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If a potential client is in the position to hire a lawyer, they’re likely already in a challenging situation. Whether the plaintiff or defendant, or just a contracts deal, a person might not have much time to research attorneys beyond scouring various law firm websites.
Polished lawyer headshots make a difference in projecting the most professional image.
Cohesive headshots communicate your firm’s credibility and commitment to details. First impressions are everything, so something as simple as a winning photo could be the tipping point to help your firm secure another client.
With that in mind, obtaining professional headshots may be more complex than expected. Between coordinating your legal team’s ever-changing schedules, securing appropriate equipment, and working through edits with your photographer, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the process.
Fortunately, we’ve compiled a complete guide to help you secure attorney headshots for all your lawyers and partners. We outline the tasks, costs, and considerations required to organize a successful headshot photo shoot for your practice.
Why Your Law Firm’s Headshots Are So Important
Well-executed headshots of your lawyers give off a fantastic initial first impression. However, it can be challenging to envision the benefits while working through the obstacles of a formal photo session.
The best way to understand the importance of having polished headshots for your law firm is to see the results yourself.
Let’s first take a look at these headshots from an actual firm based in New York:
While the photos showcase confident smiles and give clients a good idea of what the lawyers look like, they’re missing a unified flow. The portraits seem disjointed at best when evaluating them within the full context of the team.
Now, let’s examine some headshots from another law firm in New York:
Immediately, you can see that this practice planned every detail of their headshots to present a united front. Each photo has a cohesive backdrop and a centered pose and helps showcase each attorney clearly and confidently.
From a client’s perspective, the choice between the two firms is clear. The second set of headshots is an example of positive visual communication, speaking to the legal staff’s competence and commitment as a team and a self-assured, approachable disposition.
Investing in professional headshots ensures your practice puts its best foot forward from the very first Google search.
Planning a Headshots Session for Your Lawyers
Securing a headshot session for your entire law firm team can be surprisingly tricky, especially when factoring in everyone’s ever-changing schedules. Here are two roadmaps to help you secure the headshots you need.
The Traditional Way (A Familiar but Challenging Route)
1. Set a Schedule with Your Team
Before you even consider researching photographers, sit down with your entire staff to determine everyone’s availability. Coordinating an entire team, particularly one full of busy attorneys, will likely take some trial and error.
Agree on a few future dates and times so you have all the information you need when booking a photographer. Have an exact head count, and be prepared to break your shoot into multiple days for larger firms.
2. Reach Out to Several Photographers
Send out feelers for professional photographers in your area that align with your shoot date and can take on your team’s capacity. You may have to pay more for less notice, so anticipate booking the dates at least two weeks in advance.
Once you find the right photographer, work with them to iron out the details on your backdrop, style, and suggested timeline.
3. Prepare Your Firm for Shoot Day
Once you’ve locked in your photographer, brief your firm accordingly. Everyone should arrive at the photo session on time (if not early) to ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible. Offer guidance around the wardrobe, shoot etiquette, and answer any inquiries regarding lost hours due to the shoot day.
4. Complete the Photo Shoot
It’s shoot day! Confirm your staff members have an ideal pose in mind (we include a few ideas below) and know how much time they need to set aside for the entire shoot.
Your photographer will help direct each subject to capture photos accordingly. For outdoor shoots, being efficient is particularly important since lighting conditions can shift rapidly based on the weather.
5. Work through Edits and Potential Reshoots
You’ve finished the photo shoot but still have work to do. Now it’s time to work with your photographer on editing and retouching.
You may need several rounds of revisions to get the proper lighting and overall look for your headshots, which can come at an additional expense on top of your pre-purchased photo package.
Photographer turnaround times vary based on their skill set and availability, but you can generally expect to get your completed headshots back within a couple of weeks. From there, you can update your law firm’s website, marketing materials, and social media platforms accordingly.
Headshots.com (The Easy Route)
Obtaining headshots through a traditional photo session is time-consuming and expensive. The process can also involve plenty of unexpected labor around coordination and tracking down an appropriate photographer. Opting for a completely virtual shoot experience instead may make more sense.
