7 ways leading law firms build trust on social media through employee advocacy

Clients do not hire logos. They hire lawyers.

In the legal sector, trust is built through expertise, credibility, and human relationships. Yet many law firms still rely heavily on corporate pages to communicate authority while underutilizing the power of their people on LinkedIn.

In our recent webinar, we brought together two legal marketing leaders:

• Karen Snell, Chief Business Development and Marketing Officer at Kennedys
• Philip Tyler, Head of Digital Marketing at Lewis Silkin

Together, they unpacked how law firms can empower lawyers to show up on social confidently, without creating risk, compliance issues, or brand inconsistency.

Here are the seven takeaways every legal BDMC team should consider.

1. Advocacy reflects that law firms are a people business

At its core, employee advocacy works in legal because the industry is fundamentally human.

Law firms do not sell products. They sell expertise, judgment, and relationships. When lawyers share insights, commentary, or personal reflections on LinkedIn, they make the firm’s culture and intelligence visible in a way corporate messaging alone cannot.

Social allows firms to:

• Showcase individual expertise
• Demonstrate culture in action
• Strengthen credibility with target audiences
• Reach decision makers through trusted personal networks

If you’re thinking, “but my leadership feels nervous about giving lawyers a public platform”, Karen and Philip both championed that with training and clear expectations, the rewards consistently outweigh any risk.

2. Leadership visibility reinforces strategy in action

For law firm leadership, the value of social often comes down to strategic alignment.

When senior partners and managing partners post about firm direction, client visits, industry shifts, or strategic milestones, they do more than communicate externally. They reinforce internal messaging.

Internal town halls and newsletters explain strategy. LinkedIn shows it being lived.

Leadership visibility:

• Signals transparency
• Models behavior for others
• Demonstrates confidence in the firm’s positioning
• Humanizes senior leadership

Just like Karen shared, once leaders experience real world impact, such as clients referencing LinkedIn posts in meetings, skepticism tends to fade quickly.

3. Guardrails create confidence, not bottlenecks

Reputation risk is the number one concern in legal social activity.

The key insight from both panelists was this: governance should create clarity, not fear.

Strong programs include:

• Clear social media policies
• Tone of voice guidance
• Training tailored to lawyers
• Ongoing feedback loops
• Structured content approval processes where needed

At a basic level, lawyers are already bound by professional conduct standards. The same common sense that applies in client meetings applies online.

The principle is simple: If you would not say it in a boardroom, do not post it on LinkedIn.

When expectations are clear, most professionals act accordingly.

4. Start with the willing, then build momentum

One of the most practical pieces of advice was to start small.

Do not attempt to onboard the entire partnership at once. Instead:

• Identify lawyers already active or curious
• Support them closely
• Share early success stories
• Build internal case studies

Momentum grows through proof.

When colleagues see peers generating engagement, reconnecting with clients, or strengthening visibility, participation becomes aspirational rather than imposed.

Advocacy works best as a marathon, not a sprint.

5. Associates are future rainmakers, not just junior voices

A common mistake in legal social strategy is focusing only on senior partners.

While leadership messaging is powerful, associate advocacy plays a different and equally important role.

Associates:

• Build multi layer client relationships
• Establish early credibility in niche practice areas
• Grow networks that will mature over time
• Strengthen peer to peer engagement

In ten years, today’s associates will be partners. Encouraging them to develop a professional presence now is an investment in the firm’s long term client relationships.

Meanwhile, corporate level messaging is often best delivered by leadership. The most effective programs clearly differentiate between:

• Strategic firm messaging from senior leaders
• Practice area expertise from lawyers and associates

6. Storytelling beats vanity metrics

When leadership asks, “Is this worth it?” the instinct is often to present reach and impressions.

But vanity metrics rarely move legal decision makers.

What resonates more strongly are:

• Client conversations sparked by posts
• Reconnection stories that led to instructions
• Event registrations driven by social activity
• Measurable conversions tracked through CRM integration

Several anecdotes shared during the webinar highlighted lawyers reconnecting with contacts after posting personal stories, leading to new work months later.

Those stories carry weight.

At the same time, more advanced programs are connecting social data to CRM systems to demonstrate:

• Advocacy influenced traffic
• Event sign ups
• Community joins
• Pipeline contribution

The most effective reporting combines qualitative impact with business aligned metrics.

7. Bake advocacy into culture, not campaigns

One of the strongest insights from the discussion was that advocacy should not feel like a short term marketing initiative.

It should feel normal.

Ways firms are embedding it long term include:

• Integrating LinkedIn into trainee training programs
• Including participation targets in strategic plans
• Setting measurable employee activation goals
• Aligning social with broader firm objectives

One firm has even built an active employee participation metric directly into its strategic plan, elevating advocacy from a marketing tactic to a firm level priority.

When advocacy becomes part of professional development, not an optional extra, consistency improves dramatically.

Final advice for legal marketing teams

If your firm is considering advocacy but feeling cautious, here is the distilled advice from our panel:

• Start with the open minded lawyers.
• Provide training and clear guardrails.
• Focus on audience relevance over volume.
• Encourage authenticity over corporate scripting.
• Track meaningful outcomes, not surface numbers.
• Be patient. Momentum compounds.

Above all, remember that silence is not risk free either.

In today’s legal market, absence on LinkedIn can be just as noticeable as poor execution. Clients, recruits, and procurement teams are already looking lawyers up online. The question is whether they find a thoughtful, credible presence or nothing at all.

Start building a reputation-safe advocacy program

Legal marketing teams no longer need to choose between visibility and compliance. With the right structure, training, and tools in place, firms can empower lawyers to build trust on social without compromising reputation.

At Oktopost, we help professional services firms roll out employee advocacy programs designed with governance in mind. From structured content workflows to measurable impact reporting, we support legal teams in scaling advocacy confidently.

If you are exploring how to activate your lawyers on LinkedIn safely and effectively, let’s talk.