Navigating the Evolution: What TV’s Transformation Teaches Us About Law Firm Strategy

By Jordan Ostroff · Law firm coach

As a kid, I remember my dad telling me:

“When I was your age… we only had 3 tv channels, and they were in black and white.”

And I remember thinking something like: Did you watch them with the dinosaurs?

Then I showed my son the original Gameboy, and suddenly I felt like my dad in those moments.

But look, there is a ton we can learn from television and media that we need to implement for our law firms.

Back in the Day

When there were 3 channels in the 50s and 60s, you probably could have shown paint drying on one channel and still had 20-30% of the market.

For a law firm “back in the day,” you might be the only option in town (or one of a handful) and therefore could do okay work and still make a living.

Well, guess what? Those days have sailed. They have been gone for a while now.

Good enough is no longer good enough.

The Expansion of Cable

Cable TV expanded in the 1980s with channels like CNN, ESPN, and MTV.

What was unique about those channels?

They were niches—24 hours a day dedicated to news, sports, and music.

Just like cable stations, law firms niched. To be clear, I don’t really care about the years—it’s the stages that matter.

If you want, check out the chapter in Outliers about Skadden Arps and Joe Flom.

Unfortunately, my friends, this stage is already long gone. There are very few firms today that are not niched (and even fewer that practice threshold law successfully).

The Digital Age

Netflix, Hulu, FreeVee, Peacock, LaughLoad, MAX, Shudder, Hoopla, Quibi, and more—brought a totally new content-watching method.

Now it’s all about binge. Gone is linear TV; now we have on-demand.

Watch what you want
Watch when you want

For law firms, this means being open to client calls 24/7 (but please, don’t be the one answering the phone all night every night).

It also means having a robust webpage with blogs, a YouTube channel, social media, a live show, a newsletter, or something that allows clients to binge you.

This is probably the stage we are in as an industry currently:

Major metro areas might be moving into the next stage
Some rural areas might be slowly entering this stage

If you’re here, commit to 1 or 2 channels that you can dominate consistently (as long as it makes sense to your ideal client). If you’re in it for the long haul, make sure they can binge you and remember you.

The Personalities Phase

This is where media content is now.

Disney+ for Star Wars and Disney movies
Paramount+ for Taylor Sheridan or American’s Fourth Major Sport – the Challenge
HBO Max for DC content
Netflix for Adam Sandler movies (or is that just me?)
ESPN hired Pat McAfee for three hours every Tuesday with Aaron Rodgers
Spotify (not video, I know) has exclusive content from Joe Rogan, Alex Cooper, and Brene Brown

Now that it’s so easy to make and distribute content, it’s about personal brands, shows, and individual clout.

I don’t need ESPN to hear about sports; I want this platform to hear from this person
I don’t need CNN for news; I want Tucker Carlson on FOX News (oh wait, and also… no)

THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED TO WORK TOWARDS

Who is your audience? Referral sources? Ideal clients? Both? Another group?
How can you start putting yourself out there to maintain the relationship?

For me:

Weekly Exhibit (A) show
Personal social media channels
Personal website (wrapping up soon)
This weekly newsletter

These help me generate leads for my PI firm, legal marketing company, and consulting work. For you, it might:

Generate clients for your firm
Build a portable book of business for your next job
Build connections for your dream career (like raising artisanal honey bees that buzz to soft jazz)

Start taking steps now to build this audience so that as LegalZoom grows, new apps emerge, and law school graduates flood the market, you have people who want YOU and YOUR firm.

LawFlix

(Holy cow, I wrote this as a joke, but it’s now a real thing)

Priming clients for the future by delivering a positive experience and taking their case to the max.