Crafting a law firm newsletter will help you connect with your clients and stay top of mind. It’s also an easy way to display your expertise and engage with potential new clients. 

Not sure where to start? That’s okay, in this guide, we’ll help you get up to speed with why you should consider creating your own law firm newsletter, what to include, and who to target. We’ll even provide you with some law firm newsletter ideas for you to try out and see where they take you.

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Why create a law firm newsletter?

A law firm newsletter is an effective, affordable way to reach a new audience and to generate trust and goodwill with your existing clients. When you share helpful legal information and tips, you’ll be offering your readers a valuable service while showing them that you understand their needs and interests. 

Did you know that email marketing can drive more sales than social media marketing? As a legal professional, it’s important to maintain an active, engaging social media presence, but email marketing reigns supreme when it comes to converting engagement to billable hours. 

When you reach out to clients with a legal services newsletter, be sure to include a few basic pieces of information in each issue:

  • A friendly greeting
  • A subject line that teases the content of your newsletter (“Three Things You Might Be Missing When You Create New Client Contracts” or “Before You Sign on the Dotted Line…”)
  • A link to your website
  • Various options for contacting you
  • Links to your social media pages

You’ll foster better engagement if you adhere to two overarching guidelines when drafting your legal newsletter. First, stay focused and concise. Second, remember your audience.

Email can be a highly effective way to generate business, but you’re competing for your clients’ attention among hundreds of other emails that may come across their inbox in a given day. If you manage to convince them to open your email, reward them with an easy-to-read, concise format that gets right to the point. The subject of your newsletter is critical, but demonstrating that you respect your clients’ time is equally important. 

Write in a voice that connects with your ideal client. If you market services to other legal professionals, your approach should differ from a newsletter written for technical clients or non-profits. 

Who should you send your newsletter to?

Send your newsletters far and wide. Encourage sign-ups on your website and social accounts, and consider customizing different versions to different audiences. If you provide services across multiple niches, you may want to tailor newsletters accordingly. 

Similarly, you could create versions of your newsletters aimed at attracting new clients or market a special version to your loyal client base as a value-added “thank you” for their continued business. 

Consider reaching out to other legal professionals as well. Your newsletter can offer you a new way to network with other firms and in-house attorneys. Newsletters can be a great way to keep your name fresh in the minds of people who may need to refer work to outside counsel. 

Law firm newsletter ideas

These legal newsletter ideas are sure to get you started in the right direction. 

Case studies

Write up a few quick summaries of recent cases you’ve handled. Your readers will view you as a credible authority on the subjects at hand. They’ll also make a mental note of the fact that other local community members trust you and your firm to take care of their legal needs.

You may even inspire a client who didn’t realize you handled a particular area of law to contact you. Remember to protect client confidentiality by removing any identifying factual details about the cases you decide to highlight. Still, try to present your case studies in an accessible way. 

Get to know us

Introduce members of your firm — or, if you’re on your own, share some personal details about yourself. A Q&A format works well for this legal services newsletter idea. Give your readers a glimpse into who you are beyond what you bring to the table as a legal professional. 

Here are a few ways you could approach a “meet and greet” newsletter:

  • Highlight lawyer “origin stories” — explain how and why you or another attorney at your firm got into the business. 
  • Showcase interesting staff hobbies, interests, or travel adventures.
  • Share photos of how you celebrated a recent holiday at the office (for example, show off your Halloween costumes or how you decorated for the holidays).
  • Tell the story of a unique office event, like “bring your child (or pet) to work” day.
  • Show off photos of your office participating in a community health event like donating blood or life-saving plasma. 

Share your charitable activities

Does your firm participate in community pro bono service or volunteer together to help manage a charity event? Activities like these make for perfect legal newsletter topics. If you plan ahead, you can get double the content by promoting events before they happen and following up with a newsletter about how they panned out. 

Whenever you write about your volunteerism, be sure to tie the activity to your firm’s values. Explain why it’s important to you and other staff members and attorneys that you are active in the community in these ways. 

Clients will respond to the message that your values are more than just buzzwords on your website — when you actually put hard work behind that message, it goes a long way toward building loyalty and respect. 

Weigh in on notable news stories

Is a prominent news story creating buzz around the water cooler or inspiring a lot of Zoom side chatter? Keep an ear out for the kinds of news events that capture the attention of people in your professional circles. There’s a good chance these subjects will make for compelling newsletter content. 

Weigh in on big court cases, Supreme Court decisions, and local news focused on legal issues. Give your professional take on an event and invite readers to send along any questions or thoughts they have on the matter as well. This rapport helps to establish you as a leading legal authority on relevant current events.

Guides and informational downloads

Your readers will appreciate the occasional freebie in the form of a guide or eBook download detailing the ins and outs of specific subject areas. While you’ll need to keep the information fairly general in order to appeal to a broad range of readers (and to encourage them to reach out with related work), this kind of information can be highly valuable. Your clients will appreciate the effort you put in to get them up to speed on common topics.

