When you’re starting a law firm, there are a huge number of decisions you have to make.
What sort of law firm structure will you use? What practice area will you focus on? How will you market your legal services?
But one of the most important decisions you’ll make is what to name your law firm.
Naming your law firm can be an intimidating prospect. Below, we walk you through each step of the process, as well as what factors you should consider when choosing a law firm name.
Importance of Your Law Firm Brand
Before you choose a name for your law firm, you need to understand the role your branding will play in your legal group’s success.
Your brand will become your law firm’s public identity and can have a huge impact on how potential clients view you.
Which business do you trust more: Auto Zone or Jimbo’s Car Parts? Would you rather take a flight with American Airlines or Planes R Us?
When a business has a good name, it automatically inclines us to trust them more. A good law firm name can lay the groundwork to convince a lead that you have what it takes to get justice in their case.
In addition, a brand creates an identity for your law firm that’s separate from your personal identity. This can make you seem more legitimate and trustworthy to potential clients.
Your brand will also play a huge role in your search engine optimization strategy.
For instance, let’s say a law group wants to use the name “Johnson and Johnson”. They’ll find it almost impossible to get their law firm name to the top of the search engine results.
A good brand name lays the foundation for success in all your marketing. A bad one can turn all of those efforts into an uphill fight.
Traditional Names for Law Firms
Traditionally, law firms have been named after founders or partners in the business. We’ve all seen examples of these names: “Smith and Associates”, “Williams, Williams, and Blake”, and so on.
As the law firm grows and more partners join the business, their names may join the existing law firm name. Or the law group may choose to keep only its founders’ names on the letterhead, no matter how many legal partners there are.
Pros of Traditional Names
The legal field is a traditional one, and many clients want their lawyers to be traditional. They look for well-established, expert, reliable lawyers or law firms that they can trust.
Traditional law firm names are familiar to clients and may instill more confidence and trust in them.
These names are also easy to come up with and come with a ready-made representative of the law group.
You won’t need to come up with a mascot or cutesy logo. The lawyer whose name is on the letterhead will be the literal face of the company.
Cons of Traditional Names
One of the biggest downsides of traditional names is that they can rapidly get out of hand.
It can be hard to decide which legal partners deserve to be part of the letterhead and which don’t. That’s how we end up with law firm names like “Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca, Fischer, Gilbert-Lurie, Stiffelman, Cook, Johnson, Lande & Wolf”.
These law firm business names also tend to be relatively forgettable.
Traditional names for law firms are common, and they don’t communicate anything about the legal group. So these names may not stick in clients’ minds as well as strong brand names do.
Traditional names also work best when one or more of the named legal partners acts as the face of the company.
This role consumes a significant amount of a partner’s valuable time and energy. If none of the partners is willing to take on that work, establishing a solid brand identity can be difficult.
Trade Names for Law Firms
A trade name is a separate brand for your law group that isn’t connected with your or your partners’ names. These are similar to traditional brand names you see in most other businesses.
Pros of Trade Names
One of the biggest advantages of a law firm trade name is that it helps to set your legal services apart from your competitors.
So many law offices have brands that use the format “Name and Name, PLLC” that they all run together in clients’ minds. A creative brand name can make your law firm much more memorable.
A good law firm name can also help to convey some of the values or selling points of your firm.
Think about brands like “Whole Foods” and “Thrive Causmetics”. Just by looking at their names, you have an idea of both what they sell and what makes them unique in their markets.
Brand names also give you a degree of separation from the identity of your legal services.
As your law office expands, you can incorporate other partners without worrying about rebranding. And as you progress in your career and your life, you can adjust your role to meet your current needs without the reputation of your law firm business suffering.
Brand names may also foster a better team spirit within your law group.
Traditional names tend to set the named partners above everyone else in the firm, which can promote negative dynamics. But a solid brand name becomes a banner behind which your entire team can rally.
Cons of Trade Names
Of course, the trick to gaining all these wonderful benefits is picking a good law firm name. And as we’ve seen so often in infamous business failures, there are lots of ways that can go wrong.
A bad name may damage your reputation with clients and even make you seem less trustworthy. If you choose to use a brand name for your law office, you should avoid anything cutesy, punny, or otherwise silly.
Trade names present a special challenge in finding a good option that someone else hasn’t already taken. Other businesses may choose to highlight the same values or location as you and so might come up with the same brand name you wanted to use.
And, by a double-edged sword, that separation from your brand that we just mentioned as an upside can be a downside as well. People like to hire people, and a trade name can make it more challenging to get leads to connect with your brand.
