Building Your Personal Brand

How Conscious are You of Your Personal Brand as a Lawyer? 

Personal branding is something often overlooked, yet is of increasing importance in today’s digitally connected world. 

With Partnership being highly competitive, if you have your sights set on progression it is often the depth and quality of your industry relationships and your reputation in your niche that will help you stand out, contributing towards compiling a compelling case. The most ambitious Lawyers we know are conscious of this early on in their careers and dedicate the time to build their brand and industry relations. 

So, what can you do to build your personal brand as a Lawyer, even during the early days of your legal career?

Identify Your Brand

With your personal brand being unique to you and how others perceive you, it is important to reflect honestly on yourself in order to understand what to show. Presenting the best possible version of yourself requires time spent at the start to know everything from your strengths and what you excel at, to your motivators and how you behave, as well as what you are renowned for. It is also worthwhile asking a colleague or two for their opinions, to ensure your final conclusions are as authentic as possible. Once you identify your brand, you can start to actively promote it, nurturing and refining it as your legal career progresses.

Use Social Media

While more Lawyers (in particular those at a senior level) have traditionally been reluctant to use social media for fear of any reprisals over anything posted or said, social media networks are in fact crucial to building a personal brand. 

Take LinkedIn for example, are you using it effectively? Are you connecting with the thought leaders in your industry? Does your profile include recommendations and highlight the projects or transactions you have been involved in? 

It is a case of finding your persona in line with your brand goals and contributing to conversations in an honest, thoughtful and constructive manner. Done right and done well, social media can help propel your personal brand and open doors to new relationships.

Write Articles and Content

Producing quality content is demanding work but being at the forefront of all the legal or regulatory changes in your industry, with all the insight and knowledge that brings, should offer considerable benefits to anyone in your network.

It is important that you have your audience in mind, is your content relevant to them? Make sure to focus on areas where you have in-depth knowledge and credibility, so you stand out as an authority in your industry. Once written, these can be shared as articles on LinkedIn as well as a variety of websites or blogs, before using your social media profiles to share the links to your articles to increase their readership and promote your brand.

Network and Speak at Events

Both networking and public speaking involve getting out there, an absolute must for personal brand building. When it comes to networking, the vital ingredient is the ability to listen. It is not a time for talking about yourself, but more listening to what others say about themselves and being able to offers solutions to their needs. Preparing what you are going to say and how you will introduce yourself will bode you well prior to any networking event. Remember to think of your audience – who are they, what are they interested in? Networking is a skill that takes a lot of practice but getting it right can yield results, especially as your reputation grows. 

For public speaking, consider the hot areas in your niche and how can you contribute to discussions.  Where can you become an expert on a relevant area to help put you in a strong position internally and externally (for example, fintech / blockchain etc)? Public speaking is another acquired skill and can take years to develop but if you can start speaking early on in your career at smaller events and attending talks, you will be further cementing your personal brand within your industry.

Offer Your Help

Think strategically, are there are any groups within your sector that you can get involved with, in particular those that would benefit from your skills and experience? This might be legal support and advice, connecting individuals, assisting with ideas or even becoming a mentor to less experienced legal professionals. Helping others is an extremely effective way of building a personal brand and there are so many ways you can help, which will eventually benefit you.

Making the Time

Building all the above into your already very demanding day is likely to be the greatest challenge but the key is to start practising the habits early and adapt your working methods accordingly, while keeping your end goal in mind. You probably already know a handful of Lawyers who have built a strong personal brand – their success came from time and effort, while staying true to their brand values.

I genuinely believe that the rainmakers of the future will for the most part be developing their relationships and brand very early on, leveraging these when the time is right.