Professional services firms, and solicitors in particular, often have histories stretching back more than a century. Used well, that heritage is a marketing asset: it signals stability, trust and a track record that newer competitors cannot claim, and it gives you a seam of stories for your website, social media and PR. Used badly, it makes a firm look old rather than established.
How often have you seen “Established in 1800-and-something” spread across a law firm’s website? But what does that actually mean? What does an organisation that’s been around for many years have that other, newer firms might not? And how can you use an established company history as an effective marketing tool? And, a question that did not exist when this article was first written, how do you make sure Google and the AI tools your clients now ask can see that history too?
Why does heritage make a firm stand out?
The good news for firms with such histories is that it’s something that differentiates your business from lots of your competitors. Newer firms don’t have long-standing backgrounds to draw upon and there is real value in heritage if it’s used in the right way and aligns to the brand you want to create today. Trust is the reason it works. In the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, 88% of people said trusting a brand is an important or critical purchase criterion, on a par with quality and value. For a client choosing a solicitor for a house move, a divorce or a will, “they have been here since 1892” is shorthand for “they will still be here when I need them”.
Your starting point is to be clear about your firm’s business strategy and to have identified the marketing objectives that filter out from this. If your main objective is to be seen as a forward-thinking, innovative firm advising cutting-edge technological clients then having a 200 year history and black and white photography on your website is going to jar!
Once you have identified your objectives you can assess whether, and how, your company’s history and traditions can complement your marketing strategy. Here are some of the ways you can do this, if you do decide to use your history as a marketing tool:
How to tell your firm’s story
What values and ethos did your firm have when it was established? Are these still applicable now? What journey has your company been on and what are the lessons learned along the way? Who were the founding partners and is there a family history to talk about? Storytelling is a powerful marketing tool and a rich company history can provide the perfect material for story-based content. It’s great for social media posts and community engagement.
The most memorable stories bring the people behind the firm to life, whether that’s a founder starting out in a single room above a shop, a partner steering the business through wartime, a receptionist who has spent 40 years there, or a family who have trusted the firm for four generations. Clients buy people, and a heritage story with a face on it is far more shareable than a founding year. Storytelling is the first of our 10 blog ideas for law firms for that reason, and if you would rather have the story drawn out of you than write it yourself, our brand storytelling service does exactly that.
Creating a timeline of interesting milestones and achievements such as acquisitions, mergers, new services launched or key appointments is a great visual way to talk about the firm’s history. If you can, make this interactive with short videos and images to bring it to life. A timeline page also gives search engines and AI tools a clean, dated summary of the firm’s history to draw on, which a paragraph buried on the About page does not.
Heritage and your brand
Once you have established the role you want your heritage to play in your marketing, review your brand identity. This should be more than just the visual expression that portrays your brand. It also includes your tone of voice, culture, key messages, mission statement and values.
In terms of visuals, you can consider including elements which draw on your history, for example, colours, fonts and styles. You might want to ensure your branding reflects key parts of your heritage that are still relevant today, such as origins, values and traditions. A classic serif font that projects quality and assurance for example, or deep colours. The risk is looking dated rather than established however. A useful test is whether a thirty-year-old first-time buyer or a start-up founder would look at the website and feel the firm was for them. If the answer is no, keep the heritage in the story and modernise the visuals.
Nostalgia
Playing on people’s natural love of all things nostalgic stirs people’s emotions and creates strong connections. Raid your company archives and look for old photographs of staff or premises. Old marketing collateral and campaign material from a bygone age create a fascination that works well especially through social media. An excellent example is how RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) capitalised on old campaign materials found when clearing out a warehouse. They created a huge amount of content and held an exhibition featuring 40 iconic posters dating from the 1930s to the 1970s, covering all aspects of safety.
Nostalgia content is particularly strong on Facebook, where local community groups will share an old high street photograph far and wide, and it performs well on Instagram and LinkedIn too. Ask staff to add their own memories in the comments; it is one of the easiest ways to get the team engaged with your marketing.
Old before and after photos of high street premises are always popular. If you haven’t got any in your archives Google may produce some gems, or even a visit to your local museum or county records office. Check who owns the copyright before you publish archive images that are not your own.
