How many of this month's consults were a fit before they walked in the door?
Family law firms get better clients by screening before a consult is booked, running separate messages for high-net-worth divorce and everyday custody work, and earning trust before leading with credentials. A fractional CMO sets that up, uses privacy-minded ad targeting, builds referral relationships with therapists and financial planners, and tracks cost per retained client by case type instead of counting consults.
No long-term contract. Every engagement ends on 45 days' notice.
A frightened parent doesn't care about your bar admissions on the first visit. You get messaging that earns trust first and introduces credentials after the reader has a reason to care.
A spouse planning a divorce doesn't want your ad following them onto the family iPad. You get targeting and retargeting settings built for privacy, which protects the client and your reputation.
Every hour a partner spends with someone who can't afford the retainer, or needs a different kind of lawyer, is an hour not billed. You get screening before the calendar link, not after.
High-net-worth divorce and budget-sensitive custody or modification work need different messages, pages, and intake scripts. Mixing them weakens both.
Most firms count consults as a good thing. This shows what the wrong ones cost in billable time.
Client names stay private. The scope doesn't.
A partner-led firm with high-net-worth family law alongside commercial real estate and litigation wanted each practice to grow on its own plan and its own numbers.
What the partners gotRules vary by state. Your ethics counsel has the final word, and every piece comes to you before it runs.
Test it rather than guess. A consult fee cuts volume and usually raises retainer rates, while free consults fill the calendar with more shoppers. You get a test with a start date, an end date, and a clear number to decide on.
Through the places they already trust: financial planners, CPAs, therapists, and other attorneys, plus a website and bios written for someone reading quietly at night. Paid ads for this group use privacy-minded settings and plain, calm language.
You ask the right clients at the right time, make it easy to leave a review without details, and build other proof such as attorney video, clear process pages, and referral relationships. Some clients will never post publicly, and that is fine.
Cost per retained client by case type, consult-to-retainer rate, and the share of consults that were a fit. Clicks and calls matter only as far as they move those numbers.