News flash: lawyers are people. Human beings with personal problems, interests, and quirks. We have a lot in common with our bretheren (and sisteren) but we’re also different.
Different personalities, looks, and styles. Which prospective clients notice, are attracted to, and remember.
Which is why we all need to embrace our individuality and not try to be like everyone else. We need to be who we are, not who we think our clients want us to be. When we all look and sound alike, nobody pays attention.
We need to be who we are, but normal. Because clients don’t want to hire weirdos.
Clients want an attorney who looks like an attorney. And sounds like an attorney. Professional, well-dressed, well-groomed, and well-spoken.
Your headshot photo on your website and marketing materials needs to tell the world you know what you’re doing and are successfull doing it. The car you drive should tell the world you’re no slouch. How you dress, shine your shoes, and conduct yourself from the stage or speaking to clients and prospects and business contacts needs to fit an image that makes people like and trust you.
You don’t have to hire a stylist or pay big bucks for a photo shoot. Just pay attention to the basics and don’t look like a slob.
But don’t go the other direction, either. You don’t need $7,500 suits or $400 haircuts. Plastic surgery isn’t a requirement. You want to look your best but not look like you spend (your clients’) money recklessly.
Perhaps the most important element to pay attention to is your writing. Your articles and blog posts, letters and emails, reports and memos, are often not only the first impression many people see of you, they live on the Internet for a very long.
Write like a lawyer, but to be understood, not to impress.
Spell-checking is a must. Grammar-checking and ai can help a lot. You don’t need to be paranoid about your writing or hire an editor for everything, but it couldn’t hurt to have someone look over your shoulder before you hit publish.
Lawyers are expected to write formally, mostly, use upper-and-lower-case words and complete sentences, avoid emojis, and do their best not to sound glib. But lawyers can also be familiar and informal, plain spoken, and down-to-earth.
Don’t write like a professor or intellectual, unless you’re writing to professors or intellectuals. You can be warm and personable, and have a little fun with your words.
You know, normal.
And if you want clients to feel comfortable with you and want to speak to you and work with you, you will.
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