CH E CK LI S T

Online Reputation
Management
For Lawyers
About this
Checklist

Legal consumers no longer turn to the Yellow Pages to

f ind a law yer; instead, they run a search on Google. The

results of that search can of ten result in a phone call to

your of f ice. That ’s why, for most law yers, online marketing

is a power ful – and of ten af fordable – way to reach

potential clients and bring in business.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1
Online Reputation Management

STEP 1 2
Follow what’s Being Said About You and Your Firm

STEP 2 3
Be Aware of What’s Being Said Online Review Sites

STEP 3 4
Request and Track Feedback

STEP 4 5
Augment Positive Reviews

STEP 5 6
Manage Negative Reviews
INTRODUCTION
While online resources can help legal consumers f ind You could hire a reputation management company to handle

law yers, they can also be used by those ver y same people to this task for you, but the costs can add up. If you’d rather

express dissatisfac tion with a law f irm’s ser vices. With the avoid the expense, then you’ll have to handle it in-house.

rise of Yelp and other online review sites, reputation Here are some tips to help you do just that.

management has become more impor tant than ever.

Knowing how to respond to online reviews both ef fec tively

and ethically is key.

1
STEP 1

Follow What’s Being Said

About You and Your Firm.

Monitor online chat ter by creating Google aler ts for

discussions about you and your law f irm. Once you create

the aler t you’ll receive emails whenever new matching

results are located. You can also utilize tools that track

online mentions of your law f irm, such as Social Mention,

BrandWatch, or BrandsEye.
Monitor online Review summaries of
chat ter online mentions

Create Google Determine whether

aler t s to take ac tion

Es tablish account s
with online monitoring
ser vices

2
STEP 2

Be Aware of What’s Being

Said on Online Review Sites

The sites clients use to f ind law yers are of ten the same sites

where they later leave feedback about their experience.

That ’s why it makes sense to track what ’s being said about

your f irm on those sites. The sites of ten used by legal

consumers to provide feedback about law yers include:

LinkedIn, Justia, Av vo, Yelp, Law yerRating, Mar tindale.com,

Law yers.com, Yahoo, Yellow Pages, Google Places and

Google Business.
Choose online review Track comment s made
sites to follow about your f irm

Regis ter at those online Determine whether

review sites, if needed to take ac tion

3
STEP 3

Request and
Track Feedback

One way to manage online feedback is to encourage positive

comments from happy clients. These will balance any

negative comments that may come your way in the future.

Throughout each case, make sure to obtain regular feedback

by s ystemizing the feedback process. Make sure to be

receptive to your clients’ comments, and, if necessar y, make

changes. Then, at the conclusion of each case, consider

including a request for positive comments in your closing

communications. Make sure to include a link to relevant

Create s ys tems to Implement necessar y
sites to make it easier for your clients to leave comments – obtain client feedback changes
throughout the life of
and for you to track them. a case

Review feedback Reques t online

regularly feedback at specif ic
sites from client s at
the close of a case
Determine whether
changes are needed
based on feedback

4
STEP 4

Augment Positive
Reviews

When your clients leave positive reviews about your law

f irm, make the most out of them. Highlight them by adding

them to your law f irm website’s client testimonial sec tion.

Also consider mentioning and linking to them on your law

f irm’s Facebook page. Sharing good reviews engenders trust

and encourages potential clients to retain your f irm’s

ser vices. Track internal and Pos t positive reviews

ex ternal client on your website
reviews

Get permission Consider sharing

from client s to use them on relevant
reviews social media sites,
such as Facebook

5
STEP 5

Manage Negative
Reviews

Hopefully, you’ll never receive a negative review. But if you

do, you need to carefully and thought fully respond to the

former client ’s feedback. Avoid addressing specif ic fac tual

allegations since doing so adds credence to the claims and

could also potentially violate client conf identialit y. Avoid

expressing anger and instead, provide a brief response that

is empathetic. Be aware of the optics should a potential

client stumble upon this review. And f inally, counterac t the Track online Make sure to avoid
reviews including conf idential
negative review by encouraging other clients to leave information in your
reply
positive reviews on that site.
Carefully and Counterac t the review
thought fully address by asking other
negative reviews client s to leave
positive reviews

Provide a brief,
measured response
and tr y to move the
discussion of f line

6
 About the Author

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York at torney, author, journalist, and the Legal Technolog y Evangelist at MyCase, legal

prac tice management sof t ware. She is the nationally-recognized author of “Cloud Computing for Law yers” (2012) and

co -authors “ Social Media for Law yers: The Nex t Frontier ” (2010), both published by the American Bar A ssociation. She

also co -authors “Criminal Law in New York,” a Thomson Reuters treatise. She writes regular columns for Above the Law,

ABA Journal, and The Daily Record, has authored hundreds of ar ticles for other publications, and regularly speaks at

conferences regarding the intersec tion of law and emerging technologies. She is an ABA Legal Rebel, and is listed on the

Fastcase 50 and ABA LTRC Women in Legal Tech. She can be contac ted at niki.black@mycase.com.

Thousands of attorneys trust MyCase to run their f irms ef f iciently.

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