Q&A with Robert Hanna, Founder of the Legally Speaking Podcast™️

In March 2025, ReviewSolicitors launched a new Q&A series designed to bring you exclusive interviews with notable figures in the legal industry. Created as a stage for insight, transparency, and industry collaboration, ReviewSolicitors is proud to provide a voice for thought leaders in the legal sector.

Question 1 – The Modern Solicitor

In your experience, what makes a good modern solicitor?

Obviously, every business needs to have some inclusion of artificial intelligence.

Building on that, is digital literacy. You need to have an understanding of tech fluency. It’s no longer optional anymore. You need to be able to showcase to your clients that you’re operating as a modern lawyer. So if you’re sitting there and doing old school ways of drafting or note taking, you’re not really modern.

Another point is being adaptable. Things are moving super fast. In legal recruiting, legal podcasting, legal community building, legal branding, even in my own business, things are moving fast. Adaptability as a modern lawyer is super important. You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to keep doing it like this’. The reality is, there might be a new tool, or something disrupts the old way. Something will come in that means you need to become more adaptable.

The final point is actually having a personal brand. I believe now you need to be on LinkedIn. You need to have a digital welcome mat and put out content. It’s a great place for modern people who are on YouTube, on TikTok, and Instagram. They’re not going to billboards. They are on digital devices. So you need to have a personal brand and meet your audience where they’re at to be a modern solicitor. Do short form video, long form, video podcasts, edutainment. Many people who are doing that are winning.

One follow-up question. So the modern solicitor sounds a lot like someone that would need to be online?

100%, word-of-mouth doesn’t cut it anymore. Because that’s not where your volume of traffic is. Years ago, there was a place for meeting someone at a cocktail party through word of mouth, but on LinkedIn there are over a billion active users, over 65 million companies. There’s a 24/7 professional networking party going on on LinkedIn every minute, even when you’re sleeping. So if you don’t have a digital welcome mat or a profile updated… you’re missing low hanging fruit.

 

Question 2 – Challenges Facing Law Firms

What do you think are the biggest challenges law firms are facing in the sector today?

Fee pressure. There’s obviously artificial intelligence and legal technology coming in [to the legal sector], and clients are demanding more value at a lower cost. So how do you think about shifting your pricing models?

Do you look at a value-based pricing model? To use a simple example, if you had a toothache, would you be happy to pay less and wait longer to relieve that pain, or would you be happy to pay more and get that pain relief faster? So when clients are saying, ‘you’re using AI so you can do the job quicker, it should be cheaper’. Think about that analogy, and think about how you can bring that quality of the value of service to them, and why that still commands a premium. You can shift that mindset.

Tech adoption is another challenge. Firms really struggle to modernise legal services. They struggle to think about introducing a new case management system. They’re unsure about the current levels of tech adoption within their firm.

Differentiation. What separates one family law practice from another family law practice? Standing out is hard. That’s why I’m a big advocate for the personal brand, as well as the firm brand, because personal brand can enhance the firm brand.

 

Question 3 – Importance of Personal Branding

What role do you think personal branding plays in helping solicitors to stand out from the crowd?

Clients hire lawyers that they feel that they know, like and trust. And that’s a really key point, personal-branding enhances visibility. No brand, no presence, no pipeline.

What’s one of the best things that’s going to help you attract new businesses? The power of your personal brand. It’s your biggest asset and your biggest insurance policy, because of the connections, the networks, and the people you know. It can help to support your business development, because people will buy from people.

Who would have thought years ago, LinkedIn, from just a static site where you basically have a resume, to short form video content going viral and having a like button and interactions? That didn’t exist.

The workplace evolves, the professional working environment evolves. So it humanises the profession. I think it’s a great way for you to break through, to actually be an authentic lawyer and leader, and people will connect with that. That’s another great way to stand out, rather than just going to your website and seeing a smiley, inauthentic, over-doctored, corporate image.

Some people say, ‘Yeah, but I don’t have time’. So, you’re saying that you don’t have time to future proof yourself? You’re saying that you don’t have time to potentially increase the number of leads and enquiries to your law firm? Because if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.

Also, if you increase your vulnerability, you’ll increase your visibility. Go to any LinkedIn post and show a lawyer being vulnerable. If they turn that into a story, facts tell, stories sell.

You said that law firms need to move online. I would say, out of a lot of professions, they’re quite hesitant. So, why do you think that is? Why do you think law firms are (maybe) more hesitant to go online?

Change is hard. People don’t like change. I always say, you’ve got to get comfortable being uncomfortable. They’re also worried about perception and risk. “What if I post something and it’s got a typo in it? That means I’m going to be a terrible lawyer, and I’m going to lose a client tomorrow. What if I say something to someone else who’s got a different opinion? Or what if this turns into a big debate?”

There’s always going to be a ‘what if’, but you need to flip that vision into ‘what is’.

