What Shade of Beige is Your Law Firm?
- Matt Plavnick
- Jun 4
- 1 min read
Law firms hire marketers to stand out.
Right?
Yet many marketers quickly accept lawyer edits rather than push back. Why?
Because most mid-level marketers are never taught how to lead lawyers to better outcomes, with confidence.
Don't Fight Lawyers. Lead Them.
Marketers, the next time a lawyer rewrites the parts of a draft that make your firm stand out, ask three questions:
"What differentiates this from every other [client alert/practice description/Chambers submission] on the topic?"
"What can we say that no one else can?"
"What will make readers opt in to each next sentence?"
Of course, law firm marketers should accept lawyer edits to reflect proper meaning, terms of art, and ethical standards. (Side note: Marketers are often more aware of the ethics of legal marketing than lawyers!) Furthermore, some lawyers have an excellent ear for marketing prose. Marketers are well advised to take good input and weave it in.
It's Not Your Job to Make Lawyers Comfy
Marketers should not, however, temper their drafts to anticipate what will make lawyers comfortable. Firms don't hire marketers to make lawyers sound like everyone else. They hire marketers to stand out. That involves trying new things, saying things others aren't, and taking calculated risks. Marketers are good at all of those things.
Too often, however, marketers aren't sure how best to push back on lawyers. Instead of buying into a binary construct where the only options are to argue or back down, ask questions and use curiosity to forge a path forward. Lawyers will thank you for it in the long run.
