Research for the Marketing Leaders Benchmark 2022 by Meridian West suggests that as the pandemic wains Law Firms, flush with their bumper 2021 earnings and huge savings in travel, events and office costs are reinvesting dramatically in digital marketing solutions.

Marketing spend did decline by 1% in 2021 but it will be massively offset by an average 11.2% rise in 2022. That is four times the long term average, according to the Benchmark data. But it in no way represents the end of this continuum. 

For decades, firms have branded at least in part based on location (a point noted by Deborah Fleming of Walker Morris). The phrases "She works for a London Law firm" or "He works for a provincial law firm", for example, have deep brand biases... But post-pandemic this is an increasingly abstract point. Equally the 6-storey entrance atrium and 50-foot front desk are of questionable value. 

So for me, it seems that marketing budgets will be going up, and dramatically, for the next few years as the shift to on-line rather than location-based branding takes hold.