Law firms are quickly recognising the value of hosting high quality content on their website, and the New Year presents the perfect opportunity to reinvigorate your efforts to great affect. But whilst the festive period might typically being a quieter time for most law firms, it can still be difficult to come up with fresh content ideas that will attract your target clients in January. But worry not, we are here to help. In this article, we have listed some of our top content recommendations that your law firm should be posting about (if they aren’t already!) in the New Year.

The benefits of content for law firms

Posting regular blog content has become essential for growing your law firm’s online presence and generating customer leads. Not only does it drive traffic (and thus potential clients) to your website, but high-quality content can help your law firm gain exposure and build authority as knowledge leaders within a highly saturated market (according to the Solicitors Regulation Authority there are currently around 10,000 law firms in England and Wales). It is also important to note that long form blog content is essential for building backlinks to your website and improving your search engine rankings.

If you are finding after the Christmas period that your content ideas have run dry, here are some fail safe content ideas perfect for January that can be modified and refreshed every year:

“Blue Monday” and mental health in the workplace

Suitable for: Employment Law for Businesses, Employment & Tribunals, HR Consultancy

Blue Monday takes place on the third Monday of January annually (16 January 2023 being the next Blue Monday date), having been named so after Sky Travel claimed it to be the most depressing of the year. Their reasoning for this date was due to a combination of gloomy and dark weather, post-Christmas blues, accumulating debt and decreased motivation from failed New Year’s resolutions.

Blue Monday has been established as an awareness day since 2005 and offers law firms the opportunity to create or refresh current content they have on employer responsibilities and worker’s rights in relation to mental health.

For instance, if you are a solicitor specialising in employment law for business, your blog piece could address how employers can keep their employees motivated and productive post-Christmas, tips for effectively and sensitively supporting stressed workers and how to keep your HR procedures legally compliant if an employee has reported mental health concerns like depression and anxiety.

If your firm specialises in supporting employees or offering tribunal advice, your content can be used to inform workers of their rights and their employer’s legal obligations to protect mental health. Your content could also offer an explanation as to when a dismissal due to mental health is eligible for a tribunal; encouraging those who believe they have been unfairly dismissed to get in touch and discuss their case further with one of your solicitors.

Creating or updating a Will

Suitable for: Wills & Probate

As morbid as it may be to think about, when another year comes to an end there will be many reflecting on their fleeting mortality and what they can do to protect their loved ones when they pass. Alternatively, there are also those whose Christmas period has made them have second thoughts about their existing Will and whether they should alter or update it to include or exclude certain individuals.

For this reason, January is an appropriate season for Wills & probate lawyers to double down on their content and PR efforts, reminding people of the importance of making a Will and why appointing a solicitor can be vital for ensuring that your Will is deemed legally valid so that it is protected against challenges after your passing.

Divorce

Suitable for: Family & Divorce

January is infamously the most popular month for divorce filings, with January 8 even being dubbed ‘Divorce Day’ due to the spike in couples ending their marriage following a strained festive period. Therefore, if your law firm’s content and PR strategy doesn’t include divorce coverage, you are missing a trick.

With ‘no fault divorce’ finally being passed in April 2022, now is a good time to remind those considering separation from their spouse of the new legislation benefits, such as:

  • Not needing to cite a reason for divorcing
  • The ability to apply for a divorce jointly with your ex-spouse
  • It being no longer possible to contest a divorce
  • The minimum timeframe of 26 weeks between application and final order.

Family Mediation

Suitable for: Family & Divorce

Although Christmas is associated with spending quality time with family, for many it can also be a period of intense conflict where previous tensions finally come to a head. Which is why Family Mediation Week (16 – 20 January 2023) was organised to educate families about the benefits of mediation methods and provide family solicitors a valuable opportunity to promote their services.

As many will be feeling the pinch financially post-Christmas, it is beneficial for law firms to highlight the cost effectiveness of mediation services over standard divorce court proceedings, in addition to its proven benefits of reducing conflict and stress.

Your content doesn’t need to only address couples going through a divorce or separation – to stand out to niche audiences, try creating some bespoke content for grandparents, guardians or other extended family members with parental responsibility over children, and highlight how mediation can help improve child wellbeing in the long term.

Commercial rent reviews

Suitable for: Commercial property

The new year brings about the inevitable rise of business costs, and for those who lease commercial property, this will usually include a rise in rent to adjust to the market level.

Commercial property contracts are legally required to include a clause detailing when rent reviews take place, the method of review, procedures that will take place, factors to be considered when valuing the premises and provisions for dealing with disputes between landlord and tenant. So, it is worth reminding both existing and potential new clients of this if they cannot come to an agreement with their landlord’s over new rent.

For commercial property solicitors, it is worthwhile to use January to educate your audience about the law surrounding rent reviews (I.e., the Code for leasing business premises in England & Wales), including how you can support clients if their rent review has been conducted poorly or they are going through a dispute.

Tax returns

Suitable for: Tax advisors

Tax returns have never been the easiest documents to work with, and for most businesses and individuals can be an additional headache – especially if they have complex investment structures or international assets like property.

If your law firm has an internal tax advising team or works frequently with external accountants on behalf of clients, then you may want to create some content reminding your audience of the upcoming tax return deadline (31 January) and the repercussions if there are errors in their application or they do not send it in time. It is important that you highlight how your tax advisory services can benefit clients, such as saving them time and stress and preventing the risk of them receiving large penalties.

Parental rights when taking time off work to care for sick children

Suitable for: Employment Law for Businesses, Employment & Tribunals, HR Consultancy

The winter season frequently sees children falling ill with the latest bug going around their school or nursery. However, unless parents have a grandparent or other adult willing to take up their child’s care whilst they are at work, they will often have to take time off.

The winter months (January included) are often a good period to remind parents of their statutory rights when caring for a dependent, whether they are paid for missing work or not. You can also advise on what parents can do if they believe their employer is discriminating against them as parents (this is most frequently seen with working mothers), and actions they can take to document their behaviours as evidence should their case ever lead to unfair dismissal.

What temperature is legally too cold to work?

Suitable for: Employment Law for Businesses, Employment & Tribunals, HR Consultancy

This one only works if we are experiencing a particularly cold winter, however year after year this topic has proved to be a main stay January campaign that continues to gain valuable media coverage for our law firm clients.

Remember to always conclude your blog and article pieces with a strong call to action that encourages potential clients to either get in touch with your firm, visit a relevant service page on your site or continue reading more on the subject by linking to another one of your blog/article pieces. For example, for a piece on legal temperatures at work, we may include something along the lines of:

“If you suspect your workplace to not be correctly following legal health and safety guidelines, speak to our employment team by calling your nearest office to arrange a confidential, no-obligation consultation.”

Find out more about WorkPR’s services

We know that coming up with new content for your law firm’s website can feel overwhelming and tedious, which is why we designed our services to alleviate the pressure off law firms and allow their solicitors to get back to what they do best.

WorkPR are a full-service marketing & PR agency specialised in creating content for law firms. We have been operating in the legal industry for over 25 years – having worked with some of the UK’s most prestigious legal firms – and offer competitively priced service packages tailored to your law firm’s needs and budget.

Find out more about our services for law firms and some of the clients we have worked with here.