10 Ways Law Firm Marketers Can Get Attorneys to Be Responsive

Estimated listening time 13 minutes

By Gina Rubel

One of the most common frustrations among law firm marketing, public relations, and business development professionals is not a lack of strategy, creativity, or opportunities. It is getting lawyers to engage consistently in the process.

Every in-house marketer has experienced it: unanswered emails requesting commentary, article deadlines that pass quietly, media opportunities ignored until they disappear, practice groups promising visibility goals and then disappearing for months, and attorneys who suddenly panic in December trying to “check the box” on annual content requirements.

The problem is not that lawyers do not understand the importance of visibility. Most attorneys recognize that thought leadership, media exposure, and market positioning matter. The challenge is that law firms often approach attorney engagement the wrong way. They treat content participation as an optional marketing initiative instead of an operational business development function tied directly to competitive positioning and revenue growth.

The firms that succeed at attorney engagement do not rely on reminders, pleading emails, or annual quotas. They build systems, incentives, accountability, and culture around responsiveness.

Here are 10 strategies law firm marketers can implement to drive long-term attorney engagement through marketing, public relations, and business development efforts.

1. Put the Right Attorneys in the Right Seats
Every marketing team has seen it happen: the attorney who ignores requests for article drafts suddenly becomes highly engaged when invited to speak on a panel or join a podcast. Another lawyer may avoid media interviews but quickly provide thoughtful insights during a short phone call that marketing can shape into content.

Responsiveness often improves when the opportunity matches the attorney’s strengths and comfort level. Some lawyers are natural writers. Others are better speakers, interview subjects, presenters, or client-facing communicators. Some practice groups have fully embraced marketing and PR as part of their strategy, while others are still developing that culture.

The firms that generate the most consistent participation understand how to align:

• the right lawyer with the right opportunity,
• the right format with the right communication style,
• and the right level of support to make participation easy.

When attorneys feel confident in the ask and understand the value behind it, engagement becomes much more natural and sustainable.

2. Remove Gatekeepers and Create Direct Access
Another barrier to responsiveness, especially when working with outside PR partners, is the number of layers between marketers and attorneys. Executive assistants, practice administrators, in-house marketing team members, and committee structures often unintentionally slow communication while trying to protect attorney time. Unfortunately, by the time a request passes through multiple people, the opportunity may be gone.

Marketing and PR teams need streamlined access to lawyers for:

• media opportunities,
• client alerts,
• commentary requests,
• social media approvals,
• speaking engagements,
• and trend-based content.
• The firms that move quickly establish direct working relationships between attorneys and marketing professionals. This does not mean abandoning respect for attorneys’ schedules. It means removing unnecessary friction that prevents timely collaboration.

The easier it is for lawyers to respond, the more likely they are to participate consistently.

3. Stop Asking Lawyers to “Write”
Many attorneys resist marketing because they associate it with sitting down to draft a polished article from scratch. Between client work, firm administration, and business pressures, writing for communications usually falls to the bottom of the priority list.

Smart marketing departments change the model entirely. Instead of asking attorneys to write, ask them to talk.

A 15-minute to a half an hour interview can produce:

• a client alert,
• a LinkedIn post,
• a podcast segment,
• a webinar outline,
• a media commentary or pitch,
• or an FAQ.

The marketing team or its external partners can then ghostwrite, edit, package, and distribute the content. Firm leadership should encourage attorneys to view marketing and business development professionals as strategic partners who can bring valuable strategic insight, and firms benefit most when attorneys fully leverage their expertise. This dramatically lowers the burdens on attorneys’ time. Lawyers are far more willing to share ideas verbally than to draft publish-ready prose. The goal is not to turn lawyers into professional writers. The goal is to extract their insights efficiently.

4. Repurpose Existing Legal Work Into Market-Facing Content
One of the greatest untapped resources in law firms is the enormous intellectual capital lawyers already produce every day.

Attorneys routinely create:

• briefs,
• motions,
• deal analyses,
• regulatory memos,
• client emails,
• presentations,
• and research summaries.

Most of that work never leaves the client file.

In-house marketers should build systems that identify opportunities to ethically and responsibly repurpose existing work into external visibility content. A well-written client memo can become the inspiration for:

• an anonymized thought leadership article,
• a webinar topic,
• a blog,
• a conference abstract,
• a representative matter to use on the website, in RFPs or awards,
• a PR pitch,
• a podcast topic,
• a series of social posts,
• or all of the above.

This changes the attorney’s mindset from “I have to create something new for marketing” to “Marketing is helping maximize the value to address the concerns of my clients.”

That distinction matters enormously in law firm environments where time is the most protected resource.

5. Create Internal Competition Through Visibility Reporting
Law firms are inherently competitive institutions. Attorneys pay attention to who is winning, who is visible, and who is receiving recognition. Marketing leaders can use this dynamic strategically.

Create internal dashboards or monthly reports highlighting:

• who contributed content,
• who secured media placements,
• who spoke at conferences,
• whose LinkedIn posts performed well,
• whose website bios are getting the most engagement,
• and which practice groups generated the most visibility.

