Clients hire a lawyer, not a letterhead. The attorneys whose names are mentioned in the right circles are the ones who built a personal brand on purpose.
The Manifesto names the lawyer who attracts weighty accounts because their name is mentioned in exclusive circles as an example of a personal brand at work. Those mentions are not luck; they come from visibility, credibility, and relationships built over years.
It also names the habit that holds many attorneys back: showing only the professional side, like an uptight lawyer, out of fear for their image. Clients want to know the person they will trust with their problem.
They rarely showcase their human side out of fear that it would affect their broader ‘image’ oftentimes limiting their phrasing and creation strictly to their professional career like an uptight lawyer.
Identity Positioning: A Macroscopic View on Personal Branding, included in Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence, Second Edition
The Manifesto's own examples of The Local Hero include the lawyer known by people young and old. For most practices, The Local Hero is the right target.
Where most stand: Tier 2, Friends and FamilyBuild toward: Tier 3, The Local Hero
The tier measures how large a position is. How good it is, is measured by The Five Personal Brand Pillars. Read more about the six tiers.
The moves MCG starts with for lawyers and legal professionals, grouped by pillar, in order. Each one cites the subchapter of Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence it comes from.
Advice Isaac Mashman has given on his own shows and in interviews that applies to lawyers and legal professionals, from the same library MCG consultants work from. Each one keeps the words he said it in, and links to the transcript where there is one.
If your public presence is only a list of what you offer, build a name of your own around it: your story, your views, your face, on more than one platform.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“they don't have a brand for themselves”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “We’re All Playing Too Small”, July 31, 2020
Collect your accolades, results, and recognitions in one place and feature the best of them where people first find you.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“shine that spotlight on the individual”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “What Is Public Relations”, April 18, 2022
Before any decision with lasting public consequences, ask whether you are willing to carry it for the rest of your career. Some marks on a reputation do not wash out.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“it follows you for the rest of your life”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “The Fundamentals of Personal Branding”, August 19, 2020
Pick conferences and gatherings by the people you will meet and learn from, not by the program. List the three people you want to meet before you register.
Read the transcript ↗ (opens in a new tab)“not because of what it was but because of who was going to be there”
Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman, “The Fundamentals of Personal Branding”, August 19, 2020
All consumed media educates, entertains, inspires, or connects. The Skyline Strategy asks for two pieces about your work for every one about your life. Here is one of each, for each purpose.
| Purpose | Brand Post | Personal Post |
|---|---|---|
| EducateTeach something useful. | A common legal question answered in plain language. | What a day in your practice actually looks like. |
| EntertainMake it enjoyable to follow you. | The strangest law still on the books where you practice. | The legal drama you cannot watch without shouting at the screen. |
| InspireShow what is possible. | Why access to good counsel matters, through a story told with permission. | Why you went into law. |
| ConnectGive people a reason to reply. | Answer a community question. | Ask what people wish they had known before hiring a lawyer. |
Draw a Week
Two posts about your work, one about your life, drawn from the ideas above.
Plan the ratio with the free Skyline Planner (opens in a new tab).
Review your jurisdiction's rules before publishing anything promotional.
Keep your own profile and domain so your reputation travels with you.
The Manifesto notes that a lawyer can be known for a single client forever. Choose public matters with your brand in mind.
Twenty-five questions, about seven minutes, free. Choose Legal Professional on the intake and the audit scores all five pillars, places you on The Hierarchy of Personal Branding, and returns the three moves that would raise your score most, each traced to the subchapter it comes from.
The firm’s topic guide on the subject, with the doctrine, terms, tips, and interviews in one place: Reputation Management.
Yes. Review your jurisdiction's advertising rules first, then build on education, community, and the human side, none of which require promises about outcomes.
Plain-language answers to common legal questions, why you practice, and life outside the office, reviewed against your rules.
Yes. Keep your own profile and domain so your reputation travels with you, while staying consistent with the firm.
In finance, trust is the product. A personal brand is how a client decides to trust you with their money before they have ever met you.
A strong clinical reputation earns trust from patients who find you. A personal brand decides how many of them ever do.
Buyers and sellers choose an agent, not a brokerage. The agent whose name the neighborhood already knows wins the listing before the first meeting.
A 2:1 ratio from Identity Positioning: A Macroscopic View on Personal Branding. For every two steps that grow the brand side, take one that grows the personal side.
Follower counts only get you so far. What matters more is how much the people who follow you trust you.
No matter how far a personal brand reaches, it is always a single misstep away from crashing down. The size of a reputation is not a shield.
Chapter 2 of the Manifesto sets out four laws that build in order. Without familiarity there is no connection; without fame and influence, a personal brand has little reach or weight.
How MCG measures the quality of a personal brand. Five pillars, always in this order, weighted into one composite out of 100.
Engagements are accepted by application and seats are limited each quarter. Tell us who you are, what you are building, and the position you intend to hold.
Consultations are virtual or in person. See what each includes, and what is asked of you: Virtual or In Person.
