A New Expectation for Lawyers
These days, turning legal expertise these days is part of a lawyers’ job.
Whether lawyers like it or not, people already form opinions about them long before they ever meet. Those judgments are shaped by how you show up in conversations, in rooms, and increasingly online. In a profession built on expertise, this can feel uncomfortable, but the reality is unavoidable. Legal knowledge is no longer scarce. AI has accelerated access to information, flattened advantage, and shifted the competitive landscape. In this environment, attention is constrained and differentiation is harder. The lawyers who stand out are not those who try to say everything, but those who decide what they want to be known for and commit to it. Clarity creates trust. When people understand your perspective and your focus, they know when to come to you. Influence today is not about self-promotion; it is about usefulness, consistency, and a clear point of view applied over time.
Reputation is built before the first meeting
I learned this through experience rather than theory. Working in legal recruitment, I did not want to compete as another generalist voice in an already crowded market. I made a deliberate decision to focus on one area: legal careers. That focus shaped everything I did. When I launched the Legally Speaking Podcast (UK’s #1 legal podcast), every conversation, question, and piece of content was anchored to that lens. The topics ranged widely, from legal technology to wellbeing to progression, but the purpose never changed. It was always about helping people navigate their careers in law. Growth was slow at first. There were no shortcuts. What mattered was relevance, quality, and consistency. Over time, that clarity compounded. The platform opened doors globally, strengthened my business, and created opportunities I could not have planned at the outset. Not because of scale alone, but because the work was aligned to a clear topic of influence.
The Power of Choosing One Thing (and Doing It Well)
This shift matters because many of the challenges facing the profession are not technical, they are structural. Burnout, disengagement, and attrition are often framed as wellbeing issues, but at their core they are positioning problems. When lawyers compete on what is becoming commoditised, effort increases while value becomes harder to see. Satisfaction collapses. What remains scarce is judgment, perspective, and the ability to communicate insight in a way others can actually use. One practical way to build that is through intentional contribution. Whether through writing, speaking, or conversation, the goal is the same: to share insight that helps others think better. This is not something that needs to be done alone. Collaboration accelerates credibility. Trusted networks, societies, and communities grow faster when value is shared rather than hoarded. In an attention economy, the lawyers who will thrive are not the loudest, but the clearest. And clarity comes from knowing your topic of influence, committing to it, and showing up with intent.