Epigram | Brand governance is the missing link in most legal brands
Law firms are investing more than ever in brand. New positioning. New visual identities. Refined tone of voice. Confident launches. And then, quietly, things start to wobble. Not because the strategy was wrong. Not because the design wasn’t strong. But because no one really talked about what happens next.
That “what happens next” is brand governance. And in many legal firms, it is the missing piece.
Let’s be honest about how law firms actually work. You have multiple practice groups operating at pace. Partners with strong individual profiles. International offices adapting materials locally. Marketing teams juggling bids, directories, campaigns and events, often all at once.
In that environment, brand consistency does not collapse overnight. It erodes gradually.
A pitch deck tweaks the typography. A sector team adjusts the messaging slightly “just for this one”. A microsite interprets the visual language differently. A thought leadership piece sounds nothing like the homepage. None of these decisions are reckless. They are usually practical, deadline-driven and well-intentioned. But over time, they add up.
Legal brands are built on trust and clarity. If the experience feels inconsistent, even subtly, it creates friction. Clients may not consciously articulate it, but they feel it. Cohesion signals control. Inconsistency suggests fragmentation.
Brand governance is not about policing people or saying no all the time. And it certainly is not about producing a 120-page guidelines document that gathers digital dust.
Done well, governance is simpler and more practical than that. It is about three things:
- Clarity. Practical guidance that translates strategy into everyday decisions.
- Enablement. Templates and tools that make it easy to stay on-brand, especially under pressure.
- Ownership. Senior leadership treating brand as a business asset, not just a marketing output.
That last point is critical. If brand lives only within marketing, it will always feel optional. When leadership visibly backs it and uses it properly, consistency becomes cultural, not cosmetic.
There is also a myth that governance stifles creativity. In reality, clear guardrails make teams braver. When the foundations are solid, people can push ideas further without destabilising the whole thing.
The real test of a legal brand is not launch day. It is six months later. Twelve months later. When a new lateral partner joins. When a high-stakes pitch lands at 5pm. When an overseas office wants to adapt the message for a local market. That is when governance either holds or it does not.
Strategy gives you direction. Design gives you presence. Governance is what makes it stick. And that is where experience matters.
For more than 30 years, Epigram has worked alongside legal marketing and leadership teams as brand guardians. Not just designing identities, but helping firms embed them, protect them and evolve them as they grow. We understand the realities of partnership dynamics, international structures and relentless bid cycles. Governance only works if it fits the way law firms actually operate.
If your brand feels strong at the centre but inconsistent at the edges, it is worth a conversation. Not about another rebrand, but about building the framework that protects the one you already have.
