Legal Marketing in the Age of AI

AI is changing how clients search for legal services

One of the biggest concerns surrounding AI is the impact it is having on website traffic.

Google’s AI Overviews are now answering many legal questions before someone ever clicks on a website. Searchers are receiving summaries directly within the search results, and platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude are changing how people research legal issues altogether.

If you are measuring the success of your marketing purely by website traffic, that can feel worrying.

However, I think it is important to look beyond those numbers. One of our clients recently mentioned that their website traffic had fallen compared to the previous year, but their enquiries hadn’t. In fact, the quality of those enquiries had actually improved.

This makes me think that perhaps AI is filtering out people who were never going to become clients in the first place. If somebody asks Google a straightforward legal question and gets the answer they need without visiting a website, they were probably looking for information rather than a solicitor.

The people who still take the time to visit your website are far more likely to have genuine intent. These visitors are comparing firms, reading about your experience and deciding whether you’re the right person to help them.

Ultimately, law firms don’t pay their bills with website visitors. They pay them with enquiries, instructions and new clients. It is for this reason that I don’t actually think reduced traffic automatically means poorer marketing.

More firms are embracing AI, but not always in the right way

There seems to be a race at the moment to produce more content than ever before. AI has made it possible to write articles in minutes rather than hours, create graphics without using a designer and produce weeks’ worth of social media content almost instantly.

On paper, that sounds like progress. The problem is that many firms have mistaken speed for quality.

Search for almost any legal topic and you’ll start to notice the pattern. The articles aren’t necessarily wrong. In fact, most are technically accurate and reasonably well written. The issue is that they don’t really say anything new.

Every firm seems to be answering the same questions in the same way, often following exactly the same structure. There is usually a definition, a list of key points and a section explaining how the firm can help. Read enough of them and they begin to merge into one.

I don’t think clients consciously recognise that AI has written the content, but they do recognise when something feels generic.

If you’ve read five articles about divorce or shareholder disputes and they all sound virtually identical, why would one law firm stand out over another?

Original thinking is becoming more valuable

Ironically, I think AI is making originality more valuable rather than less. The firms that are standing out aren’t necessarily the ones publishing the most content. They’re the ones publishing content that actually reflects the people behind the business.

That might be a solicitor explaining how they approach a particular type of case, sharing common mistakes they see clients make or giving practical advice based on years of experience rather than simply summarising legislation. These are the things people remember.

I have always believed that good legal marketing should demonstrate expertise rather than simply claim it. AI can certainly help with research and content creation, but it can’t replace the experience of someone who deals with these matters every day.

This is particularly important within the legal industry, where trust remains one of the biggest factors influencing whether a potential client decides to make contact.

The same thing is happening with branding

It’s not just written content that’s becoming repetitive. I’ve noticed the same trend with design.

AI-generated images often have the same polished look. The people don’t quite look real, the offices are impossibly perfect and, for some reason, there’s usually a gavel or the scales of justice somewhere in the background.

The main issue is that every other firm is using similar images.

If your website, your graphics and your messaging all look the same as your competitors, you’ve lost one of the biggest advantages that marketing can give you: being memorable.

That’s why I still think authenticity has a place in law firm marketing. A genuine photograph of your team, an article written in your own tone of voice or a solicitor explaining a legal issue in plain English will often create a stronger impression than another perfectly polished piece of AI-generated content.

AI still has an important role to play

Reading this, you could be forgiven for thinking I’m against AI. I’m not, it’s quite the opposite.

I think AI is one of the biggest opportunities the marketing industry has seen in years, provided it’s used for the right reasons.

There are some genuinely excellent AI tools available that make agencies more efficient and help law firms improve the way they communicate with clients. Research that once took hours can now be completed in minutes. Data can be analysed much more quickly, repetitive tasks can be automated and content ideas can be developed far more efficiently than ever before.

Some of the biggest improvements I have seen have nothing to do with writing articles. AI powered chatbots, for example, have become far more sophisticated over the last couple of years. When they are implemented properly, they can answer straightforward questions, direct enquiries to the right department and collect useful information before someone in the firm even picks up the phone.

That won’t replace a solicitor, but it can improve the experience for a potential client who needs an answer outside normal office hours.

Equally, AI can help agencies identify technical SEO issues, analyse competitor websites and spot opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed. Used in that way, it is enhancing marketing rather than replacing it.

The problem isn’t AI. The problem is expecting AI to be the marketing strategy.

Marketing still needs people

One thing AI has reminded me of is that marketing has always been about understanding people.

It’s about understanding why someone chooses one law firm over another, what concerns they have before making contact and what information gives them the confidence to pick up the phone.

AI can analyse huge amounts of information, but it doesn’t understand your clients in the same way you do.

It doesn’t know the conversations your solicitors have every day. It hasn’t dealt with anxious parents going through family proceedings or business owners facing litigation. It doesn’t know the questions your reception team are asked every morning or the misconceptions your lawyers spend half their time correcting.

Those experiences are where the best marketing ideas usually come from. Some of the strongest articles we’ve written for clients haven’t started with keyword research. They’ve started with a solicitor saying, “Clients ask us this all the time,” or “People often get this wrong.”

That’s the sort of content people engage with because it feels genuine.

AI isn’t replacing SEO, it’s changing it

The same applies to AI driven search. There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether AI will replace Google and whether SEO is becoming less important. Personally, I don’t think that’s what’s happening.

AI still needs somewhere to find reliable information.

Whether somebody uses Google’s AI Overviews, ChatGPT or another search platform, the answers are generally being pulled together from websites that have demonstrated expertise and authority.

We’ve already seen evidence of that ourselves. BSD Legal Marketing has received enquiries from law firms after our articles appeared within AI-generated answers. We’ve also had clients tell us that prospective clients mentioned using AI as part of their research before deciding to make contact.

That tells me that firms still need to invest in their websites, their content and their expertise if they want to remain visible online. The objective has simply changed.

Instead of trying to write an article purely to rank on Google, firms should be asking whether they’re producing content that deserves to be referenced by AI as well.

The firms that will benefit most from AI

I don’t think the firms that will succeed over the next few years will be those producing the highest volume of content. Nor do I think they’ll be the firms refusing to use AI because they’re worried about what it means for the future. The firms that will do well are likely to sit somewhere in the middle.

They’ll embrace AI because it helps them become more efficient. They’ll leverage AI to automate repetitive tasks, improve workflows and support research. But they’ll also recognise that there are parts of marketing which still need human judgement.

They’ll invest in original articles rather than generic ones. They’ll encourage their solicitors to share their own observations instead of relying on AI to create opinions for them. They’ll build a recognisable brand instead of producing content that could belong to any law firm in the country.

Most importantly, they’ll remember that clients don’t instruct AI. They instruct people.

How BSD Legal Marketing can assist

At BSD Legal Marketing, we believe AI should support marketing, not define it.

We use AI every day because it helps us work more efficiently, analyse data, organise research and streamline repetitive tasks. It allows us to spend less time on administration and more time thinking about the things that actually make a difference to our clients.

That includes developing marketing strategies, strengthening lead generation, improving websites, creating original content and helping firms build a recognisable brand within an increasingly competitive market.

We don’t believe there is anything wrong with using AI.

We do believe there is something wrong with publishing content that doesn’t reflect your firm, your experience or your personality.

The firms that continue to stand out over the next few years won’t necessarily be the ones using the most AI. They’ll be the ones using it intelligently, while still investing in the things that AI can’t replicate.