Oktopost Study Finds 97% of Law Firms Say Expertise Isn't Reaching the Market

New Oktopost research of 200 lawyers and marketers finds firms focus on confidence, while lawyers point to billable-hour pressure as the real barrier.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, September 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Oktopost, the B2B social media management platform, today published Firmly Visible: Why Visibility Is the New Competitive Edge for Law Firms, an independent study of 200 lawyers, legal marketers, and business development professionals across the US and UK conducted by Global Surveyz Research. The study finds that 97 percent of law firms are sitting on more expertise than they ever put in front of clients and prospects.

The research is aimed at legal marketing and business development leaders trying to get more lawyers actively visible in front of the clients and referral sources who drive new business, through channels like LinkedIn posts and bylined articles. It finds that participation, not appetite, is the constraint: firms are not short on expertise or interest, but on the systems, time, and support needed to turn that expertise into public content. The findings add to Oktopost's ongoing research into how B2B organizations build trust and visibility.

The gap is not appetite; it's participation. Just 36 percent of lawyers take part in firm visibility efforts on average, and marketers and lawyers disagree sharply on why: marketers point to a lack of confidence, lawyers point to billable-hour pressure. That disagreement, more than any confidence gap, is why most firm visibility programs stall.

What the research found:

- The expertise is real, the reach isn't. 97% of respondents say their firm produces more valuable insight than it puts in front of clients and prospects.

- Participation stays low. Average lawyer participation in firm visibility activity sits at 36%, and most firms report that fewer than half their lawyers take part at all.

- Marketers and lawyers disagree on why. Marketers cite a lack of confidence as the top barrier. Lawyers point instead to billable-hour pressure, cited by 34% as the biggest constraint.

- LinkedIn now drives credibility. 76% of respondents call LinkedIn very or extremely important to professional credibility, and firm websites (52%) and LinkedIn presence (51%) now rank ahead of legal directories like Chambers and Legal 500 (37%) as channels used to evaluate a firm's expertise.

- Visibility builds relationships, not just reach. Stronger client relationships is the top business outcome lawyers associate with visibility work.

- Lawyers want practical support, not persuasion. A clearer link between visibility and business outcomes, plus easier content tools, top the list of what would get more lawyers participating.

Governance played a role in turning that shift into practice for at least one customer. Lewis Silkin, a UK legal services firm, uses Oktopost's approval workflows and banned-keyword controls to give more of its lawyers a safe way to post, and has seen social engagement grow 140 percent as a result.

"The assumption has always been that lawyers don't want to do marketing," said Colin Day, CMO of Oktopost. "Our research shows the real constraint is time, not confidence, and once firms make participation easier, it becomes a problem they can actually solve."

"We've found that our people and culture-oriented content resonate better with our audience when they complement our regular business updates. We need to tell a story instead of pushing updates to the feed without any real context of why it matters. Oktopost is helping us optimise the strategy as we go," said Philip Tyler, Head of Digital Marketing at Lewis Silkin.

Report Availability:

Firmly Visible: Why Visibility Is the New Competitive Edge for Law Firms is available free to download at www.oktopost.com/ebooks/firmly-visible-law-firms/

About Oktopost:

Oktopost is the B2B Social company, helping organizations where reputation, expertise, and trust drive growth. Built specifically for B2B, Oktopost helps marketing, business development, communications, and revenue teams amplify their organization's expertise, scale participation in thought leadership and social media, and measure the business impact of visibility.

Trusted by leading technology, financial services, professional services, and legal organizations worldwide, Oktopost combines social media publishing, employee advocacy, social listening, analytics, AI-powered workflows, and governance in one platform. With deep integrations into CRM and marketing automation systems, organizations can connect social engagement directly to business development, relationship growth, and pipeline influence.

As buyer behavior increasingly shifts toward digital-first research and relationship building, Oktopost helps organizations transform visibility into a measurable competitive advantage.

Colin Day
Oktopost
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