech courts, similar to business-specific courts like the Delaware Chancery Court, can meet this need, as well as judicial training that taps into the resources available from higher education institutions. (Tech Policy Press)

Thank you for reading Raise The Bar.

Every Thursday, you'll hear from our team about the most pressing issues facing legal practices today. We'll also try to include some quick-hit reads that touch on interesting cases and precedents being set worldwide.

Have anything you'd like us to cover? Send an email raisethebar@mynewsletter.co

Written by Suzi Morales. Edited by Katie Parsons.