It was only a year ago that I took a deep dive into the health status of that ol’ standby public relations tool: the traditional press release. Still today, the press release continues to play an important role in most media relations campaigns, including those focused on law firms and attorneys.

Speaking as a former newspaper reporter and editor, I am comforted by the fact that the press release not only is still a “thing,” but is actually thriving. According to PR Newswire’s latest “State of the Press Release” report from this past December, the press release remains the gold standard, with 74% of journalists saying they prefer to receive news through press releases directly from sources, and 68% saying they consider press releases to be the most useful content provided by the PR industry.

To me, that’s kind of a WOW statement — “THE MOST USEFUL content provided by PR professionals,” even in the age of social media, the proliferation of content and a plethora of means for distributing said content.

Kudos to the Press Release

Despite this encouraging news, the press release is certainly not immune to the changing tides of culture and technology — in this case, the increasing influence and application of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing and public relations (as well as, of course, just about every other aspect of business, and beyond). A year ago, PR pros were just sticking their toes into the AI pool. The water was warm, but most were not sure they wanted to get too wet and certainly not dive in headfirst.

Fast-forward to 2025: While press releases are still atop the “want” list for reporters and editors, it behooves us legal marketers to commit resources and bandwidth to getting even better and more efficient at drafting and distributing them. With AI development, sophistication, integration and adoption all destined to continue — and likely at a rapid pace, let’s consider how the AI-driven press release may evolve (ideally for the better) in the near term.

A Better Press Release 

Even with the news cycle being as fast and fickle as it’s ever been, it still sometimes takes significant work hours to strategize about content, gather facts/information and input edits, and facilitate approvals — oftentimes from multiple stakeholders — to produce a purposeful and meaningful press release. Some would say that AI is poised to truly reinvigorate the press release for the first time in dozens of years. AI can make inroads on all fronts, particularly in cutting down on human errors on facts and grammar, style and tone inconsistencies, and missed deadlines resulting in delayed delivery and distribution.

Efficiency + Speed = Better Productivity

Dozens of AI tools and programs are available and accessible to anyone to simplify and speed up the processes for developing press releases, while also freeing up people hours to focus on other strategic PR endeavors. From doing as little as inputting talking points or an outline, AI can produce a fairly polished first draft of a release that aligns with focused messages and a law firm’s brand, including keywords, internal and Associated Press guidelines, legal marketing best practices, etc. AI-integrated grammar and fact checks also promise quality control for delivering consistent, error-free press releases, which ideally cuts down on the need to issue corrected press releases or ask editors to correct stories already published — all of which eats up even more valuable human hours that could be better spent elsewhere.

Customization

Not only can AI write and edit a release at breakneck speed, but it can customize and tailor releases to specific and different audiences. AI can develop multiple versions of a release targeted to individuals or groups of reporters or editors in different regions or markets, or in different industries. For example, it may not be prudent to spend human time and resources to write — within an allotted timeframe and budget — 10 versions of a press release with tweaked messages for uniquely different targets when AI can handle the task in a matter of minutes.

Still…Trepidation

It is important to keep in mind, however, that change can be scary, and the legal industry has been notorious for being risk-adverse about veering from the standard roadmap for how things are done. Point being: Full adoption of AI for use with press releases will have its challenges and will take some time.

First and foremost, change requires new learning and understanding, as well as perfecting the balance between AI use and human involvement or supervision, new integration of these technical tools into office and law firm processes and protocols, and allocation (or reallocation) of human and financial resources. Plus, AI is still new enough that its proper handling of sensitive information — definitely a huge concern for attorneys and law firms — will have to be worked out to a greater extent than it has currently achieved, or at least the perception of data security with AI will need to change. There will be adjustments on all fronts for PR pros and teams.

Conclusion…and a New Beginning

In summary, the press release is still a vital public relations tool that is very highly valued by media. Not only do we not have to worry about the press release being supplanted by other communications vehicles, AI is promising a renaissance in how press releases can be developed, written and distributed more quickly, accurately and cost-efficiently.

A year ago, the headline was that the press release was “still alive.” Today, the news is that the press release is “more important than ever” to editors and reporters. A year from now, AI-enhanced or AI-driven press releases may be the status quo. Ideally, that will be a boon for legal marketing and public relations is ways we may not yet fully realize.

Looking for ideas about how to make your press releases more accurate, efficient and effective in the age of AI? Contact me, Randy Labuzinski, at rlabuzinski@jaffepr.com.