They don’t teach you this in law school, and they rarely include the content in conference programs, but whether you like it or not, from the day we enter the profession we are building a personal brand. And I really wish that my first boss had warned me!
Having entered the profession back when fax machines were still a thing and messages were hand-written and impaled on a spike outside your office door, I probably seem like a dinosaur to most. There was no social media, no websites and no deepfakes. But even in those analogue times, as lawyers, we were building a personal brand from the moment we started writing letters (and licking a stamp, placing it on an envelope and taking it to the post office), making phone calls and appearing in court. And I wish my first boss had given me the heads up, that every word spoken, every keystroke and every interaction with colleagues was creating an indelible persona.
In this new world of social media, Instagram influencers and AI bots, having a distinct personal brand has never been more important to lawyers, and the risks to early career professionals has never been more menacing.
In the 21st century the proverbial “good lawyer” is much more than just technical skill. We now exist in a world in which competition for work is high, and in which universities continue to pump out thousands more graduates each year than the profession can sustain. With the undefined impact of artificial intelligence hanging over the profession’s head, it seems likely that competition for roles as a lawyer is only going to intensify.
Early career lawyers now need to understand that being technically excellent will only get them so far. Those looking to achieve promotion in existing firms or to succeed as a principal in their own practice need a wide range of skills, and their personal brand needs to be curated strategically and diligently. I would argue that there are several very good reasons why an early career lawyer with a well-executed personal brand is far more likely to succeed than one with a poor or non-existent personal brand. These reasons include that:
- A strong and well-crafted personal brand enables a practitioner to stand out from the crowd and to differentiate themselves.
- It creates visibility that keeps you front of mind for opportunities – promotional, referral, new role, etc.
- It gives you credibility that will enable you to build trust with stakeholders and will support your business development activities as well as drive referral and conversion.
- It will enable you to develop a profile as being a credible, reliable and trusted expert in your field.
Ultimately, in this profession attracting and retaining clients or referrers is essential to having a successful practice. And in this information age, backgrounding – and even online “stalking” – is just a few clicks of the keyboard. Your branding, whether it is deliberate or not, is easily found. As lawyers we need to accept that our digital personality will likely be seen and digested by potential clients, colleagues and community members, even before they have met us in person for the first time.
One of the most common mistakes made by aspirational and ambitious young professionals is that they try to build the brand that they believe the world wants, rather than being true to who they really are. Your brand is not a costume that you put on and take off as you please. Those that treat their brand as a new suit that can be worn only when convenient will be seen as inauthentic, fake and even disingenuous.
So, what do the personal brands of successful lawyers have in common? The 3 C’s – clarity, consistency and credibility. Every one of them is very clear and focussed on what they stand for. Every one of them is consistent in their actions, their messaging and all public facing content. And each of them is highly proficient at what they do – they have credibility. They get things done, they do it well and they have credibility of the type that only results can deliver.
The three C’s.
If you are committed to being authentic and genuine, a natural starting point for building, or rebuilding, your personal brand is to embrace your backstory. Tell your story. Be honest about the challenges you have faced, acknowledge the missteps and failures along the way, and be clear about your “why”. Why do certain values matter so deeply to you? What experiences have shaped the lawyer, and the person, you are?
When you allow yourself to be human, you become relatable, credible and real. And when you share your story with clarity and purpose, you invite connection and trust.
As lawyers, we must recognise that whether we are conscious of it or not, we are shaping our personal brand every single day. Too often, we only pause to consider how we are perceived when it is already too late to influence the narrative. As Elvis Presley famously said, “values are like fingerprints, nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all over everything you do.” In a profession built on trust and reputation, those imprints matter.