Milestones and anniversaries: how to make the most of them
If you have a major milestone or anniversary coming up consider how you can get maximum publicity from it. For example, creating promotions based around the anniversary, a then and now comparison, share archive images for a visual comparison or hold a celebratory event. There may be scope for some PR to be generated too, perhaps in the local or trade press. Plan it as a campaign rather than a single post. A centenary or 150th anniversary is one of the few occasions a regional law firm can expect coverage in the local business press, a slot at the chamber of commerce and a reason to invite every client, referrer and former colleague into the same room; see our event ideas for law firms for the formats that work, and our guide to thought leadership and PR for lawyers for how to pitch the story.
Keep the tone about the clients and community you have served rather than the firm’s own brilliance, for the reasons Lou Gilbert sets out in our article on how law firms should talk about success.
An anniversary campaign checklist
- Twelve months out – agree what the anniversary is for (clients, recruitment, community, or all three), set a budget and start the archive research. Ask long-serving staff and retired partners first; they know where the photographs are.
- Nine months – commission a short film or photo story, build a timeline page on the website, and shoot the then-and-now photography.
- Six months – pitch the story to local business titles and the legal trade press, enter any relevant awards (our guide to preparing for awards season covers the timings), book the venue and choose a charity partner; sponsorship of a local cause for the anniversary year gives the story a second act.
- Three months – brief the whole team and give every fee earner something to post, so the story comes from people as well as the firm page.
- The month itself – the event, the press release, a letter or email to clients, an anniversary version of the logo used sparingly, and a proper thank-you to staff.
- Afterwards – leave the timeline and the film on the site permanently. They are evergreen trust signals, not campaign assets.
Heritage as a trust signal for search and AI
There is a newer reason to get your history straight. Google’s quality guidelines reward evidence of experience, expertise, authority and trust, and AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews build their answers from consistent, verifiable facts about an organisation. A founding date, a clear account of how the firm developed, named people with dates, and the same story repeated across your website, LinkedIn page, Google Business Profile and directory listings all help those systems describe your firm accurately, and describe it as established.
The practical steps are small. Put the founding year and a one-paragraph history on your About page. Add the founding date to the Organization schema on your website. Keep names, addresses and dates identical everywhere. And pair the heritage with current proof, because client reviews from this year carry more weight than a plaque from 1892. Our guide to legal digital marketing fundamentals covers the technical side.
In summary, using your company’s history and heritage can be a unique way to help differentiate yourself in a crowded market. By celebrating your past and showing how far you have come while at the same time looking to the future, you will be able to create a strong brand built on trust and emotional connections that should stand you in good stead for the next 100 years!
Frequently asked questions
Should a law firm mention its founding year in its marketing?
Yes, if it is accurate and it fits the brand you are building. State it plainly on the About page and in directory listings, and let the stories behind it do the persuading rather than the number alone.
How do law firms celebrate an anniversary?
The firms that do it well run a year-long campaign: a film or timeline, a client and community event, local press coverage, a charity partnership and content from the team, with the assets left on the website afterwards. The firms that do it badly send one press release and a cake.
Does company history help SEO?
Indirectly but usefully. A dated, consistent history supports the trust signals Google and AI tools look for, a timeline page attracts links from local press and community sites, and heritage content earns the shares and mentions that newer firms struggle to generate.
What if our firm is new?
Use the heritage you do have honestly: the founders’ own experience, the building, the town, the clients who came with you. Otherwise lead with the modern story. A clear reason for starting the firm is as persuasive as a founding date, and easier to tell.
Where do we find our firm’s history?
Start with your own archives and partnership records, then long-serving staff and retired partners. The British Newspaper Archive, your county records office and local history societies usually turn up more, and the Law Society library holds the historical Law Lists, which recorded practising solicitors year by year.
Let us take the burden off you
We support law firms and professional services firms with brand storytelling: uncovering the origin story, turning it into a core narrative and messaging guide the whole firm can use, and coaching leaders to tell it well. For anniversaries and milestones our PR services team handles the press, and we can plan and run the celebration itself.
Call 01903 530 787 or submit an enquiry via our contact form and a member of our team will be in touch shortly