I’ve spent 20 years helping law firms grow – first as head of marketing inside two fast-growing practices, then founding a legal marketing agency that works with over 50 firms across Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand.
I built Pillar & Scroll to deliver what I learned working alongside hundreds of successful lawyers: most firms don’t need more marketing activity. They need marketing that keeps them front of mind with the right referrers, turns introductions into retained clients, and works repeatedly without becoming another burden on their schedule.
The firms I work with best are boutique and growing practices – typically 1-20 partners – serving organisations or discerning private clients through referral relationships. These partners are genuinely excellent at what they do, but their marketing is scattered across tactics that don’t fit how they actually get work, their internal marketing team needs support to execute, or they’re getting referrals by chance rather than through deliberate relationship and reputation building.
From Law Firm Offices
to Law Firm
Marketing Agency
I didn’t develop my approach in a marketing agency or classroom. I learned it while working inside two of Australia’s fastest-growing law firms:
law firm websites – from solo practitioners to 1,000+ lawyer firms
lateral partner transitions – managing communications that protect client and referrer relationships during moves
years working exclusively in legal marketing
How I've Helped Law Firms Grow
Here are some examples:
Making Experience Visible
M&A Deal Tombstone Library
A mid-market M&A practice competed with top-tier firms but had no public record of its transactions. Built a comprehensive, filterable database of completed deals organised by industry and deal size.
Within two years, Chambers & Partners recognition and invitations to transactions previously reserved for top-tier practices.
Property Development Project Documentation
A 14-partner, four-city property practice had completed over 500 projects, but partners were spending hours creating custom pitch decks for every opportunity, while competitors had their experience publicly documented. Catalogued their work and turned it into the foundation for publications, capability statements, tenders, and website profiles.
Partners now spend minutes, not hours, responding to RFPs – and their substantial experience is finally visible to prospects researching them.
Wills and Estates Litigation Content
Created a content series for a litigation team that turns complex contested estate cases into accessible insights. Each piece unpacks what went wrong in the original estate planning and how the team would handle it differently.
Continuously builds credibility with high-net-worth prospects researching these matters while demonstrating expertise to referring solicitors and accountants.
White Collar Crime Case Study
Wrote a 5,000-word deep dive on a high-profile matter. Repurposed it into training materials, social campaigns, and award submissions, winning a prestigious law society award.
The case study attracted media coverage and continues generating thousands of website visits annually. Referrers cite it as a resource they share with colleagues.
Growing Referral Networks
Manufacturing Association Partnership
A mid-sized commercial firm had one good contact at an industry association. Embedded them as the association’s trusted legal partner: attending committee meetings, helping plan their annual conference, and positioning six partners as the go-to advisors for members.
The relationship now generates eight figures in annual work – over 20% of the firm’s total revenue.
Employment Law Practice Expansion
Developed and executed a complete referral marketing plan for a 20-lawyer practice: 80+ events annually, four major content pieces repurposed into 20 articles, 50 email campaigns, and 300 social posts. Turned their best thinking into keynote presentations and secured speaking engagements at industry conferences.
The practice achieved 35% organic growth in 18 months.
Fixing What’s Not Working
Intake System for Technology Lawyers
A tech law team serving funded startups was losing referred work because their initial response was slow and generic. Developed problem-specific intake forms, template emails, and a helpful guide that enabled fast response times and ensured first meetings were valuable for both prospect and lawyer.
Improved close rate by over 60% and received positive feedback from accountant referrers.
Public-Facing Intake Tool
A private client practice was receiving 70+ monthly enquiries to identify the 1-2% with legitimate claims. The manual process consumed 40+ hours per month by the lead partner and three senior lawyers. We built a screening tool to streamline enquiries.
The team’s law clerk handles more than 95% of enquiries, reducing the lead partner’s input to 1-2 hours per month. Non-fit enquiries now receive referral lists and access to a free automated letter generator for lodging complaints with government authorities, eliminating negative feedback from people the firm couldn’t help.
Google Reviews Recovery
A firm was facing unfair negative reviews due to the nature of its practice. Developed a systematic review program that the team use post-matter.
In six months, improved their average rating from 3.2 to 4.7, grew reviews from 28 to 107, and successfully removed 17 inappropriate reviews.Improved close rate by over 60% and received positive feedback from accountant referrers.
Positioning and Transitions
Migration Practice Rebrand
Led a complete rebrand following strategic changes in the practice, from naming and positioning through to a six-month rollout.
Delivered brand identity, website rebuild, internal change communications, segmented client and referrer announcements, media campaign, and launch event coordination.
Merger Rebrand
Led the renaming and rebranding project for a large commercial firm in preparation for a merger – 80 partners across three cities. Worked with their executive team, two partnerships, marketing, and HR to deliver the full rollout.
Delivered website, stationary, signage, and communications to clients, referrers, staff, vendors, and media. Launched with an event of 500+ attendees. The visual identity remains in use 15 years later.
Patents Practice Market Expansion
A leading patents practice had recently separated from its much larger parent firm and wanted to strengthen its international affiliate network and operate more independently. Built targeted awareness campaigns with patent attorneys focused on high-value technology, manufacturing, and pharmaceutical companies.
In less than 12 months, the firm attracted new referral partnerships with nine well-regarded US and European intellectual property practices.
Building Internal Capability
Partner Track Program
Developed a business development program for a firm’s senior associates and their referral accountants.
Content Program for Commercial & IP Lawyers
Built a content marketing program for a leading Commercial & IP practice that got notoriously reluctant lawyers actively contributing.
Developed repurposing workflows that turned their technical expertise into genuine value for prospects and foreign associates – cutting through market noise without adding to their workload.
Talent Attraction Campaign
Developed a campaign for a fast-growing commercial firm that was struggling to recruit lawyers and graduates against larger, higher-paying competitors.
Grew applications by over 70% from the previous year, with top-tier firms commenting on the cut-through achieved despite a fraction of their reputation and budget.
My Approach
to Law Firm Marketing
Most law firm marketing fails because it attempts to attract strangers. This is expensive, time-consuming, and critically ineffective for lawyers who work with institutions, businesses, or discerning private clients.
The lawyers who are consistently busy with work aren’t doing more marketing than their competitors. They’re doing the right marketing – and that changes what every marketing asset needs to accomplish:
Your website turns a referrer's introduction into a qualified initial conversation and attracts the lawyers you want to hire.
Your content gives referrers something valuable to share and gives prospects confidence you can help them.
Everything you build should compound over time, not start from scratch every few years.
Ready to Build Marketing
That Grows Your Practice?
Start with a conversation. We’ll clarify where you want to focus, identify your
highest-potential referral sources, and create a practical plan to activate them – without adding another burden to your schedule.
Looking for a
Speaker for Your
Legal Industry Event?
I speak regularly at legal conferences and association events on legal marketing and practice growth. If you need a presenter who delivers practical, actionable insights rather than marketing theory, visit my speaking page.
