In a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, Danielle Snell and Robert McGirr, the founders of the Melbourne-based firm that was the recipient of the Boutique Law Firm of the Year at the 2022 Australian Law Awards, Elit Lawyers by McGirr & Snell, discussed the imperative nature of lawyers and law firms embracing self-promotion strategies to navigate the modern market effectively. They also delved into the driving forces behind the proliferation of such market-oriented endeavours.

Snell highlighted that lawyers’ substantial increase in the use of social media platforms has evolved, leading to an increased inclination towards self-promotion among individuals.

“There’s no doubt about it: social media and the use of it as a lawyer has changed dramatically. I would say even insofar as the last three to four years,” Snell said.

However, despite these changes, Snell noticed a persistent reluctance and resistance among many lawyers utilising social media to promote themselves and their services online despite the changes.

“It’s an important topic because I do engage in a number of discussions with lawyers monthly, and I do sense a great resistance from a number of lawyers in the community around this perception of self-promotion and advertising one’s services,” Snell said.

Snell disclosed that certain legal professionals respond to such self-promotional content by expressing disapproval through gestures such as “rolling their eyes”.

“I’ve had discussions with a couple lawyers recently, where they said: ‘When I see things on social media and a lawyer promoting what they’ve done or where they’ve been, I roll my eyes’,” she said.

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McGirr emphasised that one of the lessons he has learnt in his 46 years of experience in the legal profession is the significance of adapting to the changing landscape.

“Forty-six years I’ve been practising, and there has been the one thing that I’ve said about the practice of law, you have to embrace change, or it will run over you like a bulldoze,” McGirr said.

He further emphasised the significance of lawyers modifying their perception of self-promotion. It is not merely a marketing tactic but rather a vital response to clients’ evolving expectations.

“People talk about self-promotion. It’s marketing as lawyers provide a service to people in the community and the legal profession,” McGirr said.

In today’s digital age, clients rely on the internet to make informed decisions about which law firm to engage with to address their legal issues. McGirr stressed that this trend has led to self-promotion among law firms and individual lawyers.

“It’s the clients driving this because we’re finding increasingly that people have a problem, and their first recourse is to the internet to research it, to inform themselves so that they can make a more informed decision about who they’re going to engage,” McGirr said.

McGirr also highlighted how institutions such as courts actively self-promote their visibility and accessibility online.

“Even the courts are becoming quite self-promoting because, for instance, in the Supreme Court of Victoria, that is the go-to jurisdiction for a period of time in relation to class action litigation.

“Why? Because they made it more attractive fee-wise. So much so that the Federal Court had to compete, and so it’s all of those things providing a service to the public that is efficient and getting things done promptly,” McGirr said.

The increasing focus on self-promotion within law firms is undeniably influenced by client expectations. Additionally, Snell highlighted that commercial realities drive law firms to engage in such practices.

“I think predominantly it is for the benefit of the client, but let’s face it, we’re also commercial organisations, and we are competing with other law firms, and I think there’s also general benefit to the legal community.

“Let’s not just look at this as client versus competitor; let’s look at the advancement of our profession,” Snell said.

By promoting information about their work, Snell discussed how law firms can serve as catalysts in cultivating relationships with professional peers and contribute significantly to the progression of the legal field.

“I find that we have lots of strong relationships with other lawyers in the community. And often, the benefit of posting something on social media is helpful to one’s colleagues because we can know what cases are going about,” Snell said.

She offered an example: “We’ve recently had a case where we were contacted by colleagues in the UK [who] are running similar cases to us. They otherwise wouldn’t have known about what we were doing if we hadn’t posted on social media”.