For a lawyer, getting into the media can boost your reputation, validating your expertise and capabilities. It can set you apart when you’re seeking an edge in a competitive market or vying for partnership in a crowd of associates.
Journalists often seek attorney quotes analyzing current events, and in a 24/7 news cycle, editors are constantly looking for contributing authors with authority. Media mentions carry a lawyer’s name to a wide audience. If the right people are reading or watching, a media placement can help take your practice to the next level.
If you’re an attorney who wants to level up by getting your name out there, here’s everything you need to know about including media relations in your business development strategy, from getting buy-in from your firm to putting your bylines to work.
Start With Firm Support
The first step is buy-in from the firm. A green light from leadership is essential to ensure that media outreach efforts have support, but sometimes rank-and-file attorneys get mixed signals from their organizations.
Many law firms pay lip service to “getting our name out there,” but don’t create a culture where public relations is valued. Firm leadership must give attorneys permission to spend non-billable hours on public relations efforts, as well as devote firm resources to it.
Media placement is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time and skill, persistence and specialized knowledge. The firm needs to be willing to invest in the long-term when incorporating a public relations program. Having a publicist can be beneficial from a time and cost perspective because they can do the heavy lifting so attorneys do not sacrifice significant non-billable time on non-legal work.
The upside is that firms with a publicist have a professional who can support attorneys seeking to enhance their reputations through media relations, which will help the entire firm with important marketing initiatives like new business development pitching and AEO.
To get the rubber to meet the road, lawyers can enlist support from the chief marketing officer or business development manager to advocate on their behalf to the executive committee. Forming a strategic alliance with a senior partner or managing partner will ensure that there’s a voice at the table who supports investing in public relations for attorney business development.
Once you have the firm’s buy-in, there are two routes to getting into the media: becoming a source or becoming a contributor.
How Attorneys Become Media Sources
Journalists and editors often need attorneys to provide expert analysis on legal developments in the news, in addition to seeking quotes from attorneys representing parties in newsworthy cases.
Here are helpful steps to getting quoted as a source in the media.
1. Set realistic expectations.
2. Commit to responsiveness.
3. Engage proactive tactics.
4. Prepare your portfolio.
Expectation Setting
Naturally, attorneys want to be quoted in the most prestigious publications — The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, or CNN. It probably isn’t surprising that obtaining media mentions in the biggest outlets isn’t easy. But there might be better ways for attorneys to reach their goals.
Journalists and editors at the major publications seek comment from very prominent authorities, so you would need to be the right voice at the right time for a shot at the big leagues.
However, the right readership could be found in outlets with lower-hanging fruit. Regional business and trade publications may have a smaller readership, but a higher proportion of those readers may be people you want to reach. If you’re a construction lawyer, then a quote in Construction Dive could be a solid mention for your portfolio. An experienced publicist will help you strategize a list of viable media outlets.
Prepare to Move Quickly
Attorneys who want to be media sources often need to be ready for an interview within a few hours of contact. Premier outlets can receive a flood of submissions for legal sources. The more prestigious the publication, the more quickly you need to respond. If you don’t respond quickly, you’ll be out. If being quoted in the media is your Super Bowl, you need to be prepared to get on the field at a moment’s notice.
Engage Tactics
There are several tactics to getting sourced as an expert in the media. An important and proactive approach involves a strategic media list.
For my clients, I identify and prepare a list of contacts — reporters and editors — at national and regional outlets, legal publications, and trades. This is an actively managed list, since journalists are always coming and going in the news industry.
I regularly reach out to the contacts to start building a relationship and to offer timely topics that the attorney is prepared to discuss. For example, for an energy attorney, one topic might be an analysis of using nuclear energy to power data centers.
Not only does this exercise establish a relationship with the media contact, but it also helps them generate article ideas. Journalists and editors are often stretched thin, working on several stories a day with the constant pressure of deadlines. Providing ideas helps them out, creating a positive working relationship to help you stay foremost on their list when they are seeking sources for quotes.
Prepare Your Portfolio
When a journalist is looking for an authoritative legal source to quote, they may have several options. An attorney with a track record of expertise in the area can be the first choice for a quote.
What does that track record look like? It could be as simple as listing articles you’re written for your firm’s blog on your LinkedIn profile and bio. A surprising number of attorneys and law firms neglect updating this portion of their web presence.
The good news is that getting articles published in the media as a thought leader or contributor also establishes you as a valid and credible authority, in addition to being quoted as a source in an article — and it’s an excellent way to build your brand as an expert.
How Attorneys Become Thought Leaders
The internet creates a 24-hour news cycle, with a proliferation of outlets out there looking for contributors.
Here’s a quick rundown of the best-practice steps to get published:
1. Come up with a topic.
2. Propose the topic to secure editorial interest.
3. Write and edit.
4. Post it to social media and your bio.
Find a Topic
This is the biggest mistake that attorneys make when they’re trying to get published: They think of an idea, spend tons of time writing an article, and either send it to an editor who rejects it or doesn’t respond, or a publicist who is now tasked with the hard sell of getting it placed.
Most editors don’t want articles “on spec,” and that’s actually good news. Don’t invest a lot of energy writing a piece until you get a go-ahead.
Pump the brakes. Come up with a list of two or three topics first. Try to make them timely — news gets stale quickly, so your topics must be relevant. If you write about a judgment that happened three months ago, your angle needs to be about how the change in law applies now or in the near future.
Many firm attorneys write client alerts, which keep clients updated about changes in law and keep attorneys top-of-mind by periodically popping up in an email inbox with useful information. An 800-word client alert isn’t a very heavy lift, and it’s an excellent way to build a portfolio of articles that establish your expertise in your practice area.
If you regularly write client alerts, consider the next step of repurposing them as articles for the media — keeping in mind that some publications require original content and the alert may need editing to adapt it to the outlet’s guidelines.
Another approach to repurpose existing material is to turn a presentation, speech or panel discussion topic into an article.
Write a Topic Proposal
Write a succinct paragraph about an article idea and why it matters to readers — that’s enough to pique an editor’s interest. Include another short paragraph about yourself and your expertise.
Again, it’s best to wait until you get approval before you write the whole thing. Editors will provide parameters about structure and word count, giving you clear guidance about how to write.
Write and Edit
We provide many tips for shifting out of lawyer mode to make writing more interesting and more relevant for web search. But in a nutshell, remember your audience. You aren’t writing for opposing counsel or a judge, so you can loosen up more than usual — which can be fun.
Post Your Bylines
When your article gets published, collaborate with your law firm’s marketing department for a news item on the firm’s blog and social media, and a link for your bio. Post it to your LinkedIn profile. As noted above, it’s important to maintain a consistent and up-to-date portfolio that clearly establishes your authority.
Conclusion
In law, reputation matters. Whether you’re in a large, mid-size, or boutique firm, your expertise provides value to an audience out there that needs to hear from you. Getting your name to your potential future clients is a game of skill, not chance. If you want a skilled partner to help you get your name in the media, reach out to me, Carlos Arcos, at carcos@jaffepr.com.