Joshua RamseyFractional CMO for Law Firms
For managing partners of 2–30 attorney firms

What does a fractional CMO do for a law firm?

When you sign the marketing check each month, what number comes to mind?

A fractional CMO is a part-time chief marketing officer who owns your firm's marketing results. You get someone who decides which practice areas get budget, what your agency builds, and which number the partners track: cost per signed matter. It runs on a monthly retainer, costs far less than a full-time hire, and ends on 45 days' notice.

Book a call Run your intake numbers

No long-term contract. Every engagement ends on 45 days' notice.

Sound familiar

Where do multi-practice law firms leak marketing money?

Partners argue over whose practice area gets the budget.Without cost per signed matter by practice area, the loudest partner wins the budget meeting.

Your agency reports clicks and rankings.You get a 20-page PDF every month and still can't say which cases it brought in the door.

Intake is a receptionist and a voicemail box.A caller who reaches voicemail at 5:40 pm calls the next firm on the list.

One rainmaker carries the referral pipeline.When that partner takes a trial or a vacation, new matters stall.

Your website says "aggressive, compassionate representation."So does every firm within 20 miles. If a competitor could paste your homepage onto theirs, it persuades no one.

You added a practice area without a plan to fill it.A new lateral partner shows up, and the marketing for their practice starts at zero.

The other nine

What happened to the inquiries that didn't sign?

Put in last month's numbers. You'll see what each signed matter really cost you, and what a modest intake fix is worth before you spend another dollar on ads.

Your month · example numbers shown
$
Ads, agency retainer, directories, SEO. All of it.
Calls, forms, and chats from potential clients.
Engagement letters signed from those inquiries.
$
What a typical matter bills over its life.
Cost per signed matter$1,000$150 per inquiry
Inquiry-to-signed rate15%68 inquiries did not sign
If intake converts 5 points better+$26,0004 more signed matters a month, same ad spend

Healthy firms close 20–35% of qualified inquiries. You're below that range, so fix intake and messaging before you add spend.

What you're actually hiring

What does a fractional CMO do that your agency doesn't?

Right now that somebody is you, between depositions. A fractional CMO takes that seat for a fraction of a full-time salary.

You get a CMO who owns

  • Which practice areas get budget, and how much each one gets
  • The creative brief your agency works from
  • Targeting: geography, time of day, negative keywords, match types
  • When an ad gets pulled and what replaces it
  • The definition of a qualified inquiry, written down and shared with intake
  • One monthly number the partners agree on and see reported against

Your agency keeps doing

  • Building campaigns inside Google, Meta, and LinkedIn
  • Connecting forms, call tracking, and your CRM
  • Website updates and technical fixes
  • Production: pages, ads, video, email

Dropping the CMO seat doesn't save that work. It moves it to the managing partner's desk. You keep the agency you have, or I help you run a clean RFP if it isn't performing.

Your first 90 days

What happens in the first 90 days?

Spend amplifies whatever is upstream of it. So the order is fixed: find the leaks, lock the number, then scale.

Days 1–30

Find the leaks

You get a full read of spend, tracking, agency contracts, and intake. You also get a call-level look at why unsigned inquiries didn't sign. Often it's the website or the phone, not the ads.

Days 31–60

Lock the number

The partners agree on one KPI: cost per signed matter by practice area. It goes in writing, and every meeting opens and closes against it.

Days 61–90

Change one thing at a time

You fix the message first, then the audience, then the offer, and only then the budget. Each change is measured against the baseline before the next one starts.

Inside three firms

What does fractional CMO work look like inside a law firm?

Two firms keep their names private. One founding partner went on camera.

“I made a great decision by hiring him. You should make the same decision.”

Justin HighCo-founder, High & Younes, LLC, Omaha, NE

Read the transcript

This is Justin High in Omaha, Nebraska. I'm at High & Younes. I've been working with Josh for six months. I made a great decision by hiring him. You should make the same decision, and if you need to hear it from me, 402-321-0580. Text me anytime.

Miami-Dade, FLMulti-practiceFractional CMO

Grow three practices and recruit attorneys for ten more

A partner-led firm in commercial real estate, high-net-worth family law, and commercial litigation wanted growth in its existing practices while it recruited attorneys to open ten new ones.

