Law Firm Marketing Budget Season Is Here. Try to Contain Your Excitement.

Oct 6th, 2026 | Law Firm Marketing, Legal Marketing in Brief

The seven places smart law firms are putting their marketing and business development dollars in 2027, and how to make every one of them count.

Nobody got into law firm marketing because they love budgets. Frankly, most of us did not get into law firm marketing on purpose at all. Yet here we are. The spreadsheets are open, partners are circling line items, and someone in the room is asking, “Do we really need to sponsor that golf tournament again?”

The bigger question is where next year’s marketing and business development dollars will pay off.

Here is the good news: clients are spending, and the data shows it. Research released heading into 2026 projected a banner year for legal spending.

In 2025, BTI Consulting’s research showed that 61% of corporate clients planned to spend more on outside counsel and 64% on litigation, with many increasing spending by more than 10%. In the Thomson Reuters 2026 State of the US Legal Market Report, legal demand grew at its fastest rate in more than a decade, and midsize firms saw demand grow at more than twice the rate of the Am Law 100 as clients sought value.

The party did not stop there. Mid-year numbers show billing rates up 7.1% and demand on pace for its strongest year in five years (Thomson Reuters, Q2 2026). We expect that momentum to carry into 2027, which means the decisions you make this fall matter more than usual.

Firms saw this coming. Early in the year, BTI projected that 87% of law firms would increase their business development budgets. But spending more and spending well are two very different things. Our National Marketing Effectiveness Survey, along with years of working side by side with small and midsize firms, keeps telling us the same story: the firms that grow put their dollars behind the tactics that bring in clients, and then they track what is working.

So grab your coffee (or something stronger). Before you lock in your numbers, here is what the data says and what we would be thinking about if we were sitting in your budget meeting.

More dollars, smaller slice of the pie

Firms are spending more on business development, but revenue is growing even faster. BTI’s benchmarking, which focuses largely on the nation’s largest firms, puts marketing and business development (MBD) spending at about 2.47% of gross revenue. The small and midsize firms we work with tend to invest more to compete. On average, they spend 2.8% to 10% of gross revenue on MBD, with the higher end typically reflecting investment in SEO, generative engine optimization (GEO), and answer engine optimization (AEO), even before any paid digital advertising. Those percentages reflect out-of-pocket marketing and business development costs only. They do not include salaries for in-house MBD staff or fees for outside consultants and coaches.

What has changed is where the money goes. Client development, the work of growing current clients and landing new ones, now takes 57% of the MBD budget. Technology and knowledge management spending is climbing about 10% a year as firms race to adopt AI.

Now for the catch. BTI found that only the Am Law 30 is adding marketing support per attorney. Everyone else is asking their marketing teams to support more lawyers with fewer hands, and small and midsize firms feel that squeeze the most.

Most of the firms we represent are business firms with a mix of corporate, transactional, litigation and defense work. Their growth is built on relationships, but the right blend of traditional and digital marketing is what turns a budget into results.

Seven places to put your money (and where firms get stuck)

Every firm’s mix looks a little different, but these seven priorities show up in nearly every budget conversation we have.

  1. Client development. This is where the biggest slice of the budget goes, and for good reason. Think client teams, key-client programs, client feedback interviews and pitch support. Thomson Reuters research shows 36% of large companies plan to spend more on legal work, yet only 23% of that goes to the firms they use most. Translation: your clients have money to spend, and some of it is walking out the door.
  2. Your website, content, search and directory profiles. Your website is still your front door, but the way people find it is changing fast. Google now shows an AI Overview on nearly 58% of question-style legal searches, and AI tools lean heavily on directories, rankings and ratings when deciding which lawyers and firms to name. That is why we are seeing more firms invest in profiles on Chambers, Best Lawyers in America, Best Law Firms, Benchmark Litigation and Super Lawyers. These profiles used to be about bragging rights. Now they help decide whether AI recommends you. Ranking on page one is no longer enough. You want the AI to say your name. That is generative engine optimization (GEO), and it belongs in your 2027 budget.
  3. Marketing technology and intake. CRM, client data and AI tools. Clio found that midsize firms using e-signatures, online scheduling and intake forms saw 20% higher revenue. Sometimes the smartest marketing investment is simply making it easier for a new client to say yes.
  4. Seminars, networks and community. Presentations, CLEs, law firm networks and trade and community groups are still where relationships are built for law firms. Bonus: every talk you give becomes content you can reuse all year long.
  5. Filling the gaps on your team. Marketing support per attorney is down outside the largest firms, and most small and midsize firms cannot hire a specialist for every skill they need. The fastest-growing firms have figured this out. The Hinge Research Institute’s 2025 High Growth Study of 770 professional services firms found that high-growth firms outsource specialized marketing skills more aggressively than their peers, gaining access to better talent for less than the cost of hiring in-house. Coaching, content, graphic design, PR, SEO: the right outside experts can cover it all without adding headcount.
  6. One-on-one business development coaching. Group training gets everyone on the same page. Individual coaching gets lawyers to pick up the phone. With 57% of MBD dollars going to client development, coaching is how that money turns into relationships, pipelines and real accountability. Consider this: BTI found 21% of clients do not know who their relationship partner is. Coaching can fix that.
  7. Thought leadership, PR and attorney brands built on the firm’s brand. The old saying is that clients hire lawyers, not firms, and the data backs it up. BTI’s survey of more than 350 corporate counsel found that about 72% hire primarily based on the lawyer. But three out of four also let the firm’s reputation shape the decision. You need both: visible, credible attorneys whose personal brands make the firm look good. Thought leadership is how attorneys get there. Research from Edelman and LinkedIn found that 53% of B2B decision-makers value thought leadership more than brand recognition, and Hinge’s high-growth firms rank educational content, speaking, writing and podcast appearances among their top marketing priorities. In practice, that means bylined articles, placements in outlets like Law360, podcast interviews, speaking slots, and a social media presence that makes an attorney easy to find and impressive when a prospective client goes searching.

