Your partners have just made three lateral hires important for growth. They expect announcements and they expect coverage. Of course, they expect it to just happen without necessarily considering the planning in advance.
Meanwhile, your marketing team is already managing pitches, events, directory entries, content calendars and a CRM system that nobody uses properly. So when someone suggests writing a press release, it’s tempting to think: can’t we just post on LinkedIn and be done with it?
The short answer is no. And here’s why it matters more than you think.
The problem with the LinkedIn-only approach
LinkedIn is excellent for expanding your reach within your existing network. It’s quick, relatively easy, it’s visible and your partners [ideally everyone in the firm] can share it. But it doesn’t give you what a law firm really needs in this competitive ranking world: third-party credibility.
When you say your new partner is excellent, that’s marketing. When The Lawyer, Legal 500 or your regional business press says it, that’s validation. Clients, referrers, competitors and prospects all read the trade press – they don’t all follow your LinkedIn page.
A well-crafted press release can help you gain access to those publications. It positions your firm as active, growing and worth watching. And crucially, it does something a social post never can – it helps your new lateral hires navigate restrictive covenants.
Why appointment announcements aren’t just box-ticking
When a partner moves firms, they’re often legally prevented from directly contacting their former clients. That’s where a well-placed press release becomes a legitimate business tool, not a vanity exercise.
An announcement in the trade press tells the market where that legal professional can now be contacted and what they’ll be doing. Former clients, referrers and contacts see it and know where to find them. It’s professional, compliant and effective.
For the individual, it’s a platform to reintroduce their expertise. For your firm, it’s a signal of ambition and investment. For the audience, it’s genuinely useful information. And when it’s picked up by local or sector media, then amplified through your website and social channels, the ROI multiplies.
We’ve seen this play out repeatedly. One regional firm announced a partner hire with a targeted release to trade and business press. It resulted in coverage across three publications and generated direct enquiries from former clients seeking new contact details. That’s not PR theatre or ego-polishing, but business development.
What separates a press release that works from one that gets ignored
Here’s what the media cares about: news value. Not your internal celebration, not flowery language about ‘delighted to announce’, but a clear story that their readers will find relevant.
A good press release answers these questions in the first two paragraphs:
- Who’s moved, and where?
- What’s their specialism or track record?
- Why does this matter to the market?
Everything else is detail. If a journalist can’t see the story in ten seconds, it won’t get covered. If it’s written in jargon or stuffed with corporate waffle, it goes straight into deleted items.
The discipline required to strip the story back to what actually matters, is what separates effective PR from noise. And it’s exactly the kind of work that gets overlooked when your in-house team is firefighting three other deadlines.
The bit nobody talks about: it takes time to do well
Writing a press release isn’t hard, but writing one that actually generates coverage is a different skill entirely. It requires:
- Understanding what makes a story newsworthy to specific journalists
- Knowing which publications cover your sector and geography
- Tailoring pitches to individual contacts (not just blasting a generic email)
- Following up without being a nuisance
- Repurposing coverage into content that extends its value
Your team knows the firm inside out, but do they have the time and contacts to do this consistently? Or is it another task competing with client pitches, event management and the partners who want “something on social media by the end of the day”?
Here’s what good PR support actually looks like
When you work with a PR team that understands professional services, the process looks like this: You give us the details [and a good photo]. We write the release, ensure narrative consistency and you approve it.
Then we distribute it, pitching the story to the right people in the right way. We handle the follow-ups and when coverage lands, we make sure it’s on your website, shared appropriately and tracked so you can show your partners the results.
No chasing. No explaining the legal market to someone who’s never worked with law firms before. No press releases that read like they were written by a corporate comms team in 1997.
Your partners get the visibility they expect. Your marketing team gets time back. And your firm gets credible, targeted coverage that actually supports business development.
The bottom line
Press releases won’t win creativity awards. However, in a world where every law firm is competing for the same attention, the ability to cut through with clear, targeted and credible communication is more valuable than ever.
You already know your partners expect results. You already know your team is stretched. This is exactly what we do and importantly, we do it without adding to your workload.
If you’d like to talk about how we support law firms with media relations, appointment announcements and ongoing PR that actually generates ROI, let’s have a conversation. No sales pitch, just a proper discussion about what works.
ENDS
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