You can use Headshots.com to produce studio-quality headshots at a fraction of the price 100% remotely. Whether your team is located in multiple cities or has incredibly demanding schedules, we make it easy for everyone to submit photos on their own time from anywhere.
Our staff provides direction to guide the photo-capturing process and then proceeds to edit each headshot by hand according to your specific needs. We work with you to curate a custom backdrop and manage the project so you can get all your photos back by a set deadline.
Once we receive your photos, you can expect professionally edited and retouched headshots within three business days. We handle every step of the process, so you don’t have to lift a finger. Plus, our Happiness Guarantee ensures you’re ecstatic with the results.
Upon receiving your headshots, you can add your firm’s photos to their LinkedIn profiles, print business cards, and share them anywhere else necessary. You can do a company-wide update in a single swoop since our process delivers all the finished headshots by your chosen deadline.
What Your Attorneys Should Wear
One of the essential steps of executing any headshot session is ensuring that your attorneys clearly understand what to wear on shoot day. Here are some general guidelines you can pass along to your team.
Women’s Headshot Attire
Professional lawyer headshots follow the basic tenets of women’s headshot best practices, except you can usually count on including a blazer in the outfit. Opt for a light-colored base shirt paired with a blazer’s contrasting, dark fabric.
Jewelry and light makeup are acceptable so long as they aren’t distracting. Accessories should be limited to what your attorneys tend to wear daily.
Men’s Headshot Attire
Like traditional men’s headshot attire, attorney headshots rely on a light-colored shirt, contrasting tie, and a blazer with darker-colored fabric. These outfits should be well-steamed without wrinkles and highlight the photo’s focus—each attorney’s confident face.
In short, lawyer headshots should capture a friendly smile and offer a polished version of your attorneys’ day-to-day appearance.
Examples of How to Pose
Our team at Headshots.com will direct your staff on how to pose, but it’s a good idea to have a suggested pose or two in your back pocket to help make your staff’s headshots look cohesive on your site. Here are a few proven poses for great lawyer headshots.
Pivoted Power
In this pose, the subject should lean with one shoulder toward the camera, angling their body diagonally. Crossing their arms slightly and presenting a relaxed, confident smile completes the look.
The Lawyer Next Door
Win over clients with an approachable, professional appearance. Instruct your attorneys to pose in the center of the shot, from the shoulders up, with a relaxed pose, arms resting gently at their sides. Round out the look with a warm smile.
The Specialty Shot
If your practice differentiates by specialty, including something in the headshot that alludes to each lawyer’s specialization may be helpful. For instance, an environmental attorney’s backdrop could be outdoors, while a criminal defense lawyer might have a more formal background.
For these shots, find a location that speaks to the lawyer’s field or personality but isn’t distracting. Have your subjects pose with a friendly smile and arms lightly crossed or at their side.
How Much Do Lawyer Headshots Cost?
Headshots obtained through a traditional shoot might cost more than you anticipate. As shown in the chart below, typical photo shoots can be several hundred dollars per headshot to account for the studio space, the photographer’s time and equipment, and editing post-production expenses:
Approximate Price Paid per Finished Headshot
| Traditional Photo Shoot* | Headshots.com |
| $100 to $1,000 per headshot | $25 to $50 per headshot |
*Not including pre-planning or opportunity costs due to the logistics involved with a traditional photo shoot
By contrast, a virtual service like Headshots.com is typically much more affordable since the process occurs remotely. Our team guides your lawyers in capturing studio-quality photos using equipment you already have, allowing you to save on unnecessary expenses and avoid rearranging busy schedules for a single shoot date.
We edit each photo by hand and build a custom backdrop for you to create a cohesive appearance across your site. This service costs $50 per finished picture and can be as low as $25 per picture.
Next Steps: Get Studio-Quality Headshots with a Fraction of the Effort
You don’t have to invest time and money into a complicated photo shoot for your attorneys. Instead, learn more about our 100% virtual headshot services.
Our team works hard to handle all the coordination, help your staff capture excellent snaps, and hand-edit each photo to deliver stellar results. Polished, studio-quality headshots for a fraction of the price are only a few clicks away.
