A Guide to The Best Law Firm Logo [With Examples]

Legal logos hold substantial power. Beyond mere aesthetics, they serve as an integral tool for improving brand recognition, enhancing professionalism, and distinguishing firms from competitors.

So, what transforms a good law firm logo into a truly exceptional one? From choosing the right colours and fonts to hiring the best designer, creating a great logo involves thorough research and a strong understanding of how to accurately reflect your brand.

Read on as we cover everything you need to know to create a law firm logo that leaves a lasting impression.

Why a strong law firm logo matters

Before we delve into how to create a law firm logo, let’s first explore why they matter. A well-designed legal logo offers substantial benefits. For instance, it can:

Establish brand recognition and trust

Solicitor logos can help build brand recognition. Michel Tuan Pham, a professor of marketing at the Columbia Business School, summarised its role best when saying: “A logo is to a company what a face is to a person.” When clients see a logo, they’re more likely to connect it with specific traits about a firm—which can, in turn, build trust.

Set your firm apart from competitors

Creating a logo that reflects your firm’s unique identity and values can attract attention and help you stand out to prospective clients in a competitive legal landscape.

Create an impactful first impression

Whether it’s showcased on your website, marketing materials, or social media platforms, your law firm logo serves as the initial point of contact for prospective clients. That makes it a vital tool in making a memorable first impression. Create a strong law firm logo, and you’ll showcase the dedication and expertise that define your firm.

Read more: How to Name a Law Firm: A Manual (With Examples)

Key elements of an effective law firm logo

When creating a law firm logo, there are several essential factors to consider.

Choose the right colours and typography

The first step in designing a law firm logo is to understand the power of colour. All colours have the potential to evoke certain thoughts and feelings. They can also symbolise different personalities and have different psychological effects.

To tap into these benefits, you’ll want to familiarise yourself with colour theory and the colour wheel—as well as how to use complementary colours to create an impact.

For example, you may notice blue appearing in many law firms’ logos. This makes sense, as the colour is often linked to trust, peace, and calmness—which are all feelings you want your client to experience when working with your firm.

If you’re not familiar with colour theory, InVision provides some insight. Learn more about colour theory from InVision and colour psychology from Canva.

Select a web-safe font

Since your logo will appear primarily online, opt for a web-safe font to ensure it displays consistently across various devices and browsers. Matching your logo font throughout your website and marketing materials will go a long way in helping with brand consistency.

Once you’ve chosen a web-safe font, you can customise the typography in the font to create a custom wordmark. A wordmark or logotype is essentially a logo that only contains text. If you’re working with a designer, this is when their expertise will come in. An experienced designer can adjust the kerning and leading (the spaces between the letters and lines), and customise the wordmark to be truly unique to your brand.

Whether you choose a serif or sans serif depends on what you want your law firm brand to convey. A serif font, such as Garamond, typically has a decorative stroke at the end of each letter, while a sans serif font like Helvetica does not. It’s also nice to have complementary serif and sans serif fonts throughout your website. Learn how to pair fonts thoughtfully from Canva.

Incorporate legal symbols and icons

Law firm logos don’t have to be overly complicated. Legal symbols and icons are a great way to build one that’s simple and memorable.

Think about the most famous brand logos you know, like Facebook, Instagram, Apple or Microsoft. Over the years, they’ve evolved to be simpler and easier to remember and identify. Today, the most famous brand logos are based on simple shapes, symbols, or icons.

Law firm logos are no different. Don’t overcomplicate it with textures and gradients. This makes your logo flexible and usable in many situations, like your law firm’s letterhead, social media, website, and event backdrop.

Create logo versions with and without names

It’s a good practice to create both wordmarks and glyphs for your lawyer logo. Wordmarks are logos with your law firm’s name in them, while glyphs are symbols that represent your law firm’s name. By having both wordmarks and glyphs, you will have appropriate logos for different uses.

Consider including law firm partner names in one logo, but also have a simplified version.

Get the right file types for your logo

This may sound technical, but it’s essential to ensure your law firm logo will remain sharp and high-quality regardless of medium—whether online or print. The formats you’ll need to achieve that in all cases include:

• Vector (.eps)
• Transparent (.png)
• JPEG (.jpg)
• Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg)

If you’re working with a designer, try and get an accompanying glyph so you can create a favicon for your law firm’s website.

Showcase your firm’s personality

Designing a logo that authentically reflects your firm is key. A well-crafted logo acts as a visual representation of your firm’s identity, vision, and values. By incorporating elements that depict your core values and showcase your expertise—such as symbols, colours, or typography—you can create a compelling logo that resonates with potential clients.

Tips for designing a successful law firm logo

A unique law firm logo design contributes to a unique visual identity for your law firm. Not only does a distinctive logo communicate your law firm brand’s core purpose and values, but it also helps you maintain consistent brand presentation—which could increase your law firm’s revenue by 23%.

Here’s how to develop one that achieves just that.

Understand your target audience and competitors

Carve out time to research not only your target audience but also your competitors’ visual identity. Look at their logo design, colour palette, font, shapes, and if their law firm names are included. Doing thorough competitive research into firms in the same state and practice areas can help you determine how to create a unique law firm logo.

It’s a good idea to gather your inspiration by writing down what you like and dislike about each competitor law firm’s logo—along with what you think would help you stand out to your target clients.

You could even go further by analysing how your firm can learn from the strengths and weaknesses of each reference logo. Writing down your thoughts sets you up for success in briefing your designer on your desired outcome.

