Does your brand still start with your people?

These are changing and challenging times. Rapid developments in technology and AI, a workplace that has never returned to what used to be ‘normal’ before the pandemic, a growing change in the concept of a career – not least in the legal sector. The themes may not all be new, but they’re having a fundamental impact on the way you manage your firm operationally, how you engage with your audiences (whoever and wherever they are) and how you communicate your narrative and strengths through your brand, employer brand and EVP.

With much of the dialogue being about change, technology and AI, what does it mean for ‘people’? As law firms, if you’re still the sum of your people, what about the firm itself? Given the relevance and importance of both brand and employer brand, what’s the relationship between them? And if it’s ultimately about differentiation, just where can you find it?

In 2017, when Accenture repositioned around the concept of ‘Let there be change’, they led the charge of positive engagement in relation to a rapidly shifting landscape. Many organisations and brands have followed them since. But it’s worth noting that this was more than eight years ago. The theme of change is crucial, contextual and constant – but it isn’t new. It’s barely possible to go to a conference or open a publication without reading of the impact of technology and AI. A number of the law firms we engage with are concerned about their ability to keep up with and leverage developments. However, the debate is surely about what you can do with technology and not technology, in and of itself. The CEO of Accenture was quoted in Fortune, in August / September 2025, as follows, “AI is only a technology. The value comes from reinvention of how we work, our workforces and the tools we use”.

Your clients will be reassured by technology, but they’ll only be engaged by your people. Your clients will go to the top firms for expertise, experience and resources, but above all, the top people. And in a changing and challenging world, your clients will seek everything it takes to tackle it, but they’ll also want a partner for the journey. In short, as a law firm, your people are arguably more important than ever before. You are still the sum of your people and today, ‘human’ is the new premium.

What does that mean for the firm itself? While your brand is of your people, it also needs to transcend them. By leveraging the unifying traits that connect and define what they’re like and what defines your approach – and how collectively these add up to your brand. This means that your brand, employer brand and EVP are inextricably linked. They are two sides of the same coin: the former encapsulating what defines the experience and the outcomes of your firm, the latter embodying what defines life, culture and a career in your firm. You may not have the opportunity to develop your brand and employer brand as part of the same process, but you should ensure there is a clear synergy between them. In other words, ‘who do we need to be on the inside, in order to be the firm we promise to be on the outside’.

So what does the differentiation in your brand, employer brand and EVP need to be built on? First, it’s more likely to come through in how you do what you do, than what you do (which is of course important, but not necessarily enduringly differentiating). Secondly, it’s about standing for something and truly delivering on it – just like in 2017 when Accenture embraced the concept of celebrating change. Finally, it’s about finding your real, positive strengths – that may be so intrinsic and come so easily to you, that you may find it difficult to spot the diamond you already have in the palm of your hand. And this you’ll find by engaging your people – back to people again – and your clients, to understand how they perceive you. Expressing it in a way that ensures you stand out. And supported by a process that involves your people – using their participation to develop authentic outcomes, that work in application and reality, and are believed in by the people that matter most.

If you’d like to explore this topic further with us, join us at our upcoming event in February 2026, Are professional services still the sum of their people?