In the lead-up to performance reviews in most firms, some superstars might get the promotion opportunities they are seeking. For others, it will be necessary to have a disciplined and structured pathway to success for 2026. Follow these seven tips and you are practically guaranteed to elevate your profile as a lawyer and enhance your career prospects.

1. Supercharge your LinkedIn profile

An inadequate presence online signals that you are not successful. A lot of LinkedIn profiles for lawyers are pretty vanilla. Consider spicing up your profile with a professional headshot photo, some engaging content describing your specific expertise and experience, and, importantly, provide details of your client “wins”, by outlining any court or tribunal decisions that you have worked on or won that are in the public domain. Clients are more likely to be persuaded to use lawyers who have a past record of success.

You might also consider updating your LinkedIn profile to “premium” subscription to enhance your user benefits, including enhanced search capabilities, direct messaging, profile visibility, advanced search filters, and the ability to track clients or prospective clients who have viewed your profile.

2. Start a podcast

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Everyone who is anyone in the world today has their own podcast. It is certainly an accessible way to showcase your personality and knowledge. If you are a senior lawyer, or run your own firm, you may have the freedom to establish your own podcast. This will require brainstorming and refining the concept based on your area of expertise, choosing a catchy name, creating content, and delivering the product through a chosen platform. It’s simple for anyone to create webinars and podcasts via Zoom. You can then market your podcast to clients and prospects to build an audience.

As an example, in 2022 at Dentons, I established a monthly podcast called ‘IR Insights’. Sometimes, I talk about the ever-changing developments in industrial relations, and in some other episodes, I interview professionals from other fields, barristers, or even some of my legal opponents. If you are tech savvy, you can then explore how to publish your content on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, as I have done. The secret to success with podcasts is to ensure ongoing, engaging, and relevant content along with a consistent output.

If you are a less senior lawyer without the entrepreneurial prerogative to create your own podcast, then think about how you can add value to existing podcasts and webinars that occur within your firm.

3. Write an op-ed

Contributing written content to relevant publications is a great way to build your personal brand. An op-ed piece derives its name from originally appearing opposite the editorial page in a newspaper. Today, op-eds take the form of informed and focused opinion of the writer on an issue of relevance to the target audience. Consider writing a contribution for Lawyers Weekly, the Law Institute, or Law Society Journal, an industry publication or (although more competitive) the traditional news media publications.

I have written numerous op-eds for The Age/Sydney Morning Herald, Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader, The Australian Financial Review, and HR Daily. Not all are accepted. One of my more popular op-eds was called, “No, you can’t wear a tail to work and expect to keep your job”, published in March 2024 by The Age/Syndey Morning Herald. Occasionally, a topic will resonate with people and can really take off, as this one did, but not all areas of law will be quite as interesting as employment law.

Most firms will have approval processes around submission of op-eds and media contributions, so check internal processes before exercising your freedom of speech.

4. Specialise in an industry

Another way to build a personal brand is to align your business development and marketing activities to particular industries. Today, narrow specialisations are more sought after by clients. For example, you might choose to focus your corporate M&A skills on the mining industry, or your intellectual property practice on retail and consumer goods. The value of having one or two industry specialisations is you can streamline your expertise within those industries by writing for industry publications, attending industry conferences, and establishing business development activities targeted at clients in those industries.

5. Arrange a boardroom briefing

You can’t beat a good old-fashioned face-to-face roundtable event with clients or targets. It may be a breakfast briefing on a critical new area of law, or an industry-specific lunch for general counsel or CEOs. Provided that the content is top-shelf (like interesting case studies for busy GCs), the catering is high quality, and the location is appropriate, a boardroom-style briefing is a great way to showcase your expertise and hospitality. However, it’s important to avoid death by PowerPoint and never read out boring slabs of text. Perfecting the art of delivering complex legal concepts in an unscripted and digestible manner is a must to perfect your brand in this forum.

6. Speak at a conference

Ten years ago, I was not well practised in public speaking. To perfect my skills, I forced myself to speak at up to six conferences a year (in front of rooms of up to 100-plus people) on legal topics and industries relevant to my expertise in employment law. Like anything in life, you will get better at public speaking the more you do it. Speaking at relevant legal conferences is a great way to become known in your chosen field of expertise. Always attend the morning tea or lunch after your session to meet conference attendees. Contact conference organisers or legal CPD providers to determine gaps in agendas or practice areas of demand, and kick-start your public speaking gigs!

7. Don’t give up

Success comes from having a disciplined, structured, and consistent approach to anything in life. Do all of the above or equivalent variations, over and over, and your success will be guaranteed. And remember, we are the result of our actions, not our aspirations.

Paul O’Halloran is a partner and head of office at Dentons in Melbourne.