The CLSA is a dedicated membership association for criminal law practitioners. As a committee of volunteers, they needed someone with sector knowledge to take accountability of their marketing, build consistency and help to manage their annual conference. They started working with Consortium in early 2024 and have had transformational results.
Here's what Katy Hanson, Chair of the CLSA had to say about working with Consortium:
“As a voluntary organisation run by practicing lawyers, marketing often felt impossible to prioritise. Consortium brought structure, consistency and momentum at exactly the right time. The turnaround in engagement, conference attendance and visibility has been remarkable – and it’s allowed us to focus on what we do best: supporting the criminal law profession.”
The Brief
The Criminal Law Solicitors Association (CLSA) is a voluntary membership organisation representing and supporting criminal defence lawyers across England and Wales. Run by a committee of practicing criminal lawyers, many of whom are managing or senior partners, CLSA plays a crucial role in championing the profession at a time of immense pressure and change.
By early 2024, CLSA faced a familiar but significant challenge. With limited time and no dedicated marketing resource, communications and promotion had slipped down the priority list. Membership numbers had plateaued, digital visibility was minimal, and the CLSA annual conference, once a flagship event in every criminal lawyer’s diary, had seen attendance decline sharply following the disruption of Covid and the loss of in-person momentum.
In March 2024, CLSA appointed us to help stabilise and revitalise its marketing activity, rebuild engagement with members, and restore the profile of the Association within the criminal law community.
The Approach
We began by laying strong marketing foundations and introducing consistent, manageable activity that worked around the realities of a voluntary committee.
The first priority was visibility. We launched CLSA’s LinkedIn presence from scratch, creating a professional, credible platform to share news, commentary and updates relevant to the criminal law profession. In just 18 months, the page grew from zero to over 570 followers – establishing CLSA as an active and authoritative voice online.
Alongside this, we reintroduced a monthly email newsletter to reconnect with members, share insights, highlight initiatives and promote events. This provided a reliable communication channel that helped rebuild trust, consistency and engagement with the membership base.
Our team also worked to refresh and improve CLSA’s website, ensuring member profiles were up to date, topical articles were published, and partnerships with suppliers and supporters of the legal sector were clearly showcased. These partnerships not only added value for members but also helped reinforce CLSA’s position at the heart of the criminal law ecosystem.
A key focus was restoring the CLSA annual conference as a must-attend event. Through clearer messaging, consistent promotion and renewed confidence in the Association’s brand, we helped drive ticket sales and engagement.
The Outcome
Both the 2024 and 2025 CLSA conferences sold out, with over 100 tickets sold for each event. Crucially, the 2024 conference didn’t just breakeven, but ran at a profit. This shift allowed CLSA to reinvest and significantly elevate the 2025 conference, bringing in a paid comedian as a guest speaker and professional event photography to capture and amplify the experience.
That momentum carried into 2026, with the CLSA Annual Conference returning on Friday 9 October 2026 at The Grand Hotel, Birmingham, under the theme Beyond the Headlines: Truth, Justice and the Future of Criminal Law. Just shy of 100 tickets were sold, a third consecutive year of strong attendance, and the day went extremely well!
The programme reflected the Association’s renewed confidence, with a keynote from Nazir Afzal OBE, former Chief Crown Prosecutor for North West England, alongside sessions on miscarriages of justice, child advocacy and the practical implications of AI and technology for criminal lawyers, and comedian and former police officer Alfie Moore bringing a lighter touch to the day. Our team promoted the conference throughout, across the CLSA website, the member newsletter and LinkedIn, from the early-bird ticket launch to the final push.
Membership numbers have grown steadily over the past 18 months since we came on board in 2024, reversing previous stagnation. Consortium is now supporting CLSA with targeted messaging and content aimed at younger, next-generation lawyers;a critical audience at a time when criminal law is facing a well-documented talent shortage.
Today, Marketing & Account Manager Becky Young leads the relationship, acting as an outsourced marketing partner providing strategic direction, consistent delivery and the continuity that a volunteer-led organisation simply cannot achieve alone. The partnership demonstrates how effective marketing can drive real-world outcomes, even with limited time and resources, when it is well planned, well executed and aligned with purpose.
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