Written By: Molly Panos

When thinking of how marketing can affect and influence a person or situation, people typically think of a brand they like, an ad they remember, or a pop-up on social media. They usually don’t make the jump between marketing and law. When you look closely at it, the more the two seem connected. Which raises an interesting question: Where does persuasion end and marketing begin in the legal world?

More Than Billboards and Briefs

When questioning marketings influence or even presence in law, the first thing that comes to mind is the juxtaposition between the two. Law is supposed to be grounded in precedent, facts, and procedure, while marketing is typically associated with positioning, branding, and influencing. In reality, both fields rely heavily on communication and the power of storytelling. In both fields, you are stepping into the mind of the jury or buyer and asking how to make people trust, understand, and respond to the information you are putting in front of them.

The Business Side of the Bar

When taking a step back and looking at things from the perspective outside the courtroom, it is clear that there is certainly marketing in law. Law firms and attorneys market their services through websites, branding, content, advertising, and word of mouth. If you have ever driven down Route I-93, you have definitely witnessed 1 or 10 of Morgan & Morgan’s law firm billboards. More irony, their tagline is “Morgan & Morgan, there’s only one”.

It is clearly stated even in the American Bar Association’s Model Rules that lawyers may communicate information about their services through “any media”, as long as these messages are not false or misleading. Legal marketing is a huge part of recognition for lawyers and law firms; however, they are much more tightly bound by ethics.

A law firm is not just asking people to try a product; they are selling trust to a client. This leaves legal marketing outside of the scope of traditional commercial marketing. This trust comes into play typically in high-stakes situations, leading to credibility playing a major role in the promotion of a firm or lawyer. Through things like websites, blogs, personal statements, or advertisements, you are not just trying to attract consumer attention. In law, reputation is a big part of marketing. Providing an image of competence, integrity, and professionalism. The ABA’s rules on attorney communications support this, especially when it comes to truthfulness and misleading impressions.

Building the Case, Framing the Story

Using marketing techniques is not just for outside client procurement; it also appears inside the courtroom as well. This can be seen through the practice of client advocacy. It is not marketing in a commercial way; however, it does use many of the same tools and techniques that are used when marketing a product or brand. Lawyers and marketers use things like audience awareness, framing, clarity, narrative, and emotional restraint. In law, you must shape arguments with the listener in mind, like marketing in the sense of the consumer. Using persuasion depends on how a message is received, not just what is said. Effective advocacy has long been rooted in ethos, logos, and pathos, meaning character, logic, and emotion. This has all been backed by the American College of Trial Lawyers. These ideas and logic sound very similar to marketing, and in many ways, it is. Good marketers try to think about the audience, forming trust, the perception of the brand/product, and the message they are conveying. Good lawyers do the same for their clients. In the courtroom, attorneys need to organize the facts of the case into a theory, theme, and story that makes sense to the judge and jury. The courtroom source material from the American College of Trial Lawyers emphasizes that the advocate’s perceived character matters, that trust matters, and that emotional appeals only work when grounded in logic and facts. Because of this, lawyers are not using commercial marketing and branding in their argument, but they are applying strategic persuasion to their case.

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Where Law and Marketing Meet

So, is there an overlap between the law and marketing? From outside the courtroom on the business and branding side, it is clear that marketing is a tool often used. Inside the courtroom, something deeper is going on. The use of persuasion, positioning, and perception is all things that both attorneys and marketers use. The clear difference between the two is that the law has to maintain its ethics and uphold public trust. A lawyer can market services, but not deceptively. A trial lawyer can persuade, but not by untethering emotion from evidence. For someone interested in law school, that is part of what makes this intersection so compelling. Law and marketing are not separate worlds. Both care about how ideas are framed, how trust is built, and how people are moved to act. The key difference is that in law, those skills are tied to ethics, responsibility, and the justice system itself. Maybe that is the best way to answer the question: marketing exists in law, but in its best form, it is disciplined by truth, trust, and duty.

References:

American Bar Association, Model Rule 7.1: Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services.

American Bar Association, Model Rule 7.2: Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services: Specific Rules.

American College of Trial Lawyers, The Art of Persuasion: Essays on Rhetoric in the Courtroom.

Conference of Chief Justices / Conference of State Court Administrators, Courting Public Trust and Confidence.

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Understanding the Federal Courts.