Law Firm Reviews Are No Longer Optional: Why Your Firm Needs Them Now

Over the past decade, we’ve recommended that law firms start getting client reviews. Some of our clients did. But some treated our advice like a nice suggestion for marketing success, but not a law firm necessity. Times have changed. If your law firm isn’t aggressively earning reviews, you’re missing out on potential clients who read Google reviews before picking up the phone. But you may also be missing local search visibility entirely. Thanks to artificial intelligence, many people are asking services like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude, and others questions like:

• Who is the best [service type] near me?
• What law firm handles [type of case] in [city/state]?
• Which [specialty] attorney has the best reputation in [city/state]?
• Who should I call if I’m in a [type of accident]?

And the results they provide are never arbitrary. AI systems analyze hundreds of signals to determine which businesses are:

• Trustworthy
• Authoritative
• Have a good reputation
• Are likely to satisfy clients

And like it or not, reviews are one of the biggest signals they use to determine your answer.

Here’s Why Your Firm Needs Reviews Right Now

Until recently, SEO was largely about rankings. Get your website on page one of Google, and you’re in good shape. Not anymore. Many search queries never reach page one. If a search engine can provide a direct answer to a user’s question, it will. And these direct answers pull information from across the web to provide quick overviews, recommendations, and answers that don’t always require a single click. This presents a new problem for law firms.

When deciding which businesses to reference in their answers, AI algorithms quickly scan your website for signals that your firm meets the user’s criteria. Online reputation is one of them. If two firms have comparable websites, comparable experience, and similar visibility, the firm with better reviews will often look more reputable—not only to potential clients but to search engines and AI models.

Reviews are a Trust Signal

Let’s face it. When was the last time you chose a restaurant, contractor, doctor, or hotel without checking online reviews? You almost always check, right? And so do AI systems. While the exact inner workings of modern search algorithms and AI models are unknown, we do know they consider:

• Review volume
• Review scores
• Review recency
• Online reputation
• Various other factors

A law firm with 250 reviews (many of which are recent), a 4.9-star average, and/or multiple pages of detailed reviews presents a much stronger signal to AI than a firm with only 12 reviews, none of which are recent and only contain sparse details from clients. It’s simple: If your past clients aren’t mentioning your firm online, AI has fewer reasons to believe your firm should be considered for a direct answer.

Your competition knows this. In the past, a common thought may have been that “nobody in the field ever says anything about reviews.” That’s not true anymore. Plenty of firms have already discovered the importance of positive reviews. Your competition knows reviews matter for local SEO and AI-driven search. And if they don’t have a review program in place, they soon will.

Law firms that regularly ask clients for reviews are increasing their chances of appearing in AI-driven search results. Every new review:

• Strengthens their online presence
• Shows algorithms they have satisfied clients
• Improves their chances of being seen as a trustworthy authority by future clients

Law firms who wait to start getting reviews are already at a disadvantage.

Online Reviews Impact Everything

Legal marketers know online reviews impact Google Maps rankings. But they impact far more than that. Positive reviews impact:

• Local search visibility
• Google Business Profile (“Knowledge Panel”) performance
• CTR
• Conversion rates
• Visibility in AI answers
• And so much more

When comparing your firm to your competitors, online reviews can be the difference between choosing you and choosing them. A potential client may never read your attorney biography. They may not look at your case results. They might not visit your “What to Expect” page or any of your practice area pages. But they will see how many reviews you have. And when put into context with your competitors, they’ll see your star rating.

Get Reviews Now. If You Don’t, You’ll Regret It

PaperStreet started advising lawyers to get more reviews back in the early 2000s. That was years before reviews played such a huge role in local SEO. While we hoped they would become more important, we had no idea they’d become this important.

Online reviews are no longer “nice to have.” They are mandatory if you want to be found by the next generation of search.

Law firms that understand this and consistently generate client reviews will build a legacy that thrives in both traditional and AI-driven search. Law firms that don’t… won’t be seen.

What Should Your Firm Do?

If you don’t already have a process for earning client reviews, start one today. Here are four simple steps to get you started:

• Begin asking happy clients for reviews
• Incorporate requests into your closing calls
• Encourage your staff to also request reviews
• Send direct links to your review pages
• Follow up with clients who say they would be happy to leave a review
• Make sure someone is regularly responding to reviews

It won’t happen overnight. But soon your business will benefit from a consistent stream of positive reviews.

Let PaperStreet Help You Get Started Today

Online reviews have never been more important for law firms. They impact how you rank on Google Maps, how you show up in AI-driven searches, and whether someone picks up the phone to call.

Don’t wait any longer. Start earning reviews today or get ready to watch your competition pass you by. PaperStreet can help. We are currently running a bundle special – $95 for our Reviews Plugin + Law Firm Google Reviews (a $120 value, and the first month is free). Contact us today to discuss your options.