Law Firm Public Relations: Turning Coverage Into Cases

Law firm public relations is the work of getting your firm quoted, featured and written about in the press that prospective clients, referrers and journalists actually read, and it earns budget only when coverage produces something countable: a link, a branded search, a consultation request, a signed case.

It is one channel inside law firm marketing, next to local SEO, paid ads and referral development, whatever a firm calls it: law firm PR, legal PR or PR for lawyers.

What law firm public relations does

PR earns attention instead of buying it: the story ran because an editor decided it was worth printing, not because the firm paid.

ABA Model Rule 7.2(a) says a lawyer may communicate information about the lawyer's services through any media; its 2018 version replaced the older list of named media with that phrase.

The same rule stays subject to Model Rule 7.1's prohibition on false or misleading statements, and Model Rules bind no one until a state adopts them, so your state's version controls.

How PR turns into links and cases

The first output is editorial links: when a news site, bar publication or university page cites the firm, that is the kind of link firms cannot buy, and the hardest input in law firm link building.

The second output is recognition: someone hears the firm on a podcast or reads a quote, remembers the name, and searches for it weeks later when the problem arrives.

No published benchmark exists for a law firm's whole-site conversion rate, but Unbounce's 2024 Conversion Benchmark Report puts the median conversion rate for legal landing pages at 6.3%, with top performers at 13.1% or better, counting form fills on pages built in its own builder.

That number counts form fills only and misses the calls most legal consultations start with, so it is not a whole-website benchmark.

Illustrative math ties the outputs together: say a regional TV segment sends 300 visits to your car accident page, and at Unbounce's 6.3% legal median those visits produce about 19 form-fill inquiries.

What share of those inquiries become consultations and signed cases depends on the page's next step and on intake, not on PR.

An editor can also decline or cut the story, so no one can promise a placement.

How to get lawyers in the news

Five steps produce most of it.

None of this requires an agency to start; it requires a lawyer willing to be quoted and a page worth landing on.

The rules that shape what your PR can say

The sharpest limit is trial publicity: ABA Model Rule 3.6(a) bars a lawyer in a matter from making public statements the lawyer knows or should know have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing the proceeding.

Rule 3.6(b) permits statements of the claim or defense, public-record information, the scheduling or results of litigation steps and, in criminal cases, the fact, time and place of arrest.

Rule 3.6(c) allows a statement needed to protect a client from substantial undue prejudice from recent publicity the lawyer or client did not start, limited to what is necessary to mitigate.

Two boundaries sit around those allowances: anything not already public still answers to client confidentiality under Model Rule 1.6, and the rule also reaches lawyers at the same firm (3.6(d)).

These are Model Rules, which bind no one until a state adopts them; your state's version controls.

Coverage that advertises past results or awards runs into the advertising rules next: per the ABA's variations chart for Rule 7.1 as of July 2022, Missouri and Montana require a "past results afford no guarantee" statement when results are advertised, and North Dakota bars comparisons based on an honor or accolade unless the comparing organization is named and the basis can be substantiated.

New Jersey goes further on awards, per the same 2022 chart, requiring a named organization, substantiation and the disclaimer "No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey."

Those are chart examples from a 2022 snapshot, not a survey of every state, and some states are much stricter than the Model Rule on testimonials and results, so check yours.

What an award is worth as marketing is its own question, covered in are lawyer awards worth it.

Bios attached to pitches raise a separate question: the comments to Model Rule 7.2, as amended in 2018, say a lawyer is generally permitted to say they "concentrate in" or "specialize in" a field based on experience or training, subject to Rule 7.1, while certification claims still answer to Rule 7.2(c).

State adoption of that permissive comment varies, so the words on a bio are a state question too.

Some PR tactics also carry federal rules: 16 CFR 465.6, part of the FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials in force since October 21, 2024 (eCFR text as of October 1, 2026), bars presenting a website the business controls as an independent reviewer, so check who runs any "best lawyers" listing before paying to appear in it.

16 CFR 465.8 bars buying or selling fake indicators of social media influence, such as followers, likes or views, when the buyer knew or should have known they were fake and they are used to misrepresent influence for a commercial purpose.

The FTC Endorsement Guides (16 CFR Part 255, revised July 2023) add that advertisers should not procure, suppress, boost or edit reviews in ways that distort what consumers think, and that advertising showing a testimonial with unrepresentative results should clearly disclose generally expected performance.

Before a campaign, a pitch or a post touching a live matter, confirm the specifics with your state bar's ethics counsel or an ethics lawyer.

Frequently asked questions