Let me tell you a story, about a time, long, long ago. Before LinkedIn was the place to be for lawyers and legal folks. I built business for Saltmarsh Marketing through in person events and networking. Endless coffee meetings. Free speaking slots and workshops. And it worked. A coffee meeting did not always result in work, but a referral to someone else. Events gave a stage to show what it might be like to have me on your team. But doing this offered no real way to reach people at scale. And then the global pandemic brought the entire world online to form digital connections in a way that none of us could ever have imagined. Marketing and business development was democratised as we all found ourselves at home with the same virtual tools. Coffee meetings in town became Zoom intros. LinkedIn transformed from a desolate wasteland of dry and dull corporate news updates to a more vibrant, diverse marketplace with a lot of human connection, and continues to reign as a thriving hub for B2B marketing.
But five years on, after years of cancelled events, online only or hybrid events – the desire to connect in person is stronger than ever in 2025. While in person events of course have their challenges, they bring a quality of connection like no other marketing channel. People buy from people and you’ll very often find that relationships built on in-person connection are more trusted and accelerate quicker. With LinkedIn noisier and less predictable than ever, let’s all be mindful that we have little to no control over the rented land that is our social media channels.
While you need the reach and scale of the online networking opportunities offered by LinkedIn – when you combine this with in person events? That’s where the marketing magic lies.
What does the legal events scene look like today?
The legal events scene is vast and growing at the speed of light. We’re seeing an ever-increasing focus on innovation and tech, both in the UK and internationally. And we’re seeing an ever-developing diversity in event formats – from pop ups to panels, intimate events, retreats and “unconferences”. Let’s dive into the detail:
Huge events like flagship Legal Geek, BritishLegal Technology Forum, Legal Tech Talk and LegalEX bring together legal professionals from all different areas of law to talk about the future of legal. You’ll find in-house lawyers, private practice lawyers, legal ops professionals and vendors all under one roof – united by their common interest in legal innovation and legal technology. And while it can feel energising and exciting, it can also feel overwhelming. Be really clear what your purpose is for these events and plan in advance.
You’ll also find an array of events that are focused on particular practice areas or roles in law. Law Society events tend to be a bit more formal and traditional in topic and tone. Think corporate, risk, regulation. Then there’s The Future Lawyer series which has one day dedicated for law firms, another for in-house lawyers and a day for litigators, which means each day is able to focus on a specific legal audience and their challenges.
Internationally, the range of events is broad. ILTACON is a massive US-focused legal tech conference with a focus on IT and legal ops. CLOC (Corporate Legal Operations Consortium) is taking place as I type this blog, in Vegas baby! International Bar Association events have global reach with a more traditional focus on policy and international law.
Beyond these big hitters, you’ll also find plenty of events specifically designed for focused sectors, practitioners and regions. With every event format under the sun. From seminars and masterclasses to smaller retreats like The Beacon Collective (new for 2025) and relaxed ‘festivals’ like the glorious Crafty Fest, especially for in-house lawyers- legal events are diversifying by the day.
It’s an exciting time for legal events with something for everyone, but without a strategy, it is hard to know where to start. Let your marketing strategy guide you on what events should be part of your plan, and how you want to engage with them. When you’re clear on your marketing goals, it’ll become easier to decide what legal events are right for you … and just as importantly, which ones aren’t. There’s nothing worse than 48 hours where you’ve wasted your time, your resources and your budget. Or looking like you would go to the opening of a fridge.
How to decide which legal events are for you?
Remember that you don’t have to (and shouldn’t) go to everything. It will exhaust you and give you no time to follow up and ensure you get return from all that valuable real life energy. Work back from your goals. They might be explicitly commercial, or about making connections on a 1-1 level. They may also be about generating broader awareness of your business. And learning and development is absolutely a viable marketing goal to consider.
Once you have these goals in mind, you can select the most relevant events that work for your budget, the type of industry player you are and what format suits you best – as an individual. It’s all about creating an event strategy that combines networking and events that place you in the same room as potential new clients.
