Making Your Culture a True Differentiator

After years as an afterthought, law firm culture is drawing renewed attention. In Right Hat’s 2026 Top of Mind Report, a biennial survey of 100 legal services buyers, information about a firm’s history, philosophy and values ranked alongside industry focus as a priority on law firm websites. In other words, your culture, as much as your expertise, can set you apart.

So why now? Despite the importance of analytics for measuring visibility and the convenience of AI for generating content, legal services remains, at its core, a people industry. While algorithms may drive clicks, culture drives relationships and brand identity — and only people can create a culture.

With so many firms defaulting to the same handful of adjectives to describe their cultures (i.e., “collaborative,” “client-focused,” “entrepreneurial”), how can you stand out and be believed? Today, learning to articulate an authentic culture is more than a branding challenge. It’s a business development imperative.

77% of legal services buyers rate information about a firm’s history, philosophy and values as equally important as its industry focus.

The Door is Open

Back when my son was touring colleges, a counselor recommended a school I knew little about. She said it was known for a culture of kindness. “They have an unwritten rule,” she told us, “that you always hold the door open for the person behind you.”

Everyone we spoke with confirmed the importance of door-opening as a sign of the school's culture. One student wrote in a newspaper article: “For me, it is simply a matter of feeling valued by my fellow classmates. Each literal door-opener is a temporary friend, a new person to smile at .... It has taught me that making the effort to go out of the way for someone does not go unnoticed, even if the gesture is not necessarily grand.”

The opening doors story set that school apart, and it stayed with me. When it comes to a culture story, you can’t get better than something that’s simple, memorable and visible in daily behavior.

The question for law firm marketers is: What’s your version of holding the door open? How will they remember you?

Find the Story That's Already There

The good news is that you don't need to build a culture from scratch — you need to find the one that already exists and give it language. These techniques can help.

Adjective-Free Brainstorming

Gather a cross-section of the firm for a culture brainstorming session and impose one rule: no adjectives or adverbs. Ask people to describe the firm in terms of specific behaviors, decisions and moments. What did someone do here that surprised you? How does this firm act in a way others wouldn’t? The constraint forces the room away from claims and toward evidence.

Organizations with well-known cultures understand this. Mayo Clinic doctors won’t simply say their culture is collaborative. They’ll cite the “dry lab” methodology that requires consultation with colleagues before ordering expensive or invasive tests. Employees at the famously service-oriented Ritz-Carlton hotel chain might share that any employee can spend up to $2,000 per guest, per incident, to resolve problems or create memorable experiences, no questions asked.

In both cases, the proof gives weight to the claims.

The Photo Safari

Ask participants to collect images — torn from magazines, pulled from the internet, photographed on their phones — that feel like the firm. Not law firm images. Anything else: landscapes, buildings, works of art, people, textures. Then ask them to explain their choices. This technique bypasses the verbal filters that typical culture conversations trigger and surfaces information in new ways.

Instead of “creative,” you might hear, “Our culture is a room full of rolled-up sleeves, ideas flying and blue skies ahead.” A photo showing light trails from fast-moving objects could inspire a description other than “efficient.”

‘Best Day’ Interviews

Sit down individually with a range of people and ask one question: “Describe a day when you felt most proud to work at this firm.” This produces value statements and can be more effective than simply asking “What are your values?” The “Best Day” produces narrative, and narrative connects with audiences.

Communicate it Externally

Once you have the raw material from these conversations, your job shifts from excavating to curating. These approaches leverage different platforms and create memorable artifacts.

The ‘One Thing’ LinkedIn Series

Ask individual lawyers across practice groups, seniority levels and offices to answer a single rotating question on LinkedIn: “What is one thing about this firm that surprised you when you arrived?” or “What is one thing a client told you that you've never forgotten?” A consistent prompt across different voices over time creates a portrait that no single piece of content could achieve.

Quick Website Videos

Research shows that video content is nearly 50 times more likely to rank on the first page of SEO search results than text-based web pages. Its ability to help form personal connections makes it a natural for culture communications. And it doesn’t have to be a heavy lift.

If you have an upcoming firm retreat, set up a video booth and ask people to come by and tell their own culture stories. To spark engaging, unusual conversations, invite them to bring an object that represents what the firm means to them, or a moment they're proud of. It could be a client letter, a photo, a desk toy, a piece of swag or just about anything. The objects themselves matter less than the stories people tell.

One caveat: produced, pre-scripted videos can undermine the authenticity of your message. What works is a documentary style — real people, specific stories, unscripted moments. The shorter, the better.

A Culture Chronicle

Instead of a conventional year-in-review, produce a well-designed collection of the year's best cultural stories and images — the human moments that defined the year. Distribute it internally and to clients. In addition to its value as a communication tool, it’s a great way to memorialize cultural highlights.

Make Story Sharing a Habit, not a Project

The techniques shared here will surface good material if the firm develops the habit of noticing and sharing stories. Here are two ways to institutionalize that habit.

The Standing Agenda Item

Ask practice group leaders to add a standing question to their regular meetings: “Does anyone have a story from the past month they're proud of — something a colleague did, a client moment, a problem solved in an unexpected way?” Two minutes, no pressure, strictly voluntary. Ask someone at the meeting to pass the stories along.

The Nomination Mechanism

Create a simple way for anyone to nominate a colleague for a culture moment: an email address, a brief online form, a dedicated communication channel. The bar should be low and the response should be visible, such as a mention in the firm newsletter, a note at a firm meeting or a personal email from a managing shareholder. What gets recognized gets repeated.

Consistency Matters

The firms that communicate culture most effectively tend to do it consistently rather than in concentrated bursts. A single culture campaign is less persuasive than a steady, ongoing stream of specific, human moments across multiple channels over time. 

Remember, clients are already looking for this information. The challenge is giving them something real to find.