What changes
More people now ask an AI assistant which solicitor to use, or what a legal process involves, before they search or ask a friend. As AI agents begin acting for clients, they’ll increasingly shortlist firms too. These systems recommend firms whose expertise is clear, specific and backed by evidence. Answer engine optimisation (AEO) means writing your public presence so that happens.
For a law firm, that means pages that answer real client questions plainly and say exactly which services you offer, where and at what price. It means naming your solicitors and their experience, and showing the firm’s SRA regulation. It also means consistent details across your website, the Law Society’s Find a Solicitor, review sites and directories, so AI systems can confirm who you are.
Why it matters now
AI assistants draw on what’s already published about you. If your website says little beyond a friendly, professional service, an assistant has nothing specific to recommend. Firms that publish clear, accurate answers now build the track record these systems rely on. Keep it accurate: SRA rules on publicity still apply, so nothing you publish may be misleading, and the same care you’d give a letter of advice belongs on your website.
Checklist
- Ask three AI assistants which solicitors they’d recommend for your main services in your town, and record whether you appear and what they say about you.
- Write one plain-English page per core service answering the ten questions clients ask most, with prices where the SRA Transparency Rules require them and wherever else you choose to publish.
- Add solicitor profiles covering qualifications, experience and the kinds of matter each person handles, and keep them current as people join and leave.
- Check that your firm name, address, SRA number and services match across your website, Find a Solicitor and the main legal directories.
- Publish a short, dated update each month on a legal change that affects your clients, checked by the solicitor who wrote or reviewed it.
Illustrative example
A two-office firm asks three AI assistants which local solicitor can help with probate. It isn’t mentioned. Its website has a single probate page of about 150 words. Over three months, it publishes a full probate guide with a page for each stage, its fixed fees and profiles of its two private client solicitors, and it corrects an old address on two directories. When it repeats the check, two of the three assistants name the firm. The partners set a quarterly reminder to run the check again and update the pages.
Common mistakes
- Writing for the search engines of ten years ago, with repeated keywords and thin pages. AI assistants favour clear, complete and specific answers.
- Publishing AI-written content without a solicitor’s check. An inaccurate page can mislead clients and damage the firm’s credibility with them.
- Doing it once and moving on. Keep pages current as the law, your prices and your people change over time.
Coaching your clients
Clients use the same assistants to research their own legal questions. Encourage them to bring you what the AI told them. Reviewing it together, and explaining where it’s right and where it isn’t, is useful advice in itself, helps them judge AI answers in future, and leads naturally into the accountable signature service.