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Law Firm PR in the Age of AI: Why Earned Media Matters More Than Ever

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By Kevin Aschenbrenner | Read more by this author

8.1.25

If you’ve been lying awake at night worried about whether or not your law firm PR efforts mean anything in the age of AI chatbots and generative search engines, I have some great news for you.

Just keep doing what you’re doing. In fact, do more.

Yes, I realize that’s a bit self-serving given I’m a law firm PR consultant, but hear me out: AI has ushered in a new golden age of law firm PR, and those who adapt now will reap the benefits.

Why? Because in an era of AI slop and deepfakes (anyone else get fooled by the cute bouncing trampoline bunnies?), trust is like an ounce of hand-picked saffron — a rare and costly commodity. People are no longer willing to believe just anything on the internet — they’re looking for receipts and signals of authenticity.

More importantly, they’re scrutinizing sources and assessing credibility, particularly when using AI. They click on the links from generative AI searches to see exactly where the chatbot found its information. And, if they see it came from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times or a trusted trade publication — that’s the credentialing they need.

Is a lightbulb going on for you? Yup. Law firm PR has always provided the third-party verification that backs up marketing messages — and with AI that’s on steroids. If you want to stand out — and feed your funnel — you’re going to have to double down on law firm PR.

AI Sees All Your Earned Media Coverage

Generative AI isn’t really “intelligent,” it’s just good at rapidly going through reams of information and spitting out results. The responses you get to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity prompts are the best guess by the large language module (LLM) based on available data.

And where are LLMs getting the majority of their information for top-of-the-funnel searches (that first touchpoint with your firm)? Media coverage.

“MuckRack recently analyzed more than 1 million citation links from AI responses and found that a whopping 89% were to earned coverage. “

MuckRack recently analyzed more than 1 million citation links from AI responses and found that a whopping 89% were to earned coverage. The study, titled “What is AI Reading,” also revealed that 95% of links were to non-paid media. Other noteworthy findings include:

Recency rules: The majority of citation links to media coverage are from the past year. MuckRack noted that this is particularly true for OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Outlet authority matters: LLMs lean on outlets with high authority, and that varies depending on the chatbot. Claude’s go-to sources, for example, are NPR, CNBC and the Harvard Business Review, while ChatGPT leans on Axios, Time and Forbes. Interestingly, Reuters, the Financial Times and Associated Press show up regularly across several LLMs.
Niche sources valued: MuckRack also found that, while top-tier media outlets are frequent sources, trade publications are AI’s go-to for industry-specific queries. This can also vary depending on the specific industry, with some also pulling information from government websites and research institutions.

It’s no exaggeration, then, to say that LLMs are news junkies, voraciously consuming coverage from a variety of sources and prioritizing it for results.

AI Is Telling Your Law Firm’s Story

So AI prioritizes media coverage in source citations. What does that mean for law firm marketing?

Well, for one thing, if you’re not showing up in media coverage, then you won’t be as likely to appear in AI results. For another, what’s being said about your firm and your lawyers in the media is what AI will see — and rely on.

It’s easy to get lost in the weeds of this and focus on the technical aspects of what information AI uses. But there are real-world implications for all of your law firm marketing and business development efforts.

Imagine one of your lawyers speaks at a conference. You’ve done an amazing job of ensuring there’s a mention on the website, and you even did a LinkedIn carousel post with key takeaways. You prepped the lawyer in advance on how to position herself and make new connections, and reminded her to collect email addresses. The lawyer came back with a fistful of business cards and was excited about the leads she generated — but no new business rolled in. There was barely a ripple of interest, and follow-up calls went unanswered. Your drip campaign yielded nothing,

Here’s what could have happened: the people your lawyer met went straight to ChatGPT with a query asking about your firm and that lawyer to verify whether or not they were as good as they claimed to be. They wanted some way to credential the lawyer based on an authoritative source. Maybe they found nothing. Maybe they found something that was off message or just completely wrong based on one article that ran. As amazing as your lawyer is, she came up short in ChatGPT. That’s today’s equivalent of not showing up in a Google search.

AI is telling your law firm’s story based on media coverage — you need to ensure what it’s finding is accurate and reflects your core messages.

“AI is telling your law firm’s story based on media coverage — you need to ensure what it’s finding is accurate and reflects your core messages. “

Win Over AI With Law Firm PR

If all of this seems daunting and confusing, remember that I said at the outset of this blog post that I have good news — you already know what to do. You just need to do more of it to ensure the right information about your law firm and lawyers is getting into LLMs and their results.

It is more important than ever to have a solid law firm PR strategy that secures consistent media coverage. More good news: PR lends itself so well to law firms. You have a bench of experts with established authority, which is exactly what reporters need to do their job. Your lawyers are in the trenches with clients every day, keeping tabs on emerging risks, new developments, upcoming legislation and precedential court decisions. They know the trends based on what’s coming across their desks. That is gold you can mine to drive a solid PR program.

Consider the following to make sure your efforts result in coverage that yields generative search mentions:

Focused messaging. Now is the time to be very clear on the stories you want to tell about your firm and its lawyers. Think about the generative search result you’d like to pop up when a prospect asks a question related to your firm’s expertise, such as “What should a business consider before an acquisition?” or “What clauses should be in a vendor contract?”
Consistent coverage. Sometimes firms only think about PR when big news happens — a litigation win, a successful transaction or a noteworthy lateral partner joining. Those times are just too unpredictable and infrequent, however, to satisfy the AI beast. Get proactive with your lawyers, conduct regular discovery calls to develop story ideas and regularly pitch them to drive a consistent drumbeat of coverage. This has always been the best approach, and given AI’s preference for recent media coverage, it’s more important than ever. Anything older than a year will be stale and less compelling for an LLM.
Target a broad range of media. Sure that Wall Street Journal hit is satisfying — and will get you a lot of AI juice — but LLMs are citing trade publications just as frequently, and even more so for industry-specific coverage. So, be sure to include industry trades in your media lists and develop pitches targeting them. It’s a win-win: You get in front of your potential clients, and the resulting coverage could get cited by an LLM.
Be mindful of all firm communications. Just because LLMs prefer media outlets for top-of-the funnel and zero-click searches, that doesn’t mean you can neglect your website, content marketing or social media. For one thing, while the data is showing that LLMs pioritize earned media and third-party credibility when answering broad, exploratory or educational queries (where relationships begin), “owned content” (the bios, case studies, blog posts and other content you create and publish on your own website) is fueling LLMs’ responses when when a user clearly signals intent to buy, compare or take action. Remember, however, that most complex legal services buyers engage only with firms that have built trust, credibility and authority over time. In other words, often way before those “take action” searches happen.

And, people are still engaging with LinkedIn, so you need to be there. You also need content on your website for prospects to review after seeing a ChatGPT result linking to media coverage. Attorney bios are still the most-read pages on law firm websites. A tight content marketing strategy ensures all messages about your firm, both owned and earned, are consistent — and telling the story you want an LLM to read.

Double Down on Law Firm PR

It’s tempting to throw up your hands in frustration at the dizzying changes ushered in by generative AI and LLMs. But, when you look more closely at what exactly is going on, you’ll see that taking an updated approach to tried-and-true tactics that work with AI is exactly how to respond.

Law firm PR is your new secret weapon to crack the AI code and make sure your firm and lawyers are showing up in cited results. At a time when trust is at a premium, having that third-party validation is more valuable than ever. Earned media is center stage in the new SEO and key to getting your firm found.