Here are a few examples of potential subjects for informational guides:

  • How to search for a patent
  • The difference between copyright and trademark
  • What to include in a HIPAA notice
  • When you have to notify customers about a data breach
  • Common legal terms that apply to specific niche businesses
  • How to get the most value from your next legal appointment
  • Five key items that may be missing from your client contracts

Recent testimonials

You could create a whole newsletter based on recent testimonials from satisfied clients or just include one or two at the end of newsletters focused on other subjects. In either case, don’t be afraid to toot your own horn from time to time. 

Be sure to include a little background information when a testimonial doesn’t provide enough clarity. For example, if someone’s comment is vague — ”I was impressed with the way X Firm handled explanations to the jury during this complicated case” — include a short summation of why it was complicated. 

You might also add something like, “X Firm recently handled a complex civil trial involving a contract dispute for a large local landscaping services company. Here’s what our ecstatic client had to say after a successful day in court.” 

As always, be careful about client confidentiality. Even if your client is amenable to you including identifying details in your newsletter, consider omitting them. This way, other clients won’t feel concerned about their own privacy. At the least, make it clear that the client has given you permission to disclose this level of detail. 

Listicles

Remember what we said about the short attention spans of email newsletter readers? Listicles are an ideal way to bridge the gap between the amount of time your readers have to spend on your email and the amount of information you want to share with them. A well-timed, super simple listicle email newsletter can be a very welcome approach. 

Some potential legal newsletter listicles you could create:

  1. 10 Reasons You Should Update Your Contracts Annually
  2. Five Things You Can Do Today to Protect Your Trademark
  3. Three Industry-Impacting Legal News Stories You Probably Missed Last Month
  4. Our Top 10 Predictions about Upcoming Supreme Court Decisions
  5. Learn These Five Legal Terms to Impress Your Friends at Parties

Video content

Mix it up from time to time by sharing video content. You can create a video blog instead of a written newsletter or create a fun video featuring life around the office. You may even want to outsource some video creation to a third party, bearing in mind that your investment can generate content marketing you can use across all your communication channels, including your social networks and website. 

Video content can be especially impactful if your clients span different generations. While you won’t likely be surprised to learn that younger generations tend to prefer short video content to blocks of text, it turns out Generation X and Baby Boomers are turning to more video content as well. A short, well-crafted video about legal considerations and retirement, for example, could be attractive to these age groups. 

Social media roundup

Get more mileage from your social networking efforts by sharing some highlights in your legal services newsletter. Did a particular post you made last week on LinkedIn seem to strike a nerve with your followers there? 

Maybe you saw a lot of engagement when you retweeted something funny on Twitter. Chances are, if your social network audiences enjoyed these interactions on those channels, your email newsletter followers will, too. 

Highlighting your social media activity is also an easy way to insert some user-generated content into your newsletters. For instance, you could pull in an insightful comment someone left in response to your post about a timely legal topic.

Don’t forget to invite your readers to engage with you on your social networks. Ideally, your social presence, email newsletter engagement, and other communication channels should intersect as much as possible. Not only does it make your job easier when you recycle content across channels, but it also helps to promote your firm as consistent, connected, and tuned-in. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

When you center your newsletter on FAQs, you’ll be saving yourself and your staff time and energy from responding to requests and questions you get on a regular basis. Your clients will appreciate that they don’t have to hunt down answers to these common inquiries, as well. 

This is a particularly good time to consider segmenting your email lists by practice area. Bankruptcy clients frequently ask questions that estate planning clients are less likely to bring up. 

Similar to guides and informational download topics, FAQs are a great way to add tangible value to your newsletters. Your readers will appreciate that you are forthright with this information versus refusing to discuss it at all unless you’re billing. 

Ultimately, this approach can help you attract clients who come into your practice closer to the “middle of the funnel” to take a term from traditional “drip campaign” approaches. They will be more educated and prepared to move ahead versus clients who come in at the very beginning of their information-gathering process. 

Healthy lifestyle tips

Whether your target audience for a given newsletter is your client list or fellow attorneys, consider sharing some healthy lifestyle tips related to current events. In the winter, for example, share tips about staying healthy when cold and flu season hits. Being prepared for anything is a crucial skill for legal professionals and a value you can promote as part of your big picture offering. 

The topic of reducing stress is relatable to virtually everyone online. Encourage your readers to take care of their stress levels with practical ideas they can incorporate into their every day. Not only will you be offering helpful tidbits for a happier life, but your readers will be reminded that you care about their well-being. 

Create a “Friday Fun” newsletter or an occasional “Legal Levity” installment of your law firm newsletter. You can find funny stories related to witness testimony or absurd law cases that have made their way into the news with a quick Google search. 

Here’s an example from a list Reader’s Digest put together: 

“Prosecutor (addressing the court): The People have evidence that the life of the witness is in jeopardy, and it is reasonable to apprehend he will not be able to attend the trial if he is not alive at that time.“

If you’d rather not create an entire newsletter built around these lighthearted legal stories, you might consider compiling a list to use as a closer at the end of your newsletters. 

Now that you have a good sense of why you should launch a law firm newsletter and what to include, you’re sure to create something you’ll be proud to publish. Just remember — as with all legal marketing, stick to a comfortable tone that feels authentic. Clients are more likely to respond to businesses that opt for a sincere, professional approach. 

Wondering how to take your online marketing to the next level? Check out Constant Contact’s The Download.  You’ll discover how to leverage your firm’s unique strengths to build awareness and grow your client base.