Awards are one of the most debated marketing investments in the legal sector.
Some firms see them as a cornerstone of their marketing strategy, a proven way to raise their profile, celebrate success and boost team morale. Others see an expensive, time-consuming exercise with no guaranteed return.
Both views have some truth in them. Entered strategically, the right awards strengthen your firm’s credibility, support recruitment and give you proof points you can reuse across your marketing for years. Entered on a whim, they absorb partner time and marketing budget for very little. If your firm wants to enter awards with a clear plan behind them, our awards submissions support for law firms can help.
In this guide, we look at how to choose the right legal awards, what makes a winning entry and how to maximise the value of a shortlisting, whether you win or not.
Why should law firms enter awards?
Awards work in the same way as directory rankings and client reviews: they are third-party endorsement. Prospective clients, referrers and future employees cannot easily judge legal expertise from the outside, so they rely on external signals of quality. Awards sit alongside Chambers and The Legal 500 rankings and client reviews and testimonials as some of the strongest signals available.
The benefits of entering the right awards include:
- Credibility and prestige. Independent recognition carries more weight than anything you say about yourself.
- A shortlisting or win gives clients a quick, visible reason to choose you over a competitor.
- Brand visibility. Award logos, ceremony coverage and press mentions all extend your reach.
- Team morale and retention. Recognition motivates the people behind the work and supports recruitment.
- Ceremonies and judging panels put you in front of intermediaries, referrers and the wider business community.
- Reusable proof points. A strong entry generates case studies, statistics and stories you can repurpose across your website, pitches and social media.
How to choose the right legal awards to enter
Awards should never be entered on a whim. They should support your wider marketing strategy and your firm’s commercial goals. If an award does not serve either, do not enter it!
Ask yourself what you want to be known for, then choose awards that highlight those areas. If your three-year plan is growth, look for awards that showcase your firm as a great place to work. If you are building a Family Law practice, seek out specialist categories that put your Family team in the spotlight.
Well-established awards with a long history and respected judging panels carry more weight than newer, pay-to-play schemes. Look at who organises the awards, who sponsors them, and which firms enter and win, and make sure all of that aligns with your brand.
Consider your audience too. Some awards speak to clients and referrers, others to the profession, and others to current and future employees, such as workplace culture, diversity or CSR awards. Be honest about your chances: study the criteria, review past shortlists and, ideally, pick your target award a year in advance so you have time to build the evidence that judges want to see.
How to write a winning award entry
Award entries are much harder to write than they look. Every award is different. Some have set questions and evidence requirements, others are open-ended. What they share is that judges read dozens of entries, so yours needs to be clear, evidenced and genuinely engaging. This is where brand storytelling skills earn their keep.
If you want to give your entry the best chance of success, the principles are consistent across almost every awards programme:
- Pick the right award and category. A strong entry in the wrong category will still lose.
- Start early. Leave enough time to gather evidence, draft, review and refine before the deadline.
- Understand the criteria. Read them several times and answer what is actually being asked.
- Lead with tangible evidence. Results, statistics, client feedback and case studies persuade judges; adjectives do not.
- Assume no prior knowledge. Judges may not know your firm, your market or your practice area.
- Be authentic. Judges can spot generic, AI-generated copy. Tell a genuine story in your firm’s voice.
- Keep it clear and concise. Plain language, short sentences and a logical structure.
- Create impact with a story. The best entries have a narrative arc: a challenge, what you did and what changed as a result.
- Proofread and edit. Typos and padding undermine an otherwise strong entry.
- Get an outside perspective. A specialist legal marketing agency brings fresh eyes, experience of what judges look for, and the mistakes to avoid. Our team writes multiple entries every awards season, with a strong track record of shortlistings and wins for our legal clients.
How to maximise being shortlisted
A shortlisting is an achievement in itself, and it deserves more than a single text-heavy press release. Treat it as a mini campaign.
Showcase the case studies and success stories behind your entry through social posts, and if the award is individual-based, share a Q&A with the nominee for a personal touch. Visual content makes the biggest difference, so use event photos, video snippets and, if you win, the trophy moment. For platform-specific guidance, see our guides to social media for law firms and LinkedIn for lawyers.
Make full use of the award branding. Add shortlist and winner logos to your website, email signatures, pitch documents and biographies. For community or people-focused awards, there may also be local or trade press opportunities worth pursuing.
Finally, consider taking a table at the ceremony. It rewards your team, creates networking opportunities and positions your firm visibly within the local business community.
What happens if you don’t win?
Not winning can feel like a setback, especially given the time and cost involved. But an unsuccessful entry is far from wasted effort.
The research, case studies and client feedback you gathered are valuable marketing assets in their own right. Reuse them on your website, in pitches and across your social channels. If someone on your team enjoys social media, live updates from the ceremony build engagement on the night, and publicly congratulating the winners keeps your brand visible in a positive light.
Review your entry critically, request feedback from the organisers where possible and study what the winning firm did differently. Then recycle: a polished entry is a template for other awards, and much of the same evidence will strengthen your next directory submission too.
Awards and directories: two sides of the same strategy
If your firm is weighing up where recognition effort is best spent, it rarely needs to be either-or. Awards raise your profile with clients, referrers and the local business community, while directory rankings carry particular weight in tenders, panel reviews and lateral recruitment. The evidence-gathering overlaps heavily, so firms that plan both together get far more value from the same work. Our guide to ranking in Chambers and The Legal 500 and our legal directory FAQs cover the directories side in detail, and both should sit within a wider law firm marketing plan.
Let us take the burden off you
If your firm wants to be shortlisted and winning awards without the last-minute scramble, we can help. From choosing the right awards and categories to drafting compelling, evidence-led entries and turning a shortlisting into a full campaign, we take the burden off your team.
Call 01903 530 787 or submit an enquiry via our contact form below and a member of our team will be in touch shortly.