How Law Firms Can Build Trust Before a Crisis Strikes

2025 saw a major shift in how law firms view risk. For the first time, reputational risk trumped revenue as the number-one concern for law firms, according to Embroker, a business insurance provider serving law firms. 

According to Embroker’s 2025 Legal Risk Index, reputational risks and employment-related claims are now tied — at 47% each — for the “top internal challenges” facing legal professionals. Financial pressures topped the list in previous years. 

In its report on the findings, Embroker said that “The shift from financial concerns to reputational and employment challenges tells a story about an industry that has stabilized economically and can now focus on more complex operational risks.”

Embroker continued: “Legal professionals are increasingly aware that reputation management isn’t just about avoiding scandals — it’s about proactively building and maintaining trust in an environment where public perception can shift rapidly. The 47% of legal professionals citing reputational risks as their top concern understand that reputation is both their most valuable asset and their most vulnerable point.”

The Case for Actively Managing Your Firm’s Reputation

Just as the internet and social media reshaped reputation management over the past decade, AI is changing it again. One negative headline or a single out-of-context social media post can spread throughout LLMs and client inboxes faster than you can respond. And once it’s out there, it can have lasting, damaging impacts.

The best-case scenario is to avoid scandals altogether. The second-best scenario is that — when crisis hits — you’ve built up enough reputational capital that the market views it through the lens of an already strong, positive impression of your firm. When people know who the firm is and what it stands for, one bad headline is far less likely to define the firm. 

We call this reputation insurance: the proactive steps your firm can take today to minimize the impact of tomorrow’s challenges. It’s more than the typical ROI from proactive law firm public relations — like growth, attracting clients who share your values and winning the kind of work you’re most passionate about. It’s about creating a store of credibility and goodwill that compounds over time.

Why Silence Isn’t Neutral

Lawyers are paid to spot and mitigate risks. Hence, many firms take a silent, or “under the radar” approach to their reputation, preferring not to expose themselves to the risks associated with increased visibility. Ever heard a managing partner proudly boast about being a “best-kept secret”? This approach, however, presents its own risk.

Today, silence sends a message — and it’s rarely the one you want. Let’s take the “Spiral of Silence” theory, developed by German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, which posits that people often remain silent about opinions they think might be unpopular. In response, people are often conditioned to be suspicious of silence. 

Silence creates a vacuum that people fill with their own ideas and opinions. This goes to our negativity bias — humans’ evolutionary hardwiring toward the negative. When journalists, clients and peers go looking for information and find nothing beyond short bios and practice group descriptions, they’re left to fill in the blanks themselves. In the absence of visible values, thought leadership or public positioning, those blanks often become unfavorable narratives. In other words, saying nothing still says something — and usually not what you want. 

Proactive, strategic visibility, on the other hand, acts as a protective layer, creating goodwill, context and credibility so that, when your firm faces scrutiny, the story starts from a place of trust rather than doubt.

Proactive Moves That Build Reputation Capital

Reputation capital isn’t built through one-off press hits or occasional blog posts. It’s built through consistent, visible signals that reinforce who your firm is, what it stands for and why it can be trusted — especially when things get uncomfortable.

1. Thought Leadership on Owned Channels

Clarify your values and expertise before anyone else defines them for you.

Owned channels — the platforms your firm controls, such as your website, blog and social media profiles — are where firms should be most explicit about how they think, not just what they do. The goal isn’t volume — it’s clarity and consistency.

Strong reputation-building content:

• Explains how the firm approaches complex issues, not just outcomes
• Addresses emerging risks, ethical considerations and industry shifts head-on
• Demonstrates expertise and judgment, not self-promotion

This might include:

• Articles on how clients should think about risk, compliance, governance or disputes
• Commentary on regulatory changes and their real-world implications
• Clear positions on leadership, culture and professional responsibility

When your firm’s thinking is visible and documented, it creates a reference point. In a crisis, stakeholders already know how you tend to show up — which reduces speculation and distrust.

2. Attorney Personal Branding

Trust is built faster through people than institutions.

