Marketing. Good Press

• Author: Danielle Braff
• Pages: 18-20

Business of Law edited by

VICTOR LI

victor.li@americanbar.org

MARKETING

Good Press

Many people ignore their legal needs because they don’t trust attorneys.

What can lawyers do to combat their bad PR?

BY DANIELLE BRAFF

If you’re a lawyer, you’ve probably

encountered hundreds if not thou-

sands of lawyer jokes. Perhaps the

one about why sharks won’t eat

you (professional courtesy). Or how

bad lawyers make cases drag on for

years, but a good lawyer makes it last

even longer. Or how there are really

only three lawyer jokes—the rest are

true stories.

Obviously, lawyers have a bit of a

public relations problem. A 2014 study

published in the Proceedings of the

National Academy of Sciences of the

United States of America found lawyers

to be respected but not trusted. “Being

seen as competent but cold might not

seem problematic until one recalls that

communicator credibility requires not

just status and expertise (competence)

but also trustworthiness (warmth),” the

study stated. Meanwhile, a 2018 Gallup

poll found that just 3% of people nd

lawyers’ ethical standards to be very

high—beating the likes of telemarketers,

car salesmen and members of Congress.

And 28% think that lawyers’ ethical

standards are low or very low.

While laughing at lawyer punchlines

is all fun and games, it can also lead to

dire consequences if the public distrusts

attorneys enough not to hire them.

A 2018 Legal Trends Report from

Clio and Scale Technology found that

35% of people don’t believe that the

benets of hiring a lawyer justify the

cost; and 14% say that hiring a lawyer

is too much trouble. Meanwhile, 26%

say that they like to handle their prob-

lems on their own.

Photo illustration by Sara Wadford/Shutterstock

ABA JOURNAL | FEBRUARY–MARCH 2020

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