This article was originally published by Law360 on February 23, 2026.

Attorneys are often aware that they need to “do marketing” to build relationships and a solid book of business.

But who has the time? Associates and junior partners often need to keep their heads down and stay focused on the work. They may hear “biz dev” and momentarily wonder how they can seek the spotlight. But with heavy workloads, meetings and hybrid work schedules, business development quickly drops down the priority list.

The gap from workhorse to rainmaker — or at least respectable originator — can seem like a canyon. How can you build the bridge? Fortunately, your firm may have a wealth of resources at your disposal in the marketing department — regardless of where you are in your career.

When lawyers think “marketing department,” they might think about the firm website, holiday party and newsletter. It’s common to overlook your firm’s communications professionals as being solely focused on senior partnership or the firm as a whole. But it’s a mistake to dismiss them or think they’re too busy for a junior attorney.

Reframe how you view your marketing department, and see it as a resource for advice and education, even inspiration, as well as support for doing a lot of heavy lifting in helping you develop your reputation.

Here are five ways that associates and junior partners can collaborate with their law firm marketing departments as both a source of advice and of outsourced execution.

1. Optimize your personal brand.

Attorneys operate in individualized practice areas, and many develop certain niches or differentiators that set them apart. Whether it’s your responsiveness, writing skills, emotional intelligence, ability to elicit juror tears or fluidity in reinsurance, you have a certain something that is unique and helpful to your practice.

This certain something is your personal brand that sets you apart from other attorneys, even within your firm. Whether you realize it or not, you have already articulated your personal brand to potential clients in pitches or during intake.

You can leverage your differentiators into a well-written personal brand statement that enhances and brings personality to your website biography, LinkedIn profile, award submissions and pitch materials.

Request a meeting with the marketing department and let them know that you want to develop a personal brand statement for your web presence and pitch materials. Ask the marketing department to be a sounding board.

A conversation can help get your wheels turning about the unique facets of your practice. Bring your CV along with you, as well as notes about strong representative matters. These details can further develop your story as a practitioner.

You can also ask your marketing department for help writing or copy editing a robust biography and LinkedIn profile with enhancement for search engine optimization and its artificial intelligence offspring, answer engine optimization. This strategic enhancement will help people who are looking for lawyers on the internet find you.

2. Share results.

Representative Matters 

Add strong representative matters to your bio, profile and rankings submission to help prospects answer the question, “Can this attorney solve my problem?”

Results and outcomes are very meaningful to your target audience. They demonstrate to prospects that you have the experience that can help them achieve their goals.

Ask your marketing department how attorneys at the firm collect and update representative matters on their bios. Is it an annual project? Does the firm have style guidelines or specific formats? Is client permission required? Is there a time frame on how far back they go? Can you describe matters and industries without identifying client names?

Then look at your bio and assess how your current list serves you now. Has your practice evolved? Is it time to add new matters to your list?

Newsworthy Results 

Litigators and transactional attorneys alike regularly have opportunities to show tangible and newsworthy results.

For litigators, verdicts, published decisions and settlements are often matters of public record that can be shared with the target audience to help generate new business. For transactional lawyers, significant deals may show prospects the value of your work.

First, ask the marketing department about its processes for publishing news items about attorney wins. Your department will likely have its own multistep protocol. Best practices usually include receiving written client permission to promote a matter in the press and publishing quickly, since verdicts and deals are newsworthy for only a few days.

Once you receive the guidelines, you can begin working with the marketing department as a team to stay on top of litigation or deal milestones, collect pertinent information and client permission, and produce a press release or news submission with the level of detail required by journalists and editors.

3. Become a thought leader.

As an attorney, especially at the associate or junior partner level, you may be intimately acquainted with authorities, case law and contract drafting. You can showcase this knowledge through thought leadership — writing and speaking.

Writing Articles 

The marketing department is the firm’s newsroom — with collaborators to help you pitch ideas and polish your writing before publication.

Email your marketing department that you want to pursue thought leadership as part of your business development strategy.