In moments of uncertainty, clients, reporters and peers look for human signals — credible professionals they recognize and trust.

Helping partners and key attorneys build visible, thoughtful personal brands:

• Humanizes the firm
• Makes expertise easier to recognize and recall
• Creates multiple trust anchors, not just one firm-level narrative

This doesn’t mean turning lawyers into influencers or encouraging constant self-promotion. It means deliberately shaping the professional signals clients, peers and reporters encounter over time.

In practice, that looks like:

• Clear positioning around what each attorney is known for, grounded in the types of matters they handle and the business problems they solve
• Consistent, thoughtful commentary within their lane, whether through bylined articles, client alerts that go beyond legal updates to address business implications, or measured LinkedIn commentary on relevant developments
• Speaking roles at industry and client-facing events, where attorneys are positioned as educators and advisors rather than marketers
• Professional online and offline presence that reflects judgment, steadiness and credibility — especially in how attorneys communicate during periods of uncertainty or change

When done well, attorney personal branding creates familiarity and trust long before a client ever needs to hire the firm or a reporter ever needs a quote. It also ensures that, when attention turns to the firm — for good reasons or bad — there are recognizable, credible voices already associated with expertise, leadership and professionalism.

3. Third-Party Validation and Client Advocacy

Your reputation is reinforced by who is willing to vouch for you — privately and publicly.

For B2B law firms, reputation is built through credible third-party validation and client advocacy in high-stakes, behind-the-scenes settings.

This includes:

• Cultivating strong client relationships that translate into willing client referees for awards and rankings such as Chambers & Partners, Benchmark Litigation, Legal 500 and Best Lawyers
• Actively pursuing industry awards and recognitions that reinforce your firm’s strengths and market position
• Maintaining an intentional pipeline of clients who can speak to your firm’s judgment, responsiveness and impact when asked — whether by rankings researchers, reporters or prospective clients through RFPs

These moments matter because they occur when trust is being evaluated, often quietly. A firm with credible, prepared client advocates sends a powerful signal: others are willing to put their name behind this firm.

Proactive reputation management in this context means:

• Identifying and nurturing the right client relationships well before submission season
• Preparing clients for what they may be asked and why their perspective matters
• Ensuring submissions and nominations reflect the firm’s true strengths, not just deal volume

The goal isn’t to collect accolades for their own sake. It’s to build a consistent record of external validation that reinforces credibility over time. When questions arise — from clients, journalists or peers — that body of proof provides context, confidence and credibility that no self-authored message can match.

4. Media Relationships Before You Need Them

Fair coverage is rarely built under pressure.

When firms only engage the media during a crisis, they’re already at a disadvantage. Reporters rely on sources they trust and understand — especially on sensitive stories.

Proactive media engagement allows firms to:

• Establish attorneys as credible experts before stakes are high
• Shape how reporters understand the firm’s role, culture and perspective
• Build familiarity that pays off when timelines are tight and facts are evolving

This means pitching:

• Industry trends you’re seeing
• Legal and regulatory context, not just firm news
• Insightful commentary that helps reporters do their jobs better

When a crisis hits, you’re not introducing yourself — you’re continuing an existing relationship.

5. Crisis-Adjacent Thought Leadership

Show how you think about risk before you’re tested by it.

One of the most underutilized reputation tools is writing and speaking about crisis-adjacent topics before a crisis exists.

This includes:

• Managing risk and uncertainty
• Ethical leadership and governance
• Navigating disputes, investigations or regulatory scrutiny
• Decision-making under pressure

Firms that address these topics proactively position themselves as steady, prepared and principled. So when challenges arise — whether internal or external — stakeholders already associate the firm with calm, informed leadership rather than reactive defensiveness.

Invest in Your Reputation Like You Do in Your Legal Work

Reputation isn’t built in crisis — it’s built long before. And firms that consistently show up with authority, transparency and value are far better positioned to weather reputational storms.

Want to understand how much reputation capital your firm has actually built — and where the gaps are? We help firms assess visibility, credibility and preparedness before risk becomes reality.