Rules
Part of Law firm content marketing: a practical operating model
Reading law firm content marketing examples with a sceptical eye
law firm content marketing examples include decision guides, checklists, process maps, research notes, interviews, videos, tools, case studies, and updates.
What to take away
- Pick the format from the reader's task, not from what a competitor published.
- Every named example below is free to inspect, so you can check the sample yourself.
- Each example carries scope, a reviewer, a review date and a stated limit.
- Accessibility and advertising rules follow your copy, not only the original page.
- A small firm can start with one dated update page and retire it cheaply.
How the twelve formats were chosen
The twelve formats below were kept because each answers a reader task that a standard article serves badly, and because at least one named firm publishes a sample you can open and inspect. The nine named examples passed three tests: free access, a visible method or source, and a stated limit. Everything else was cut.
Start with the sample, not the category. Many pages on law firm content marketing promise examples and then describe formats. That article puts evidence files before formats, which is the order that makes an example checkable.
Nine named examples worth inspecting
Nine named examples
| Example | Firm and size | Cost to publish | What a sceptical reader checks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooley GO | Cooley LLP, large firm | Free | Startup guides, plus term sheet, note and NDA generators. Using the site creates no attorney-client relationship. |
| Ad Law Access | Kelley Drye & Warren, mid-size | Free | FTC and state attorney general enforcement posts. Audio carries the same review burden as text. |
| Silicon Valley Venture Capital Survey | Fenwick & West, large firm | Free | Quarterly deal terms and valuations from public regional financings. The sample is not your round. |
| The Entrepreneurs Report | Wilson Sonsini, large firm | Free | Quarterly venture financing totals and deal terms. Read the sample before citing it. |
| Book of Jargon | Latham & Watkins, large firm | Free | Glossary books and apps for finance, energy and crypto terms. Definitions travel; deal terms do not. |
| Series Seed documents | Ted Wang, then at Fenwick, 2010 | Free | Seed financing documents and a term sheet for anyone to use. Check the version and any side letters. |
| NVCA model documents | National Venture Capital Association, with law firm input | Free | Venture financing templates. Blank fields hide choices. |
| Privacy and Information Security Law Blog | Hunton Andrews Kurth, large firm | Free | State privacy laws and enforcement, often with effective dates. Verify each against the current text. |
| Clerky, Stripe Atlas, Y Combinator | Comparators, not firm content | Published flat fees | Incorporation paperwork pricing, plus the free SAFE documents. These set the price a firm guide competes with. |
A case study row is usable only when the starting state and the limits sit on the page. Law firm marketing strategy case studies sorts which parts of a published case you can reuse.
The twelve formats and what each owes the reader
Twelve formats
- Issue orientation
- Terms, scope, uncertainties and routes
- Decision guide
- Options, criteria, tradeoffs and stop points
- Preparation checklist
- Observable items and sequence
- Process map
- Stages, owners, inputs and exceptions
- Authority update
- Change, effective date, audience and implications
- Original survey
- Question, sample, instrument, analysis and limits
- Data note
- Dataset, definitions, method, files and caveats
- Lawyer interview
- Attributable firsthand reasoning and context
- Short video
- Demonstration, captions, transcript and visual meaning
- Calculator
- Inputs, formula, assumptions and the nonadvice boundary
- Case study
- Starting state, intervention, evidence and limits
- Resource directory
- Selection rule, descriptions, dates and maintenance
Build the example around a task
Name the reader's decision first, then the format. A guide, a checklist and a video can hold the same content, but only one fits the point where your reader stops.
- Write the reader's decision in one sentence, plus where they stop.
- List the evidence you can publishsource, method, date, limits.
- Name the reviewer and set a review date.
- Add the change that triggers an earlier check.
- Swap in local figures and test one failure case.
A format earns its place only if the reader can do or understand something here that a standard article would deliver less well. If not, choose the simpler format and spend the saved effort on research, review and maintenance.
Record what you rejected as well as what you kept, because the original constraint may change later. Use one set of definitions across the page, the export and the correction log.
Most copied examples fail on upkeep rather than on design. Law firm content marketing mistakes covers the failures that appear after publication, from stale dates to reviewers who left the firm.
Limits on copying an example
Accessibility applies to your copy, not the original. Digital.gov's guide to accessible content design tells teams to check headings, plain language, alternatives and transcripts. Federal context does not settle whether a firm's page meets every law. The ADA web guidance from the U.S. Department of Justice is the better starting point for a firm site.
Advertising rules apply as well. The State Bar of California publishes Rules of Professional Conduct covering advertising and solicitation, so a client story or a calculator needs the same review as a paid placement.
Client stories and data notes carry identity risk. Strip or aggregate anything that could identify a client, and record the choice.
