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Would you take medical advice from a physician who smokes?

July 21, 2026 by David M. Ward

Would you follow the advice of a medical doctor who smokes cigarettes? Years ago, maybe. Today, you’d hesitate to listen to someone who should know better. I know I would.

I thought about that yesterday when I went to a gym to get information about signing up for strength training, something I’ve been thinking about doing recently. I met with a trainer who evaluated me and told me my options. In addition to her experience as a trainer and coach, she said she was a certified dietition and could advise me accordingly.

I didn’t sign up with her.

Unfortunately, she was not in good physical shape. She was more than moderately obese and, to my eye, clearly enflamed, ostensibly from a poor diet.

I don’t want to hire someone who is a walking incongruity, any more than I would hire a physician with a raspy cough.

What does that have to do with attorneys?

Everything.

No matter how much knowledge and experience you have, no matter how good you are at your work, if you don’t look the part, you can’t be surprised if clients don’t hire you.

You’re advising them about buying a business, getting a good settlement, or protecting their assets. You have to look like you know what you’re doing or you’ll scare them off.

It reminds me of when I first started practicing and didn’t have a lot of money. I made sure clients didn’t see the beat up old car that got me through law school. I had one or two decent suits and made sure clients saw those, not the old stuff in my closet.

When I met with a client, I didn’t let them see the tiny office I could barely afford, I always met them in the conference room.

I looked successful and eventually I was.

Which leads me to ask, are you doing anything that might cause clients and prospects to hesitate to hire you because you don’t fit the image they expect and want?

If you do, you probably need to do something about that.

Clients want a lawyer who knows what they’re doing and is successful doing it. Make sure you give them what they expect.

You have to look the part. When you speak to them, or write to them, you have to sound like the expert they need to solve their problem or achieve their obective.

And have lots of clients to prove it.

If you don’t, am I telling you to fake it until you make it?

Damn right I am.

Filed Under: Communication, Image

The truth, the whole truth, and (almost) nothing but the truth

February 10, 2026 by David M. Ward

You’re not good at everything. Sometimes you make mistakes. Sometimes you don’t do what you said you would do when you said you would do it.

You’re a lawyer. And pretty good at disguising your flaws, because why would you talk about them?

Why tell clients what you don’t do well or give them reasons to doubt you?

Because it might be the best thing you could do.

Transparency isn’t a common characteristic of most lawyers. We thrive on displaying strength and avoid revealing weakness. We say what must be said and avoid saying anything that doesn’t.

Of course we protect ourselves with disclaimers and disclosures in our retainer agreements, authorizations, invoices, and other documents, lest we later be accused of failing to disclose something.

We hide the negative in the fine print.

What if you shared some of that upfront? Better for clients to hear it from you instead of hearing it on social media or finding out after they’ve hired you.

What if, instead of downplaying some things that can go wrong with a case, you talk about them openly? What if you tell stories about problems you’ve seen in your practice and point out that not everything has a happy ending?

What if you tell clients what you do and what you don’t do? Tell them what you offer and what’s not included. Tell them you don’t handle “everything” and when you will refer them to someone you know and recommend.

How refreshing to hear some unvarnished truth from an attorney.

Transparency will let you differentiate yourself from most attorneys and give you a distinct marketing advantage by building trust and likeability.

You don’t have to walk around with a lie detector attached to your arm or take a truth serum before you meet with prospect clients.

Just don’t bury everything in 6-point type.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Image, Marketing legal services

How to ethically ask for reviews and referrals

January 6, 2026 by David M. Ward

I have homework for you. You need to research the latest ethical rules and guidelines in your state or jurisdiction regarding asking for reviews, testimonials, endorsements, and referrals.

Here are three reasons:

Compliance. You don’t want to violate any rules, and since rules change and are often ambiguous, you want as much currency and clarity as possible.
Educate clients and contacts. You want them to know what they can and can’t do to help you and avoid inadvertently getting you in trouble, or getting themselves in trouble if they are also an attorney or other licensed professional.

Staying current with the rules and guidelines can not only protect you and your contacts, but sharing those rules and guidelines can make it more likely your clients and contacts will be comfortable providing you with referrals, testimonials, and reviews.

Which leads to the third and perhaps most important reason for doing this:

Building connections. Sharing your knowledge about the rules and best practices you discover and practice, not only shows your commitment to the highest professional standards, it gives you a great “excuse” for bringing up this subject—in conversation, in presentations, articles, social media, and in other content—without looking like you’re “always” asking for help.

In short, taking the time to stay up to date with the law and ethical rules and widely sharing this information not only protects you and your contacts, it’s a simple way to build your reputation and bring you more business.

Filed Under: Client relations, Content creation, Continuing Legal Education, Image, Referrals, Relationship marketing, Social media, Testimonials

You and only you

February 13, 2025 by David M. Ward

You’re not merely good at your job, you’re the best in your marketplace. That should be your mindset and marketing message.