Brainstorm Good Law Firm Names
The first step in naming your law firm is to brainstorm potential name ideas.
During this stage, keep all options open for consideration. Include both trade and traditional names in the discussion, and experiment with different combinations.
These seven rules for brainstorming can help to keep your session productive and positive.
- Encourage wild ideas – Encourage your team to suggest ideas, including ridiculous or obviously bad law firm names. Allowing that freedom can produce some of the best results.
- Build on participants’ ideas – When discussing an idea, try to use “and” instead of “but”. That small shift can help to create a safe space for creativity and allow you to build on an idea until you reach it’s best iteration.
- Defer judgement – Wait until the brainstorming session is over to sort the good ideas from the bad. Brainstorming is a judgement-free process.
- Write everything down – Put every suggested name on a whiteboard or large sheet of paper. This visual representation can keep your name options fresh in mind and set all ideas on equal footing.
- Stay on topic – Don’t let your creativity and enthusiasm drag you off topic. Keep the session focused on name ideas for your law firm.
- Stick to one conversation at a time – Try to finish discussing one option before moving on to another. Encourage your team to write down ideas they may have in the meantime so you can come back to them later.
- Aim for quantity – At the start of your brainstorming session, set the goal of generating as many name ideas as you can before the end of the meeting. In an hour-long meeting, you should aim to come up with at least 100 options.
Once you have a solid list of potential names for your law group, you can begin the winnowing process.
Refine Your Law Firm Name Ideas
Once you’ve assembled a long list of creative law firm names, sift back through them with a more critical eye. You may find it helpful to sort your name concepts into three categories.
- Winning names – These are the names that your team is excited about and that represent your brand well.
- Promising names – These names don’t spark the same excitement that your winning names do, but they still have some promise.
- Out of the running – These are the names that you can say with confidence you won’t be using for your law office.
You may need to go through several rounds of brainstorming and refining brand options before you commit to a law firm name. Even if you know you won’t use a name, it may spark inspiration during these later rounds of conceptualization.
Continue brainstorming and refining until you have three to five names that you and your team love.
But don’t discard your full list of concepts until you’re ready to commit to one final law firm name. If you have to go through further rounds of revision, these can be a helpful resource.
Get Outside Opinions When Naming Your Law Firm
Once you have a short list of law firm name ideas, it may be beneficial to get some outside opinions. After all, you want your law office name to connect with a wide variety of people.
Select a few people whose opinions you trust. This may include your partner, any mentors you have, or even competitors you’re on friendly terms with.
Send your list of law firm names to this group and ask which they like best. Ask if they see obvious flaws with any of the names on your list and what their favorite choice says to them about the law firm.
Be careful when you’re deciding whose opinions to ask. A few valuable opinions can help you make the best decision for your law group. Dozens of mediocre opinions make the process more confusing.
Check Your Law Firm Name’s Availability
Before you settle on a new brand, check that no existing trademarks already use your preferred law firm name.
It goes without saying that you need to check if any of your competitors already use the same law office name.
Depending on the name you’ve picked, you may also need to search for businesses in other industries with the same name. You wouldn’t want your legal group to end up with the same name as a plumber in your area purely by coincidence.
Potential Law Firm Name Components
When you’re beginning the brainstorming process, it can be helpful to start from a few standard law firm name components.
Family names are the core of the traditional law firm naming convention, so they can be a good place to begin brainstorming. And your practice area, geographic location, and company values can all provide fodder for law firm name ideas.
Family Names
When brainstorming traditional names for your law firm, the biggest decision to make is which family names to use.
If you have more than one partner in the law office, will you include all partners’ names?
If so, will you continue adding partner names as your law group grows? If not, how will you decide who makes the letterhead and who doesn’t?
You may also want to give some brief consideration to any unintentional meanings your names might hold. After all, if Jane Bigg and John Butts open a law office together, a traditional law firm name may not be a good choice.
Practice Area
You may also want to consider adding your legal practice area to your law firm name. This applies whether you’re using a trade or traditional name.
Including “Personal Injury Lawyers” or “Family Law” can help you connect with those in need of your legal services.
This naming convention can also help to strengthen your SEO. Leads searching for your legal services may be more likely to find your law firm name if it includes these key terms.
Geographic Location
In some cases, including your geographic location in your law firm name can be helpful.
Clients often search terms like “Tampa personal injury lawyer”. Incorporating that term in your law firm name may improve your standing in search engine rankings.
The biggest thing you have to worry about with this variety of law firm name is ensuring no one else has taken it. It may also be wise to incorporate other unique elements that set your law group apart from your competitors.
