A lawyer can spend weeks preparing a pitch while their website bio still describes the practice they had three years ago. The pitch includes recent matters, relevant industry experience and a thoughtful explanation of how they can help. The bio says they handle “a broad range of complex legal matters.”
Those two descriptions need to catch up with each other. Someone receiving the pitch may visit the lawyer’s bio before agreeing to a meeting. A referral source may send that same link to a contact. And someone researching lawyers through an AI tool may encounter information drawn from the firm’s website or other public sources.
Your bio gives you a place to explain your work that you and your firm can update. That makes it a good starting point for improving how people understand your practice, whether they find you through Google, LinkedIn, an AI answer or a colleague’s recommendation.
Write for the Person Who Might Hire You
When someone reads your bio, they’re trying to figure out whether you have experience with something that matters to them. They may be preparing to sell a business, dealing with an employee complaint or trying to resolve a disagreement with another owner. Help them make that connection.
A description such as “advises clients on sophisticated transactions” gives them very little information. Explaining that you work with founders selling their companies to private equity buyers tells them much more. You can then describe your work on deal terms, continuing ownership and the founder’s role after the sale.
The same applies to litigation. “Handles complex commercial disputes” can cover an enormous amount of work. Naming disputes involving business ownership, contracts, confidential information or departing executives helps readers understand where your experience fits.
Think about the explanation you give when someone asks what you do. You probably offer more useful detail in that conversation than many bios include. Start there.
Give the Opening More Attention
The beginning of your bio doesn’t have to follow the same formula as everyone else’s. Your name, title and practice group may already appear at the top of the page. Use the first paragraph to explain whom you represent and what you help them address.
For example: “Karen advises restaurant groups and hospitality businesses on workplace investigations, wage and hour issues and employee disputes. She also works with owners and management teams on employment policies, training and the questions that come up as they open new locations.”
That gives a reader several reasons to recognize Karen’s experience as relevant. It also gives a referral source a useful description to pass along.
You can include credentials and background elsewhere on the page. Put enough information in the opening that someone can understand your practice without reading the entire bio.
Add the Experience That’s Missing
Before rewriting everything, look for what isn’t there. You may have handled several matters in an industry that your bio never mentions. You may be advising clients through situations that weren’t part of your practice when the page was written. Those are meaningful updates.
Choose a few examples that help explain the work. Describe the type of client, the issue and your role, using information approved for publication. An example doesn’t always need a client name, a dollar amount or a dramatic outcome to be useful.
A lawyer who helped business owners negotiate a buyout can explain that experience. A lawyer who advised an employer through an investigation can describe the situation without identifying the company. A transactional lawyer can explain their role in a founder’s first outside investment.
Keep the descriptions readable. Someone researching you may understand the business issue very well and have little familiarity with the legal terminology. Give them enough context to follow the example.
Bring LinkedIn Up to Date Too
Once you’ve worked on your bio, open LinkedIn and read your headline, About section and current experience entry. Check whether they reflect the same practice.
If your headline only says “Partner at XYZ,” there’s room to explain more. Include a practice or industry focus that would help someone understand your work. Use the About section to introduce yourself in the first person and describe the clients and issues you work with.
You don’t need to paste your website bio into LinkedIn. The format gives you more room to sound like yourself. But your firm, title, location and practice description need to be accurate across both places.
Check your contact information while you’re there. Make it easy for someone who wants to reach you to find a current email address or the appropriate page on your firm’s website.
Look Beyond the Pages You Manage
Speaker bios, directory profiles and association pages can remain online long after your role changes. Some get copied into new event materials without anyone checking them.
Search your name and review the descriptions that appear. Correct the pages you can edit and request changes to the others. Pay particular attention to old employers, titles, locations and practice descriptions.
This is useful housekeeping for any lawyer. It also matters when public information is used to answer questions about you. You can’t guarantee which page someone or an AI tool will find, but you can reduce the amount of outdated information available.
Make Your Articles and Speaking Easier to Find
Your bio can give readers a way to learn more about how you approach your work. Include relevant articles, presentations, interviews and other material that adds something to the description of your practice.
Be selective. An article addressing a common client question may be more useful than a long list of every publication from your career. Organize the material so someone can find topics connected to their interests.
Then share that work on LinkedIn with a little explanation. Tell your network why you wrote the article, who it’s for or which issue it addresses. You’ve already spent time developing the material, so help people understand why they might want to read it.
This also gives you more to use in business development. You can send a relevant article after a conversation, include it in meeting preparation or share it with a referral source whose clients face that issue.
Be Specific About Recognition and Involvement
Include rankings and awards with their correct names, categories and years. Link to a public profile when one is available. Someone who wants to verify the recognition can then do so.
For professional and community roles, explain your involvement. Serving on an industry committee, teaching a course or working with a nonprofit can tell readers something about your interests and relationships. A brief description helps more than an unexplained list of organizations.
These details belong in your bio because they’re part of your professional background. Avoid assigning them a supposed AI ranking value that you can’t substantiate.
Get the Updates Done Without Turning Them Into a Huge Project
For marketing teams, a conversation can be easier than sending a lawyer their bio and asking for edits. Ask what they’ve been working on, which clients they’re spending more time with and what work they want more of. Follow up on the details that would help someone understand their experience.
Use that conversation to prepare a draft for review. Keep the approved examples so you can use them again in pitches, submissions and other materials.
Make bio reviews part of work already on the calendar, such as annual planning or awards submissions. Update sooner when a lawyer changes roles, develops a significant area of experience or has something relevant to add.
The website team has a role too. Ask them to check that the page is accessible, displays properly on mobile and has working links. Better copy won’t help much if someone can’t read the page or contact the lawyer.
A Checklist to Work Through
When you’re ready to update a bio, use this list:
- Read the opening and identify what it tells someone about the lawyer’s clients and work.
- Add relevant industries, business situations and types of matters.
- Include approved examples of current experience.
- Cut repeated claims and descriptions that could apply to almost any lawyer.
- Verify titles, contact information, admissions, recognition and professional roles.
- Update LinkedIn and request corrections to outdated outside profiles.
- Add links to useful articles, presentations and interviews.
- Check the page on a phone and test the links.
- Set a review date and identify who will manage the next update.
You’ve already done the work that belongs in your bio. The next step is explaining it well enough that someone outside your firm can understand why it matters to them. A current, specific description gives clients and referral sources something useful to read and share. It also gives you language you can use throughout your marketing, instead of starting from scratch every time you need to introduce your practice.
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