Law firms need to understand their brand

If you were asked to name the three companies you associate with 1) a smartphone with a sleek design 2) a parcel arriving next day at your door 3) a brown fizzy drink in a sleek bottle, the chances are your answers would be Apple, Amazon and Coca Cola.

So, you already understand the power of branding. Each of these brands has carved out a unique identity. They consistently reflect their values across every interaction with consumers, from product delivery to customer service. The same approach is critical for law firms—understanding your brand type and voice is essential for building trust, fostering loyalty, and standing out in a competitive legal market.

Branding is essential for all law firms but especially for regional and boutique firms who arguably have to work harder to be seen by potential clients. Branding is what helps law firms to differentiate themselves. It is more than just a logo or tagline; it is the essence of how a firm communicates its values, expertise, and personality. It shouldn’t be something vague that is disseminated from the marketing team but should strongly resonate across all practice areas.  

A personal injury team and a corporate finance team might not appear to naturally fit into one brand type. How can that be managed? Is it possible to keep them on brand when they offer disparate services, are relevant to different audiences and have distinct messaging?

What Is brand type and voice?

Brand type refers to a law firm’s overall identity. This covers all manner of company qualities, from the firm’s personality and values to how it approaches client relationships and reflects whether it is seen as authoritative, professional, uncompromising, compassionate or approachable. 

Brand voice, on the other hand, is the tone and style through which the firm communicates with clients across all touchpoints, from websites and social media to in-person appointments. A family law team might adopt an empathetic and supportive tone that aligns with the sensitive nature of its services, while a corporate law team may benefit from a more direct and results-focused voice. But if you have twenty different practice areas, striking the right balance when deciding on your tone is critical.

Consistency is key 

Whether a client interacts with your website for family law services or consults your firm about an IP audit, the brand voice should remain unified. Law is all about words, so everything we write, talk and interact shapes how we are perceived. 

A consistent voice builds trust, ensuring clients know what to expect across a range of legal matters​. It also helps increase the likelihood of cross referrals and the golden three streams of business from a client. 

One brand, two disparate archetypes

At The Family Law Company, we’ve developed a brand strategy that allows us to target two very different brand archetypes. One of the ways we’ve successfully navigated this balance is by putting in place a clear vision and mission. We have developed a distinct personality formed by our people and our way of doing things. Getting stakeholder buy-in to this was key. With everyone working towards the same thing makes our brand values become clear to our clients and our marketplace. 

Preventing rogue practice areas

The foundation for a great law firm lies in its people and the relationships they have with their clients and colleagues, and their marketplaces. 

Getting all partners in multi-discipline law firm to commit to branding is not always easy and it is important to engage them in the process early on. Great examples of how to do this include asking them to complete a survey about how they feel about the organisation and the strength of the current brand, using this to begin a strategic conversation. Encourage them to think about the existing issues that could be solved if they get behind the brand strategy, fine-tuning their tone of voice in client communications, updating their LinkedIn profile or hosting different types of events. Look to the long-term benefits by getting them to think about what a really strong brand could mean for the business in five or even 10 years’ time. 

Differentiating your firm in a crowded marketplace

All law firms do law and all firms say they put their clients first. Most are commercially aware and committed to the ESG agenda. And is there a law firm which doesn’t want to be a ‘trusted advisor?’ None of this differentiates us.

However, a strong brand can be a critical differentiator. Effective branding allows a firm to stand out by articulating its unique values and expertise, and successful communication is an important part of how a firm shows its personality. Think carefully about your communication; it makes complete sense to create a communication framework that can be used company-wide to help keep everything, from social media and blog posts to event invitations consistent.

As a key part of our branding, The Family Law Company emphasises compassion, our advocacy, and dedication to Legal Aid which we believe sets us apart from more transactional firms and their family teams. We are proud of our ability to have 360 degree view of family law  and how our clients benefit from this. By maintaining a consistent voice across all comms, we continue to attract clients who share our values. Whether through our website content, social platforms or client consultations, our message is clear. It helps us connect to our audience and our audience connect to us.

Aligning core values, mission and vision

A firm’s brand should always reflect its core values and long-term vision. Your brand voice needs to be an extension of those values, allowing clients to understand not just what you do, but why you do it. 

We chose a brand voice that reflects:

• our core value ‘we are brave’
• our vision - to champion family law as a force for good, creating a positive future for families across the country and overseas
• our mission - to be the pre-eminent family law company for colleagues and clients by living our ethos and being brave.

Our recent Everyday Bravery campaign, which celebrates examples of bravery shown in daily life that often go unobserved exemplifies how we align our brand with our vision. By honouring such acts of courage, we highlight the resilience of our clients, colleagues and our communities.

The campaign shifts the narrative around being brave and allows The Family Law Company as a brand to show an emotional connection to those that interact with their content. Including real people and their personal stories which have little to do with family law but are more about diverse life experiences allows the communication to be authentic and accessible to the audience.

However, creating a campaign that subtly aligns with The Family Law Company’s mission and vision provides a vehicle for us to address the emotional complexities of family law matters, such as divorce, child contact and domestic abuse. 

The overarching idea is that by fostering an emotional connection a lasting relationship is formed with the audience, building an affinity with the brand. 

Long-term benefits of a consistent brand

Many law firms will say that they know their clients and their markets, that they understand their issues and objectives. How do you prove this, and earn a reputation to match your claims? 

The lawyers will prove this to clients through the quality of the legal work they undertake, but also through the brand: the tone of voice and quality of the information, analysis and insight that they deliver. It allows teams to be more confident in cross referring their clients to other departments and clients to be receptive to this. In short, you will reap the rewards. Furthermore, for those people, businesses and organisations who have not yet had the experience of working with your firm, a strong brand may be the reason they decide that you are worthy of consideration. 

Conclusion

For law firms, understanding and applying a consistent brand type and voice is crucial to building trust and standing out in a competitive market. For The Family Law Company, this approach has helped us to successfully engage with our diverse client base whilst staying true to our values. Through innovative and brand-aligned campaigns like Everyday Bravery, we’ve demonstrated the power of an authentic, unified brand voice that resonates with our audience and builds long-term client relationships.