What the partners got
  • Growth plan with a funnel projection model for each practice area
  • Lead qualification scoring shared by marketing and intake
  • Attorney recruiting profiles and a 90-day LinkedIn plan for the managing partner
  • An agency RFP and a RACI so everyone knows who owns what
MidwestLaw firmAudit and roadmap

Find out why the site gets traffic and the phone doesn't ring

An established firm had steady search traffic and flat inquiries. The audit went in order: are you being seen, is the traffic real, are visitors engaging, and only then is the call to action good enough.

What the partners got
  • Search and AI-visibility audit: how the firm shows up in Google and in ChatGPT-style answers
  • Analytics review so every inquiry can be traced to its channel and practice area
  • A prioritized growth roadmap, ranked by impact on signed matters
Why this seat

Why hire Joshua Ramsey as your firm's fractional CMO?

$1.5B+

in ad placements since 1999, so your budget isn't anyone's first rodeo

12,000+

campaigns run, so you skip the tests that already failed elsewhere

300+

marketing plans built and measured against real revenue

$250K+

in monthly ad spend directed right now, across live accounts

Clients stay because the number moves

Your license stays safe

Will a fractional CMO keep our marketing within bar rules?

Your state's advertising rules are part of the brief from day one, not a surprise at the end.

  • Every ad, page, and testimonial comes to you or your ethics counsel for review before it runs.
  • No guaranteed-outcome language and no invented case results. Specific beats flashy, and specific is also safer.
  • Filing and disclaimer requirements are tracked for each state you advertise in.
  • Your ad accounts, domain, and data are in the firm's name. You own the keys, whoever runs the campaigns.
By practice area

How does law firm marketing change by practice area?

A multi-practice firm usually runs two or three of these at once, and each one needs its own number.

Clients arrive by referral

Estate planning

A CPA or financial advisor sends them. Your growth is the number of partners actively sending work.

See how it works →Clients arrive scared and comparing

Family law

They call three firms in one afternoon. The consult that feels safest wins, and the unfit ones eat partner hours.

See how it works →Clients arrive fast and call around

Personal injury

An injured person calls several firms. The first real conversation usually signs the case.

See how it works →Clients arrive through relationships

Business & commercial

General counsel, CFOs, brokers, and lenders hire an attorney they know. Most firms leave that to one or two partners.

See how it works →Clients arrive urgently, often at night

Criminal defense

A family member calls after an arrest. The first firm that answers and sounds calm usually wins.

See how it works →
Straight answers

What do managing partners ask before hiring a fractional CMO?

What is a fractional CMO for a law firm?

A fractional CMO is a senior marketing executive who works part-time for your firm on a monthly retainer. You get the strategy, budget decisions, and agency oversight a full-time CMO provides, without adding a six-figure salary to overhead.

How is that different from hiring a legal marketing agency?

An agency executes: it builds campaigns, pages, and ads. A fractional CMO decides what gets built, holds the agency to a revenue number, and sits on your side of the table. Most firms keep their agency. It just finally has a boss who speaks marketing.

What does it cost?

A monthly retainer scoped to how deep you want to go. At one end it's campaign oversight and reporting. At the other it's margin analysis on which practice areas carry the most net. You'll hear the number on the first call, and there's no long-term contract. Either side can end it with 45 days' notice.

Which firms are the best fit?

Firms with 2 to 30 attorneys and more than one practice area, already spending on marketing and unsure what it returns. If your firm is a solo practice with no marketing budget yet, the first call will say so, and point you to a better starting point.

How soon will we see results?

Leak fixes such as call handling, website messaging, and wasted ad spend often show up inside the first 30 to 60 days. Search and reputation work compounds over months. You'll know which is which up front, and you'll see the tracking before anyone asks you to trust it.

Do you replace our marketing team or agency?

No. You keep the people doing the work and gain someone to direct it. If the agency isn't performing, you get a clean RFP and a transition plan instead of a guess.

What should next month's marketing check buy?

Bring last month's spend and inquiry count to a short call. You'll leave knowing your cost per signed matter and the first leak worth fixing, whether or not we work together.

Book a call
Prefer the phone? 214.466.8332