Simplify your law firm logo design

Simplifying your logo design enhances its versatility and scalability, ensuring it remains impactful across different marketing applications. By streamlining elements, such as typography and graphical elements, you can ensure a consistent brand experience across platforms, whether you’re handing out a business card or advertising through a billboard.

Work with a professional logo designer or agency

Outsourcing your law firm logo design creation is a good idea because you’ll need a vector file with high resolution, and possibly a GIF for an animated logo. This requires specialised technical design knowledge and skills. That’s why it’s good practice to hire an experienced visual designer for the job.

How to choose a designer

• Go with an experienced designer or branding agency. Specifically, choose someone who specialises in brand logo design. It’s also a plus if they understand the legal industry. With a branding agency, it’s easier for them to make sure your brand is scalable and consistent, as they can help with more than your logo—like your website and ads.
• Make sure they can provide you with a detailed contract. Any designer who is invested in creating a great logo for your law firm should have a contract that includes an overview of the process, the number of revisions, and the file types you’ll be receiving.
• Look at their portfolio and their design style. This helps you determine if the designer’s style will fit your law firm’s brand.
• Think about your budget. Remember, the investment reflects expertise. It’s best to go with someone who is experienced and boasts a strong portfolio. If you have a smaller budget, freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr Pro are some places to find designers for your project.
• Work with the same designer for marketing materials. Working with the same designer to create your law firm’s letterheads, business cards, envelopes, stationery, and more goes a long way in ensuring brand consistency.

Trademarking your law firm logo: It it important?

While there is no specific SRA guidance on trademarking your law firm logo, there are significant benefits to trademarking your law firm logo and name. However, should you wish you display the SRA logo on your website, there are strict guidelines to follow.

Since November 25, 2019, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has required UK solicitors to prominently feature the SRA clickable logo (or digital badge) on their websites. This logo indicates to visitors that the firm is regulated and includes a link to details about the protections provided by this regulation. It plays a key role in distinguishing regulated firms from unregulated providers online.

By trademarking your law firm logo and name early, you can avoid having another law firm or business use your name in the future.

• Before registering a trademark: Check if the name is already in use or trademarked by another business. You can use the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) search tool to check for existing or expired trademarks
• Select the appropriate trademark class: When trademarking a brand asset, you must designate the class of goods and services it will cover. There are 45 distinct trademark classes: 34 pertain to goods and products, while 11 are for services.
• Submit the trademark application: Once you’ve determined the scope of your trademark and the relevant classes for registration, you can submit your application to the UK Intellectual Property Office. This can be done online through the UKIPO portal or by completing Form TM3 and sending it by post.
• Address objections if any: Following submission, you will receive an initial assessment of your application within two weeks. Should any objections arise, it’s essential to respond within the specified timeframe.
• Renewal of the trademark: A trademark is valid for 10 years, necessitating renewal every decade to maintain its legal standing.

Best law firm logos

To help you create the best law firm logo for your business, we’ve curated the top logos that uniquely represent each law firm’s brand. Although this list is by no means exhaustive, you can use it as a starting point for inspiration.

1. Ben Crump Law

The serif font paired with the sans serif font creates an elevated brand for Ben Crump Law. When paired with the glyph (symbol), the brand is recognisable at every touchpoint.

 

2. Civil Resolution Tribunal

The simplicity in the shapes of the glyph (symbol) is complemented by a sans serif font.

 

3. Hello Divorce

This custom wordmark is truly unique and reflects the brand’s tone and personality. While technically not a law firm, the mix of fonts in Hello Divorce’s logo is attention-grabbing.

 

4. Osborn Gambale Beckley & Budd

This unique glyph is simplified with a two-tone palette and a sans serif font.

 

5. Cotney Construction Law 

The simple shapes in the chevrons of the logo create visual interest and draw the eye towards the wordmark.

 

6. Tate Law

The simple, geometrical shapes in the glyph are complemented by a sans serif font.

 

7. Levine Family Law Group

This logo is elevated with the subtleness of the birds flying off of the “I” and is grounded by a sans serif and serif font pairing.

 

8. Vela Wood

This custom glyph is unique to Vela Wood and works equally as well stacked with the logo or as a standalone element throughout the firm’s branding.

 

9. Vanst Law

A simplistic font is paired with a custom glyph that compliments the minimalist elements of the font.

 

10. California Innocence Project

The use of a horizontal line element visually separates the sans serif and serif fonts.

 

11. The Daswani Law Co. 

Using strictly serif fonts, hierarchy is achieved through scaling of the font and horizontal lines to separate the elements.

 

12. Donato Law

Using a simple shape, Donato Law’s glyph is memorable and can scale across various brand elements.

 

Buy a logo from a stock image site

Another option for smaller budgets is to buy a law firm logo from a stock image site like Shutterstock or iStock. Note that you may run the risk of another law firm or company using the same logo for their business. 

You also need to purchase a custom license to go with your stock image logo. According to iStock, unless you buy a custom license, you won’t be able to use any part of the logo or image as a brand logo for your law firm. You also need to purchase a custom license to register any part of the logo or image as a trademark.

Final considerations for creating the perfect law firm logo

The thought of creating a great law firm logo can be daunting. But with the right process and the expertise of a designer, you can have a logo that is unique, memorable, versatile, and consistent with your law firm’s brand. And remember, your legal logo isn’t set in stone. You can always refresh it as your firm evolves and grows.

We published this blog post in April 2024. Last updated: September 25, 2024.

Categorized in: Marketing