You’re the best lawyer for the job. The only lawyer your clients should choose.

Yes, it borders on arrogant and is open to dispute. But it is the very message your clients want to hear, the very message that will attract them to hire and refer you.

Clients want to know they’re getting the best advice possible. Not just good advice, the best.

They want to know that you will take care of them, work hard for them, and competently and completely solve their problems. And do it better than anyone else.

You want them to know you are the best lawyer for the job, and hiring anyone other than you would be a colossal mistake.

To accomplish this, you have to believe it’s true. If you don’t, if you think you’re good but not necessarily better than anyone else, it will show.

If you don’t believe you are the best of the best in your market, you need to work on that. You need to improve the quality of your services, add more value, work harder, or target a different market, one that is aligned with who you are and what you offer.

Or all of the above.

So that when you say you’re the best, you believe it, because it’s true.

When you believe it, your clients will believe it and you won’t have to use clever marketing (or lie) to be seen as the best choice.

You, and only you.

Filed Under: Communication, Image, Law office management, Marketing legal services

How to be the top lawyer in your niche

November 19, 2024 by David M. Ward

The top lawyers are different. Not necessarily smarter or more accomplished, they do things differently.

The key is their mindset about serving their clients better than any other lawyer could or would, and the reputation they develop as a result.

They make a commitment to their clients and to themself to be the best at every aspect of what they do.

Because they do, their clients unfailingly turn to them whenever they need advice or help.

It starts by letting their clients know that they (or someone on their behalf) will be available whenever they call with a question or to discuss a legal matter.

They aren’t just willing to do it, they are eager to do it.

Being the best also means being honest with their clients or prospects about what they can and can’t do for them. If they aren’t the best lawyer for the job, they don’t fake it, they tell the client. If the client insists that they handle the matter anyway, they say no, even if the client is happy to pay for it.

They explain that the client doesn’t need what they’ve asked for, or that they’re not the best lawyer for the job, and suggest a different solution or refer them to another lawyer who can help them.

The best lawyers are also proactive. They rigorously stay in touch with their clients, even when they’re not actively engaged in legal work for them. They go out of their way to

Share useful ideas, information, and resources
Introduce them to prospective clients or customers for their business or practice
Invite them to sporting or entertainment events they know would appeal to them
Educate them about how their legal services work so that the client will be better able to recognize when they need help or advice and be better able to work with them
And they look for ways to spend time with them (off the clock) getting to know them, their families, their customers, and their advisors

It all boils down to this: the most successful lawyers don’t just provide good legal services for their clients, they build strong relationships with them.

As a result, these lawyers never struggle to attract great clients or need to sell them anything. Clients seek them out, stay with them through thick and thin, and go out of their way to refer other clients.

It feels good to be the best, and it pays well.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Image, success

Do you need a brochure to market your legal services?

October 3, 2024 by David M. Ward

A brochure looks nice. Just like having a nice office, nice furniture, and a nice suit.

At a glance, a prospective client or fellow professional can see you are no slouch. You’re successful.

You need a brochure, right?

It can’t hurt. But a brochure isn’t necessary. Your website can accomplish the same thing, but do it better.

Your website can tell people all about what you do, your background and story, your successful cases and big-name clients, share your victories, tell people how you work, and tell people what others say about you.

Your website doesn’t need to be fancy. Or expensive. A simple “off-the-shelf” template will do.

You can add as much information as you want whenever you want. If there’s something you need to change or fix, you can do it in minutes.

You can include information that helps people understand their problem and what to do about it. You can add a blog or articles, forms and checklists, and other goodies to help visitors understand their situation and why they should choose you to help them.

A brochure tells people what you do. A website proves you can do it.

Yes, there may be times when you want to have something you can hand out at a meeting or put in the mail. Something brochure-like, like the big kids have.

You can do that. Full-color brochures are impressive. Get some if you want to.

Or put your website address on your business card and call it a day.

Filed Under: Image, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

Approachable you?

January 11, 2024 by David M. Ward

Do you think your clients and prospects and professional contacts see you as friendly, open, and easy to talk to, or relatively impersonal or distant?

It makes a difference.

You don’t have to be everyone’s best friend, but the more likable and approachable you appear, the more likely it is that you will be approached.

You’ll get more prospects inquiring about your services, asking questions, making an appointment, and hiring you. You’ll get more people signing up for your newsletter, following you on social, and telling others about you.

When people meet you, read your newsletter or articles or your posts on social (by you or by others about you), when they read the “About” page on your website or your clients’ reviews, what do they think about you?

When you’re not in the room, how do you suppose they describe you?

Image is fundamental to the success of a professional because, to a great extent, it determines how comfortable people are about approaching and hiring you.

So, how do you appear to be approachable, especially if this doesn’t come naturally to you?

The simplest way to do it is to use a conversational tone in your writing, presentations, and conversations.