The digital media landscape provides limitless possibilities for publishing, and the lowest hanging fruit is your firm’s own blog. Read the blog to see whether other attorneys are writing client alerts or legal analysis. Then ask the department if they have contacts in the media to place articles.

Once you determine potential venues of publication, continue the conversation with an article idea.

Don’t begin writing an article right away — you want to pitch your idea first. Whether for the firm’s blog or for an external publication, start by writing a short paragraph about what your article is about. Keep in mind your audience and the value that the information will bring to them, whether for a client or other attorneys in the legal community.

Send your pitch to the marketing department. They’ll forward it to their media contacts or greenlight it for the firm’s blog or newsletter, and provide you with style guidelines, such as article length, and a due date.

Once you’ve finished writing your article, leverage your marketing department’s expertise by requesting edits to help with structure, concision, readability and voice. A collaborative editing process always yields a better product.

Be sure to ask your department to link your published work to your bio and ensure it is posted on the firm’s social media, where you can share it with your network.

Speaking Engagements 

Writing an article is a helpful way to organize your knowledge. The next logical step is speaking about the topic.

Getting on a panel or speaking at an event combines broadcasting your knowledge with relationship-building. You’re in front of potential clients and referral sources and showing them that you know your stuff, and now they know who you are and what you offer.

Tell your marketing department that you are looking for speaking engagements. They may have ideas for legal or industry associations, organizations, and networking groups with whom to mix, mingle and begin developing valuable new relationships.

As you plan for the event, remember to share your presentation with the marketing team so they can repurpose the material into a client alert or other marketing piece. Get pictures of yourself speaking, write a caption about the topic you covered and provide everything to the marketing department as soon as you leave the event for timely posting on the firm’s social media channels — and potentially, a news item for the firm’s site that will link to your bio.

4. Seek recognition.  

A reputable award added to your resume creates authority, earns you a stamp of approval from third-party publications or organizations, and boosts your search engine and answer engine optimization by linking your name with an external site.

There are legal-specific awards bestowed by bar associations, legal publications and reputable directories. There are regional and industry awards given by groups and publications, such as metropolitan business journals or trade publications.

There are awards for innovators, pro bono contributions, mentors, dealmakers and much more, including for attorneys working behind the scenes — the unsung hero awards. There are myriad opportunities out there.

Speak to your marketing department about how they can help you submit your application or even draft the essays and nominate you. Awards are an integral element of legal marketing, and your marketers will be able to hold your hand through the entire process.

There are research-based awards out there for department categories, too. Associates can contact their marketing departments to discuss what awards their practice groups are pursuing, and provide details about their contributions to potentially get their names included in bench listings.

5. Stay top of mind. 

Referrals are the bedrock of a book of business. Earning recommendations from clients for your work depends on dynamics that no one knows better than you — your responsiveness, communication, client service and work product.

Once a file closes, ask your marketing department to help you stay top of mind with your clients so that if their friends and colleagues ask them if they know a good lawyer for their issue, your name is the first one they mention.

Many law firm marketing departments have their calendars filled with opportunities to reach out to the firm’s client list. You can fold your own outreach efforts into the mix. Easy tactics include sending a digital or paper holiday card to your clients, or maybe some local sports team swag if they’re having an exceptional season.

A bigger reach could be starting a podcast where you talk about your practice and the news that affects your clients. Your marketing department can help with that, too.

Ask what about creating what we in the biz call a content marketing strategy, that is, ways to periodically pop up in the daily lives of your former clients so they remember your name and how you helped them.

Email, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, podcasts — there are tons of channels, and your marketers can help you find the one that fits your personality without adding a huge burden on your schedule.

Conclusion

The takeaway is simple: Your law firm’s marketing department is available to help with brainstorming, organizing, writing, editing, publishing and more.

You don’t need to be an expert in marketing if you have the marketing department to help you gain some visibility, earn some kudos and remain top of mind for clients. Your law firm marketing department is there for you. You just have to knock on the door.