Even subtle internal reporting creates accountability and peer pressure. No partner wants to appear disengaged while colleagues are repeatedly visible to firm leadership.

Recognition also matters. Highlight successful contributors during partner meetings, internal newsletters, or firm retreats. Public acknowledgment reinforces the behavior the firm wants to encourage.

6. Create External Competitive Pressure
Internal competition is powerful. External competition is even more powerful.

Many lawyers become far more responsive when they realize competitors are consistently outperforming them in market visibility. This doesn’t work in all firms, however, it works in most.

Show attorneys successful and engaging competitor media mentions, industry rankings, LinkedIn engagement, webinar participation, speaking opportunities, client alerts, and published thought leadership.

When lawyers see competing firms dominating conversations in their practice area, the discussion shifts from “helping marketing” to protecting market position. This is especially powerful when competitors are discussing matters your attorneys have handled or speaking to clients whom they currently represent.

The message should be clear: “Our competitors are shaping the narrative while we remain quiet.”

Fear of losing visibility, referrals, talent and client mindshare often drives action more effectively than internal requests alone.

7. Connect Marketing Participation to Business Development Outcomes
One reason lawyers deprioritize communications requests is that they often fail to connect visibility activity with actual business development results. Marketing teams need to close that gap.

Show attorneys how visibility contributes to:

• client inquiries,
• referral relationships,
• speaking invitations,
• panel opportunities,
• pitch credibility,
• media mentions,
• talent acquisition,
• and expanded client relationships.

When lawyers understand that thought leadership directly supports revenue generation and client development, responsiveness improves significantly. The conversation then leads with, “This visibility supports your practice growth and market positioning, and thus the firm’s and partners’ profits.”

8. Position Responsiveness and Visibility as Leadership Priorities
For marketing, PR and business development initiatives to succeed, participation cannot be treated as optional. In-house teams should work closely with firm leadership to frame responsiveness as a core expectation of modern law firm citizenship and a direct driver of individual and firm success.

Marketing and BD leaders should equip managing partners and practice group leaders with clear, business-focused rationale: visibility initiatives generate opportunities, strengthen client relationships and enhance individual attorney reputations. When leadership understands the direct benefit to attorneys such as more qualified leads, stronger client retention, strengthened reputation, stronger trust and increased market recognition, they are far more likely to reinforce participation.

To embed this culturally, leaders should be taught to:

• Model the behavior by actively participating in visibility and client development efforts.
• Set consistent expectations that responsiveness is part of professional responsibility, not an extra task.
• Reinforce priorities in leadership and practice group meetings using data and real examples of impact

In addition, marketing teams should partner with leadership to institutionalize accountability. This can include integrating participation into annual evaluations, leadership criteria, practice group planning and partner compensation discussions.

Without clear and consistent leadership reinforcement, even the best marketing strategies will stall. Culture shifts when leaders communicate through words and actions that visibility, responsiveness and collaboration are essential to individual and firm success.

9. Prioritize Quick Wins and Low-Lift Opportunities
Long-form content often creates delay because lawyers perceive it as time-intensive and difficult. Instead, marketers should create more opportunities for fast participation.

Quick participation comes in the form of:

• short client alerts,
• quick reaction quotes,
• brief videos,
• event takeaways,
• FAQ-style interviews,
• reviewing content written from transcripts or other attorney-developed materials,
• or rapid-response commentary.

These smaller opportunities help attorneys build momentum and comfort with visibility activities. The faster attorneys see results from participation, the more likely they are to engage again.

Ensure attorneys know exactly what is being asked of them. When suggesting a blog, note that it doesn’t need to be more than 300 words. A video is most impactful when it is 2-3 minutes long. A podcast gets more listeners when it is 20 minutes or less. Essentially, remind them that clear, concise and timely communications are always best. Let them know they can send bullet points for you to draft into a final version for their approval.

10. Use Data to Reinforce Engagement
Lawyers are trained to respond to evidence. Marketing teams should provide measurable proof that participation creates impact.

Share metrics such as:

• article readership,
• social engagement,
• website traffic,
• media reach,
• audience growth,
• speaking invitations,
• and referral activity.

A lawyer who sees that a short LinkedIn post generated significant engagement or that a media interview led to client conversations becomes much more likely to respond to future requests. Visibility becomes tangible rather than abstract because data transforms marketing from a “soft” function into a measurable business development tool.

The Bottom Line

For in-house marketers, the objective is not simply producing more content. It is building systems, expectations, and a culture that make attorney responsiveness sustainable over time. That requires marketing teams and firm leadership to work together in reinforcing that market visibility is now a critical part of professional leadership and practice growth.

The firms gaining market share today are not necessarily the firms with the best lawyers. Increasingly, they are the firms whose lawyers are the most visible, responsive, trusted, and engaged in the marketplace. Visibility is no longer a vanity project. It is strategic reputation management, proactive client development, and a key driver of long-term growth.