Don’t write in the third person or formally. Loosen up. Write (and speak) simply and plainly, as though you were speaking to a friend.

Well, almost. There is such a thing as being too informal, sharing too much personal information, and appearing less than professional.

Be professional, but friendly.

Get readers involved in the conversation. Ask what they think, what they have done, or what they want to know.

And don’t make everything about you. Tell stories about people you’ve helped, not just the outcomes but some of the process, so readers can see what it would be like working with you.

And smile. In your photos and in person.

Show the world you are approachable by showing them you are a real person, a nice one at that. The kind of person they would like to know even if they weren’t looking for an attorney.

Filed Under: Image

Why you shouldn’t focus on getting new clients

November 15, 2023 by David M. Ward

You want more clients, of course, but the best way to get them isn’t to focus on new clients but to focus on your existing clients, professional contacts, friends and subscribers.

Sure, you can get new clients through advertising and speaking and networking and writing, and I’m not saying you should give that up if it’s working for you. Or you’re new and don’t yet have a lot of clients or contacts or much of a list.

I’m saying it’s easier to get more of what you already have, your existing or “warm” market, than to do everything from scratch, which is what you do when you focus on strangers in the cold market.

In your warm market, you have leverage. In the cold market, you don’t.

It’s easier to get an existing or former client to “buy” more of your services. It’s easier to get referrals from clients and business contacts who already know, like, and trust you. It’s easier to get better clients and bigger cases when you have a good reputation in your existing niche.

Focus on your warm market.

Learn all you can about their businesses, their industries, and their local market. Strengthen your relationships with the people in those niches and their advisors. Stay in touch with them and help them in ways that go beyond your core services.

When you do, not only will you get more clients from your warm market, you’ll also get them from the cold market.

How? Your reputation. Word of mouth (as opposed to actual referrals, but you’ll get these, too).

People will hear about you and ask you to speak at their event or ask to interview you for their podcast or blog. People will hear your name a second or third time and decide to talk to you about their legal issue.

You want more clients and you’ll get them by focusing on people who know your name and what you do.

Just the way it works.

Filed Under: Image, Marketing legal services

Be normal

November 9, 2023 by David M. Ward

I don’t know what “weird” means, but I know it when I see it. (Why does that sentence sound oddly familiar?) Anyway, lawyers come in all shapes and sizes, colors and accents, and the world is better because of it.

But let’s face it, clients judge lawyers by a lot of things beside their legal acumen, including their appearance—clothing, hair, manner of speech, sense of humor, and more—and if a lawyer is too different from what those clients are used to and expect, some clients might be uncomfortable and stay away.

On the other hand, it depends.

In the not-so-distant past, long hair for men was odd, and no doubt scared off many a client. Smoking was common. Tattoos weren’t. Casual clothing was considered unprofessional. And the list goes on.

Anyway, my point is that while we don’t necessarily have to conform to current styles, we shouldn’t ignore them. That means we should probably “look like a lawyer” and act the way our clients expect a lawyer to act, and be willing to accept the consequences if we don’t.

If you handle estate planning and work with a lot of boomers, for example, you might want to cover your tats, wear a suit when you meet with them, and talk about the new Beetles song (and video) instead of that Swift person. If you handle entertainment law, you might make different decisions.

Clients want their lawyer to be normal, and they get to decide what that means for them. Unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, consider giving them what they want.

Hmm, maybe I should dust off my old Nehru Jacket. . .

Filed Under: Image

Attraction marketing

October 20, 2023 by David M. Ward

The best way to find prospects is to get them to find you. You don’t want to chase people and they don’t want to be chased. So don’t do it. Because it looks to prospective clients as bad as it feels to you.

How do you do attraction marketing? By making yourself and your solutions attractive to prospective clients.

You do that with:

An effective website. It doesn’t have to be complicated (or expensive), it just needs to do a good job of telling people about you, what you do and how you help people. Include a form that allows visitors to request an appointment or get more information, and/or sign up for your newsletter.
Content. Educate your market about their problems and available solutions. Tell them their risks and options. Share examples and stories to illustrate and inspire people to see that you are the best choice for them.
Referrals. Equip your clients and contacts with information about your services, how to recognize your ideal client, and how to make an effective referral. Keep them informed about new content on your or blog and other channels, so they can share this with people they know who might like to see it.
Staying in touch. You don’t lose posture by continuing to contact people who know, like, and trust you because they hired you or connected with you in the past, as long as you have their permission. If you continue to share valuable or interesting information, and remind them about what you can do to help them and the people they know, they will appreciate you and tell others.

These are the primary sources of new clients for many attorneys and they can be for you. Done well, they not only allow you to maintain “attractive” posture, they are likely to enhance it.

Yes, you can also advertise, network, do public speaking, conduct seminars, write articles, and do other things to market your services, without chasing anyone. But you may not need to.

Isn’t that refreshing?

Filed Under: Image, Marketing legal services Tagged With: attraction marketing, posture