What is the opportunity of us taking this by storm, not what if it goes wrong? What is the net positive of doing this? If other law firms are doing it and winning, why on earth are we sitting here on the sidelines, losing? We can do it better. Let’s get into it.

The best known beats the best.

So no longer can you be ‘the world’s best offline law firm’ because, yeah you’ll survive in 2025, but you won’t be around in 2030, because your clients will not be coming. Your point of source is online. Unless you understand that seismic shift, your law firm won’t be fit for purpose.

 

Question 4 – Online Reputation

In today’s digital world, would you describe an online reputation as an important trait to have?

Here’s the thing, first impressions matter. Think about your LinkedIn profile. If you’ve not got that up to date, or you’ve not got that in a 2025 perspective? We live in the attention economy. Clients and employers will research you now online.

If you research me, I’ve been in Silicon Valley, legal leaders. I’ve been on Thomson Reuters moderated events. I’m sponsored by the world ‘s largest ($3 billion) legal technology company (Clio).

So when people want to work with you, they’re going to want to see what you have done. What are some of your cases? Where have you spoken? What makes you different? So I think clients and employers really, really expect it.

You’ll get a referral to a client that you didn’t even know. It’ll help you get access to doors that weren’t always open. It builds your credibility across sectors and networks.

It’s no longer nice to have anymore, it’s a necessity. I think online reputation matters more than ever. And I think you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable putting yourself out there.

 

Question 5 – Leveraging Your Online Image

How do you think law firms and solicitors can leverage their online image to help them win new clients?

Share value-driven content. Highlight success stories. Clients want proof, not promises. Think about some of the things that you’ve done, and take them on that journey.

Consistency. It’s credibility, built up over time. If you’d visited my profile and seen that I’ve posted once over the last five years, would we be having this interview? No, absolutely not.

So as a law firm or as a lawyer, if you start putting out value-driven content, you start getting attention. Just through giving, you’ll then ultimately get income, and you’ll get enquiries, and you’ll get leads. Just optimise all your platforms as well, make sure you’re SEO friendly.

I would rather spend an hour, (but you don’t need to spend an hour) thinking of a really good, high value LinkedIn post to send to my 40 or 50 odd thousand followers, than go to an event and meet somebody.

This is because I can 10x that reach exponentially through that activity. It’s a smarter activity. So I’m not saying remove word of mouth because we are looking for the human-to-human connection. But if you’re looking to get leads, and you’re looking to get enquiries, content really does help.

Being online, being visible, you will get that kind of attention.

 

Question 6 – Evolution of the Legal Sector

From what you’ve heard, do you see legal services, legal tech or client interactions evolving in the coming years?

Whether people like it or not, legal tech is going to drive more efficiency across the board. Clients are going to want 24/7 access, with real-time updates.

I think client loyalty will be based more on experience, not just outcomes. Anyone can do a will, anyone can do conveyancing. But how do you delight your clients? How do you make that experience so that they’re going to rave about you, to tell people about your firm, and to come back and use you again?

Automation is going to free lawyers so that they can focus more on strategy, business development, and human touch. There’s going to be so much more data-driven insights that are going to shape the way legal advice is delivered. You can track call enquiries in, you can track the performance of your people more with higher metrics, and you can make better informed business decisions. Inaction is a thing.

Lawyers won’t like this, but done is better than perfect, because perfect never gets done.

So if you’re thinking about legal tech, implement it. It’s probably not going to be 110% to start with, but you can work on it and get it improved. If you are already seeking perfection and that leads you to inaction, then I think you’ll never move forward.

Understand that we’re in an evolving world, and knowledge-based work is going to zero. That means you need to understand where you can bring in your value as a service provider.

 

Question 7 – The Risks of Inaction

In one of your latest videos, you have explained that ‘legal tech isn’t coming – it’s already here’. What do you think are the potential consequences for those that don’t take this advice on board?

• The risk of irrelevance. I think clients will go where the efficiency lives. They won’t remain loyal just for the sake of it, you have a real risk of irrelevance if you don’t embrace legal tech.
• Missed growth. You can be more optimised and efficient. Tech equals scalability.
• Talent attrition. Future lawyers are going to expect modern law tools, operational efficiencies. Manual processes cost you time – if you’re still manually inputting data, that’s a real negative.
• Competitive disadvantage. How competitive are you if you’re not modern? I’m not saying go out there and spend millions on legal tech. Do an internal audit of your own firm. How do you get better at using what you’re already using? Do some stress testing and metrics, pick an AI tool and then test it for 30 days, and then report back internally. Because what gets measured, gets done.
• Reputational damage. You’re not meeting the clients where they’re at. Unless you’re fully cloud optimised, you’re going to lose business. You’ll lose tech native clients that won’t wait.
• Cost of Inaction. Here’s the thing, everyone looks at ROI, (return on investment), but very few look at COI; There is a huge cost of inaction for you not embracing legal tech.