Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – who won re-election with a substantially increased majority – seemed to understand the importance of engaging “new media”, from the time of the budget that was never expected to be handed down, up until he claimed victory on the night of 3 May.

It is something that returned US President Donald Trump also understood, as he sat for interviews during the 2024 campaign with various “bro” podcasters, most notably Joe Rogan.

Given the ever-increasing proliferation of social media, we can reasonably expect that the likes of Abbie Chatfield (reality TV star and host, and host of It’s A Lot podcast), Konrad Benjamin (known as “Punter’s Politics”), Hannah Ferguson (Cheek Media co-founder), and Freya Leach (policy maker at the Menzies Research Centre) – and more – will become more prominent in the online discourse.

Lawyers, too, are increasingly seeing influencers pop up profession-wide. These “lawfluencers”, as Lawyers Weekly wrote back in 2022, “are changing the game for professional branding, networking and knowledge-sharing, [and] are reshaping how business can and, perhaps, should, be done in the future”.

‘Lawfluencers’

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In conversation with Lawyers Weekly three years ago, Jahan Kalantar – managing partner of Executive Law Group and author of Talk Your Way out of Trouble (who boasts over 470,000 followers – including 437,000 on TikTok – garnering him the moniker, the TikTok Lawyer – said that he believes that the role of the legal influencer is to “put a human face to the mechanisms and modalities of law”.

It is, he opined, to be “the interface between the general public who don’t really understand what a lawyer does and explaining how the courts do what they do is something which will only grow in significance”.

Kalantar noted in 2022 that he does not consider himself an influencer, but rather as a legal educator.

“I think that the space is still so new that we don’t yet have the vocabulary to properly analyse the trends that are emerging. I think that personal branding plays an enormous role in explaining an individual and what value they can bring to a situation. It also provides a bridge between the world at large and the legal profession,” he said at the time.

Mel Storey, who is the head of legal in APAC for a global technology company, as well as being a podcaster and content creator (with 33,000 followers and 100,000 podcast downloads across 27 countries), said in 2022 that the lawfluencer trend is “simply a natural evolution of people using modern communication tools to showcase their careers, the behind the scenes of legal life where appropriate and generally discussing topics that are of interest to them”.

“Those of us [who] have embraced this opportunity are taking inspiration from outside the profession, looking at other industries for guidance, which is sometimes where the best ideas come from – outside the box of traditional thinking,” she said.

What content gets traction?

Speaking once again to Lawyers Weekly about their online content creation, Storey and Kalantar reflected on the need for “real” and timely content – while also noting that, sometimes, one cannot anticipate what is going to resonate or not with a professional or non-professional audience.

“The content that generates the most attention for me is always the most real,” Storey said.

“TikToks for law students that demystify legal careers, LinkedIn posts that share the actual highs and lows of in-house life and anything that builds genuine connection instead of just polishing a brand with humble brags and self-promotion.”

It is “entirely an attention economy now”, Storey opined, and whoever is able to bring real value to their audience will earn the attention.

“Conferences and webinars might hold attention for an hour or a day once a year, but content creators live in your pocket and your ears every single day,” she said.

“You end up becoming a quasi-media company or editor, and it is very powerful. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and creators need to constantly be mindful of our professional and ethical responsibilities.”

Kalantar explained that the difficult thing about content creation is that “you never know what is going to be interesting to other people”.

Sometimes, he recounted, “I’ll spend a great deal of time working on an idea which gets no uptake, and other times, I’ll just make a content piece that goes surprisingly viral”.

“People generally gravitate towards things that are happening in real time, [such as] understanding how the papal Vatican conclave works, speed camera changes, and matters that are taking place before the courts,” he said.

“The key for me is to keep creating.”

An invitation to stay relevant

The lawfluencer space continues to grow, Storey advised, “because the next generation of professionals craves real stories, relatable mentors and authentic community, not just traditional authority figures”.

The legal profession, she said, should not see this as a threat. Instead, it is an invitation.

“If we want to stay relevant, we need to meet people where they are, with authenticity, vulnerability and real value,” she said.