How Much Should Your Law Firm Spend on Public Relations?

Public relations (PR) is no longer a “nice to have” for law firms — it’s a business imperative. The firms dominating industry rankings, media conversations and LinkedIn feeds aren’t doing so by chance. They’re investing strategically in visibility, credibility and thought leadership — the very outcomes PR is built to achieve.

Yet one of the most common questions I hear from managing partners and CMOs is: “How much should we actually budget for PR?” Let’s break it down using current data, industry benchmarks and best practices from professional services marketing research.

The Big Picture: Marketing Spend Benchmarks for Law Firms

Across professional services, marketing budgets typically represent 7–12% of annual revenue, with high-growth firms investing closer to 15%.

Law firms, however, spend less on average — usually between 2% and 10% of gross revenue.

• Large, established firms tend to fall at the lower end (2–5%), focusing on maintenance and reputation protection.
• Mid-sized and boutique firms aiming for growth, market differentiation or entry into new geographies often allocate closer to 7–10%.
• Aggressive, consumer-focused practices (think personal injury) may exceed 15–20%.

For corporate or B2B law firms, a realistic starting point for total marketing investment is 5–8% of gross revenue — enough to support brand building, business development and content-driven visibility.

Where PR Fits Within the Marketing Budget

Within that marketing spend, PR typically accounts for 10–20% of the total budget.

According to research from Avaans Media, Cision and other professional services benchmarks:

• Media relations — earned coverage, press releases, story pitching and journalist engagement — represents the majority of this spend, or 6–12% of the total marketing budget.
• Awards, rankings and speaking engagement outreach account for another 2–5%.
• Total PR allocation: Most successful law firms dedicate 5–15% of their overall marketing budget to PR, scaling higher for firms pursuing national visibility or reputation management.

Put another way, if your firm has a $1 million marketing budget, a healthy PR allocation might range from $50,000 to $150,000 annually, depending on your goals.

What Drives PR Budget Decisions

PR isn’t one-size-fits-all. The right spend depends on several firm-specific factors:

1. Firm Size and Structure

• A 500-lawyer firm with a global footprint will invest differently than a 30-lawyer litigation boutique.
• Larger firms often already have strong brand equity and internal comms teams, so they rely on PR for high-level visibility, executive thought leadership and crisis support.
• Smaller firms often need foundational awareness — media introductions and announcements, bylined articles, awards tracking and consistent visibility programs.

2. Practice Area Competitiveness

High-growth, competitive practices (such as litigation, white-collar defense, IP or health law) require more aggressive visibility programs. If your peers are frequently quoted in top tier media, legal publications and key industry trades,  you need comparable PR activity to stay visible.

3. Growth Ambitions

Expanding into new markets or industries? Planning a merger or rebrand? Those moments require increased PR investment. Think of PR as your reputation accelerator — the tool that builds credibility ahead of your business development push.

4. Geographic Reach

Firms entering new regions or nationalizing their presence should budget more for local media outreach, event sponsorships and market introductions.

5. Thought Leadership Goals

If your partners are committed to writing, speaking and becoming visible experts, that demands resources: drafting, editing, pitching and promotion. The payoff is significant — but so is the effort required to make it happen consistently.

Expert Recommendations: Align PR with Strategy, Not Ego

Experts across B2B marketing and PR agree: the most effective budgets tie PR directly to business outcomes.

• Align with strategic goals: Define what success looks like — whether it’s increased inbound leads, speaking invitations, talent recruitment or national rankings — and ensure every PR activity supports it.
• Prioritize media relations: Earned coverage builds credibility, amplifying all other marketing efforts.
• Measure and report: Utilize monitoring tools (we use Meltwater at Reputation Ink) to track coverage, share of voice and message resonance, and link these metrics to tangible results, such as web traffic or new matters.
• Plan proactively: Build an annual PR roadmap that includes recurring activities (pitching, awards, speaking submissions) and reactive opportunities (breaking news, commentary, crisis response).

A Budget Framework for Corporate Law Firms

Here’s a simplified way to think about PR investment for a corporate/B2B law firm:

These aren’t rigid formulas, but they reflect typical ranges for law firms that take PR seriously as part of their growth strategy.

When and How to Adjust Your PR Spend

Your PR investment should flex with your firm’s evolution. Consider increasing spend when:

• You’re expanding into a new practice area or geography
• You’re launching a new website or rebrand
• You’ve hired a new CMO or marketing director to build momentum
• You’re pursuing higher-tier rankings (e.g., Chambers, Benchmark Litigation, Legal 500)
• You’re managing a high-profile case, transaction, crisis or leadership transition

Conversely, if your firm’s visibility is stable and your pipeline is strong, you can maintain PR at a steady baseline — but avoid cutting too deeply. Visibility and reputation compound over time; once momentum is lost, it takes months (or years) to rebuild.

Final Thoughts: Think of PR as a Force Multiplier

Public relations is not a cost center — it’s a reputation multiplier. It fuels your visibility, builds trust with clients and recruits and keeps your name in the right conversations long before RFPs or referrals happen.

If your firm is spending less than 5% of your marketing budget on PR, you’re likely underinvesting in the very function that builds the credibility your business development team relies on.

And if you’re unsure where to start, revisit your firm’s goals. Then ask: “What would it be worth for the market to view us as the go-to firm in our space?”

That’s the foundation for setting a smart, defensible PR budget.

What’s Next: Follow the PR ROI Series

This post is the second in our ongoing blog series, “The ROI of Law Firm Public Relations.”

In our first post, we explored how to measure and communicate the impact of PR. Now, we’re diving deeper into the dollars — what firms actually spend on PR, how budgets are built and how to align them with your firm’s business goals.

Don’t miss the rest of the series — sign up for our INKsights newsletter to get every post delivered straight to your inbox, plus other resources to help your firm protect and grow its most valuable asset: its reputation.