A budget is not a plan

Here is the part nobody wants to hear: a spreadsheet full of line items is not a strategy. A budget tells you what you will spend. Goals tell you what you expect to get back. Without both, there is no way to know what worked, what flopped and what deserves more money next year.

Our motto at Alyn-Weiss is simple: you can’t evaluate what you don’t measure. That is why we encourage every firm to build a map, not just a budget. For each investment, set a goal you can actually track:

  • Client development: key-client meetings, cross-selling conversations and new matters from existing clients
  • Website, search and directories: inquiries, rankings earned and how often AI tools name your firm or your attorneys
  • Seminars and networks: referrals and new clients traced back to each event or group
  • Coaching: meetings booked, relationships advanced and new work generated by each attorney

Check the map every quarter and move dollars toward what is working. Do that, and next budget season gets a whole lot less painful. We promise.

The talent bonus for firms under 100 lawyers

The big-firm data tells only part of the story. In the small and midsize firms we work with, one-on-one BD support has become as much a recruiting and retention tool as a marketing expense.

The talent research backs that up:

  • Associates want a clear path. Only 28% of midlevel associates hope to make partner within five years, and they gave their lowest marks to understanding what it takes to get there (ALM 2025 Mid-Level Survey, via Major Lindsey & Africa). A personal BD plan with a coach makes that path a lot less mysterious.
  • Laterals are shopping for support and culture. Lateral partner moves hit a five-year high in 2025, and midsize firms are winning them over with quality of life, less bureaucracy and clearer partnership paths (BCG Attorney Search).
  • Clients still care about the firm. Since most clients weigh the firm alongside the lawyer, an attorney who builds a brand on the firm’s platform is more valuable to clients and more likely to stay put.

We see it every day: attorneys want to grow their own practices, and firms want to keep them. When we coach lawyers one-on-one to build their personal brands on the firm’s platform, everybody wins. The relationships they build turn into long-term work and a reason to build a career at the firm.

Budget reviews are a big part of that work. Every year, we sit down with firms and go through their marketing budgets line by line, looking at what is actually bringing in clients, where dollars should be reallocated, and where there are real cost savings. It is amazing how much further the same budget can go when it is spent on purpose.

We expect more firms to offer both group BD training and individual coaching in 2027, and we will track this in our next National Marketing Effectiveness Survey.

Before you hit “approve” on your law firm marketing budget

Clients are spending, and small and midsize firms are winning a bigger share of the work. The firms that come out ahead will not simply spend more. They will put their money into client development, into showing up when clients (and AI) go looking, and into the individual attorneys whose relationships bring in the work. And they will attach a goal to every dollar.

Keep one eye on costs, though. Thomson Reuters reports that clients’ outlook for future legal spending is softening, and law firm expenses are growing faster than demand. The firms that invest in their lawyers’ business development now are the ones that will hold onto clients if the market tightens.

There is still time to rethink your budget. While you are at it, rethink who it supports.

That is where we come in. Alyn-Weiss works with small and midsize firms to:

  • Review your budget for the right allocations and cost savings
  • Write a strategic marketing plan with clear goals and a way to measure every investment
  • Work alongside your in-house team on an ongoing basis, filling the gaps so every base is covered and every dollar is pulling its weight. No marketing or BD staff in-house? We can serve as your outsourced marketing and business development team.

Building your 2027 budget right now? Give us a call before it is final. Budgets may never be fun, but growing your practice is.

FAQs on legal marketing budgets 

What percentage of revenue should a law firm spend on marketing and business development?
The largest firms spend about 2.47% of gross revenue on marketing and business development, according to BTI. Small and midsize firms typically invest more to compete, often 2.8% to 10% of gross revenue, with the higher end reflecting investment in SEO, GEO and AEO. Those figures cover only out-of-pocket costs, not staff salaries or outside consultants.

What should a law firm marketing budget include?
Most strong budgets cover seven areas: client development, your website and directory profiles, marketing technology and intake, seminars and networks, outside expertise to fill team gaps, one-on-one business development coaching, and thought leadership and PR. The right mix depends on your practice areas, your clients and your growth goals.

How do law firms measure the return on their marketing investment?
Set a goal for every investment before you spend. Examples include new matters from key clients, inquiries from your website, referrals traced back to events, and new work generated by coached attorneys. Review those goals every quarter and move dollars toward what is working. As we like to say, you can’t evaluate what you don’t measure.

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