What are the top PR and Marketing Trends in the legal sector in 2026?

Having been around the block once or twice now in this Legal PR gig, I’m quite good at trend-spotting, but also BS-identifying.

I hope this makes me well-placed to write a blog covering the trends that I think will dominate Legal PR and marketing during 2026. I’m writing this in mid-March as we approach the new tax year, so you might think this blog is a bit late, but 2026 / 2027 Tax Year Legal PR and Marketing Trends doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it?!

There’s no surprise that AI continues to top the list, not as a new trend but simply due to the pace of change and evolution of AI tools, and it’s driving other trends too, in SEO vs. GEO and PR through to brand authenticity and the types of content people are reaching for. Read on to find out more.

AI usage in the legal sector

It is literally fairly impossible to move at the moment without AI popping up across every single conversation around law firm management, growth, delivery, marketing, compliance and literally everything else. I think there’s a fairly good chance we have all gone AI-mad.

Do I think AI is a bad thing? No. Do I think there are huge opportunities for businesses that embrace AI? Yes. Do I think that AI can be used for everything? No. And do I think that AI is a magic bullet that will solve existing and deep-rooted problems within some law firms? No, no and no again.

*Spoiler alert* Like many of us, I’m in my early days of learning about AI’s capabilities, and I’ve been trying to work out how we can use it at LexRex, whilst also being mindful of protecting our high IP value content and data from scraping.

Please be reassured that none of our client data or information is being fed anywhere and that won’t change any time soon. I’m also conscious of AI’s ability and sometimes tendency to ‘hallucinate’ or invent things when it doesn’t know the answer.

We also continue to write all of our own content when it matters (and I think it always matters). I want to ensure that my writing continues to sound like me. And that the content we create for our clients continues to sound like them.

I also hate the idea that content becomes generic, because it is written by AI and therefore, everything created by AI sounds like everything that’s already been created by humans in the past. I’m also sure that at some point we’ll experience a backlash against AI-derived content and start to seek or relearn slower forms of communication. In fact, I suspect this is already happening, it’s just not yet hit the mainstream. AI slop, beware!

How are law firm marketers using AI at the moment and where is this going?

1. Content research.

 AI can be really helpful for marketers to research what ‘the market’ is saying about certain practice areas. You can also use this data to reverse engineer what isn’t being said and hopefully spot and utilise some gaps that you can use creatively.

2. Content ideation and planning

AI can also be used to create powerful content ideas, particularly for areas of law that may be perceived as ‘dry’ or boring.

Do remember, though that if you rely upon these ideas, you’re basically rehashing conversations and content that have already been covered in depth by your competitors. If your approach is ‘let’s just write some content on XXX’ that’s all well and good, but a more nuanced approach, along with some good old human creativity, will be required if you want to stand out from the competition.

BTW, I’m very happy to die on the hill that says original, nuanced content that takes its cues from a goal-driven strategy will knock open AI-derived, generic content out of the park every single time when it comes to effectiveness and cut-through. But yes, it costs more.

3. Social and other content writing and imagery

We’ve all seen the cartoon images and videos on LinkedIn haven’t we, and having spoken to lots of lawyers and marketers, I know that lots of you are using AI to create written and visual content for your social media channels.

There’s nothing wrong with this, and I completely understand the reasoning behind it. My personal advice though is twofold – one, ensure that the content you post does actually sound like something you’d say, and two, try and mix the AI generated content with some content that you have written. I just think this helps to ensure that you sound ‘like you’ and it also helps to ensure you are sharing original ideas and content, not just regurgitating stuff that has already been covered to death elsewhere.

And in case you’ve forgotten – a quick reminder that social channels are about engaging with humans, not algorithms. Another hill that I’m happy to die upon is my strongly held belief that it’s way better to have a smaller, engaged audience of potential buyers than a gigantic audience of fans who, nonetheless, will never buy from you. Remember as well that the more ‘randos’ you connect with, the harder (and longer) you’ll have to search on your channels for content that actually interests you.