Let me share with you two examples from my own event marketing strategy. There are two events that are my annual non-negotiables. Courageous Leaders is founded by former GC and notorious law-breaker, Nilema Bhakta Jones. This is a smaller event with around 100 people in attendance and the value of this event lies in the thought-provoking, nurturing conversations of fellow leaders. Then the Legal Geek flagship event in October is a place I can guarantee that I’ll see over 70% of my network in two days. The value of this event lies at each stage of the marketing funnel, as I meet new contacts, nurture existing relationships and actively run side-events as part of the community. Two very different events, for which I have very different reasons for attending. But around which I plan my year.
Getting the most out of legal events
So now you’ve decided which events are part of your strategy for the year ahead, you need a plan to make the most out of them. And by ‘get the most out of them’ I don’t mean work the room while internally yelling to yourself “Always be closing!!” Of course, you need to think strategically and commercially but that is wildly different from “working the room” and pitching everyone, willy nilly.
This is about approaching your chosen events with a sense of purpose, service and reciprocity. In other words – be a human, who is genuinely interested and ready to help if appropriate. Not a sales-bot.
Make like Blue Peter: Plan Ahead
Do your research
On attendees: If you can find out who’s attending, brilliant. Are you connected with them on LinkedIn? Can you engage with their content or have an online conversation ahead of the event? A quick LinkedIn post saying that you are attending said event can be a great way to connect with others who’ll tell you they’ll also be there.
On the agenda: find out how’s speaking and what topics are of interest to you. You may just make someone’s day by telling them you’re looking forward to their talk. People remember how people make them feel. This preparation also helps you to plan your schedule for the event.
Do some quick housekeeping
Make sure your LinkedIn is up to date and that your banner, headline and about section make it really clear who you are, who you work with and what services you offer. Ahead of an event, this can be a great time to check that your messaging is stand-out and differentiated.
Did you know that you can generate a LinkedIn QR code that can act as a digital business card and make connecting with each other on LinkedIn really quick and easy? To find your QR code, just open the app, tap on the search bar at the top, tap the QR code icon in the search bar, and then tap “My Code” to view and share. This makes post-event follow ups even easier.
Be present and purposeful
Balance your digital presence with your in-person presence: sharing online content live from the event is brilliant but don’t let it distract you entirely from the event. Share an insight or photo from a speaker’s session, tag people you meet and connect as you go. But – stay present and focused on the real-time content and conversations at the event.
Listen more than you talk: the big trap to fall into is thinking every conversation is a sales opportunity. Show curiosity in people, what they do and what they care about. Building meaningful relationships in person will serve you much better in the long run. When you do talk about you and your business, make sure you can describe it in a clear, concise and compelling way. Make it memorable.
Keep the after-event momentum going
Strike while the iron is hot. Before the event itself, block time in your diary post-event to do your follow ups. The longer you leave it, the less impactful your follow up will be. Prioritise any conversations that could turn into leads where the iron is even hotter, as it were! Follow ups don’t have to be reserved for those that you spoke with – you can also follow up with those who you didn’t get a chance to meet, or speakers you enjoyed.
Create follow-up content: share your takeaways, your learnings, your moments of reflection. Show appreciation for the organisers and anyone you spent time with. You can create some really valuable content from events that can position you as an industry leader or connector. But be mindful of the fact that too much of this kind of content can isolate folks in your audience who weren’t there or who don’t find it relevant.
So there you have it – a strategic approach for deciding what events should be part of your strategy and how to get the most of them when you attend them.
Maybe I will see you at a legal event some day very soon?
Let’s Work Together
Saltmarsh Marketing is a boutique legal marketing agency for lawyers who refuse to be boring. If you are building something bold and would like to work together, check out our website on https://saltmarsh.marketing/ and book a Disco call on https://calendly.com/saltmarshmarketing.