Company Values
Your brand name can be a great way to introduce some of the values your law office holds. Are you compassionate and caring, tough and tireless, or thorough and detailed?
Brainstorm three to five adjectives that best capture the essence of your law practice. Explore modern law firm names that convey those values and can act as a strong introduction to your legal business.
Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Law Firm Name
Once you have a healthy list of potential law firm names, shift gears and begin sorting your list into the categories we mentioned. Consider the following criteria as you begin to narrow down your list of options.
Does It Follow Law Firm Naming Rules?
Your law firm name must abide by all rules of professional conduct in your region.
The ABA requires all law firms to have clear names that don’t mislead potential clients about their legal services. You also can’t use a law group name that clients could readily confuse with a government agency or partnership.
You also can’t imply that you offer legal services other than what you do. And your law firm brand can’t contain the names of lawyers (including former partners) who don’t practice in your firm.
Some state rules of professional conduct also prohibit law firms from using brand names. Before you commit to a fantastic brand name, confirm that you can use it in your state.
And finally, you have to be careful about adding words like “Group” or “and Associates” to your law firm name. This is especially important if you’re a solo practitioner or a partnership of two attorneys.
These terms can make your law practice seem larger than it is, which may be against your state bar association’s regulations.
Does It Align with Your Brand?
Regulations aside, it’s wise to select a law firm name that represents who you are and what you do. This will simplify the task of marketing your legal practice and connecting with clients who require your legal services.
Consider what sort of feeling and imagery your chosen name options evoke. Is that in line with the rest of your firm’s branding and values?
Your law firm name should be the peg on which you can hang the entire rest of your brand identity. If your preferred names can’t work in that capacity, you need to go back to the drawing board.
Is It Scalable?
Any time you make foundational decisions about your law group, it’s wise to consider the future.
What will you do if you get an abundance of successful cases, hire dozens of other lawyers, and name six or seven more partners? Will you limit who appears on the letterhead, or will you want to rebrand?
If you think you’ll choose to rebrand your legal services at that point, why not invest in that brand now?
If you do plan to limit who appears on the letterhead, you may want to set some rules for that at the start. Knowing how you’ll decide who gets that honor now can make your growth easier in the future.
Does It Connect with Your Target Audience?
As you’re brainstorming names for your law firm, it’s advisable to consider your target audience.
What sort of values does your ideal client prioritize in a lawyer? What catches their attention, instills trust in them, and convinces them that you’re the right attorney to handle their case?
One of the advantages of traditional law firm names is that they’re, well, traditional. A traditional name may persuade your target audience that you’re a reliable expert who’s well-established in your field.
On the other hand, your target customer may prefer someone who can shake up the field and be creative in pursuing justice. In this case, your audience may respond more positively to a good, catchy brand name.
Is It Memorable?
One of the most important things you need to consider when picking your law firm name is its memorability.
You want your law office name to stick in clients’ minds so that when they find themselves in need of legal services, they think of you.
This is part of the reason it may be a bad idea to include every single partner on the letterhead. You need your law firm name to be something potential clients could easily google from memory.
Brevity goes a long way toward making your firm’s brand memorable, but it’s not the only consideration. You should also aim for a snappy or creative law firm brand – something that clients will remember.
Is It Marketable?
You also have to consider the marketability of your legal group. This is especially important if you plan to use a trade name.
Does your favorite law firm name suggest any particular marketing imagery or schemes? Will it look good on a billboard, a website header, and a bus ad?
You may want to work with a consultant to mock up some marketing before you settle on your preferred law firm name for good.
Are There Existing Trademarks of That Name?
Of course, before you commit to a law firm name, you need to ensure that there aren’t existing trademarks under that name.
Your last name may be Morgan, and you may be opening a law office with your sibling (also named Morgan). But you certainly can’t name your law firm “Morgan & Morgan”.
Likewise, if your name is McDonald, you may not be able to use your last name alone as your law firm name.
Before you make your final decision, google your top choices. If a quick search returns an existing business name, you may want to remove it from consideration.
If you intend to trademark your new business name, you may need to conduct a more thorough search as well. You don’t want to find yourself embroiled in an intellectual property fight over your new brand identity.
Put Your Law Firm Brand to Work
Your law firm name is the public face of your legal business. Select a name that will serve your firm well now and in the future.
You may choose to use a traditional law firm name or a more modern brand. Start with a brainstorming session, and then narrow down based on your local regulations, scalability, and memorability.
If you’d like to put your new law firm name to work, LawRank is here to help. We offer legal marketing that works, including SEO, PPC, web design, and more.
Contact us today and start getting honesty, transparency, and results from your legal marketing firm.