4. Competitor analysis.

Again, AI can very quickly undertake basic competitor analysis and does this so much faster than can ever be achieved through desk research carried out via Search. Be mindful of the hallucination point earlier and remember to apply not only your common sense to the results, but also your own data points and knowledge of the market. AI can’t replace human insight (yet), but I think it can help us to identify blind spots and, where data sets are available, can help us to interrogate our thinking and assumptions.

5. Writing award submissions and legal directories content.

Tricky one, this. I can definitely understand why you might be tempted to do this from a time and budget-saving perspective. Personally, I can potentially see a good use case in utilising AI to review previous shortlisted award submissions, collate any relevant data, (assuming your firm has an AI product that gatekeeps / sandboxes data within the practice) and perhaps to create a running order to measure your responses to the criteria. But I’d still write it myself.

SEO vs. GEO: AI search and utilising GEO to become a recommended source

GEO is now often the top of the bill when it comes to conversations about not only SEO but increasingly, PR. I asked Stephen Moore of MLT Digital where he thinks this particular trend is going, and whether he had any advice for law firms on optimising their websites and content for AI search.

“When AI search tools first came into the picture there was great uncertainty around how to optimise your website for the future of AI driven search. Although uncertainty still exists mainly due to constant advancements in both AI and GEO, we are now seeing clear patterns emerge showing what is most highly valued by AI search engines.

“AI tools are prioritising clarity, authority and structure over traditional SEO ranking methods. AI search engines aim to provide the user with the best possible answer to their question, rather than simply directing them to the most highly optimised website.

“For law firm websites looking to achieve GEO optimisation, one of the biggest changes this brings is how the content on your website should be written and structured.

“The content on your website should now be focused around answering questions and concerns clients may have whilst they go through the legal process. One of the most effective ways of doing this is by writing specific guide style or FAQ content.

“AI search tools also highly value authority and trust to help ensure they are displaying the best results and answers. Showing accreditations, case studies and ensuring experience is reflected throughout website content is essential to achieve this.

“PR and brand visibility is also more important for GEO as AI search tools are more likely to cite firms that are referenced and trusted across multiple sources.

“We are seeing a constant rise in both AI driven traffic and enquiries for our clients. The traffic is showing to have a much higher conversion rate compared to organic traffic conversion rates, with many of these enquiries showing to be more closely aligned to the clients target audience.

“AI search brings great opportunity for law firms to improve overall enquiry volumes and quality. Ensuring your website is optimised for GEO is key to achieving this and will only become more important as AI search continues to advance.”

Brand authenticity and the return of slow content

As above, I strongly believe that as AI gets faster and faster, we’ll start to see an increased appetite for ‘slow content’, content that is unambiguously created both by, and for, a human audience.

I asked our brand specialist, Sarah Wilde, whether she agrees that we will all start to crave and actively seek human connections, and the effect this will have on marketing and PR in the legal sector.

“The importance of brand authenticity isn’t a new trend, but in a space where generative content is being spun up left, right and centre, authenticity needs to become the hyper-focus for brands, now more than ever. Content that has the real person front of mind and feels delivered by real people. It needs to connect and be engaging and most importantly it has to feel authentic. 

“We’ve already seen a backlash against what many are calling ‘AI slop’ on LinkedIn. As people get more and more frustrated by inauthentic, AI-generated content and are being bombarded by ads as platforms continually try to monetise every minute, we’ll see people actively pushing away from content that feels cold and calculated and feels like its being pushed by brands and not people.

“From face-to-face events and imperfect piece to cameras over polished and overbranded outputs, to the power of the personal brands within your firm brand, people want to see and hear from real people. It’s not about simply avoiding AI in an effort to seem authentic. It’s honing and owning your real voice and creating more opportunities to connect… authentically.”

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