A family friend of Francesca De la Grana’s had a husband arrested for DUI. Before he even bonded out of jail, attorney mailers were piling up at their front door. When Francesca asked to see them, her reaction was simple: they all looked the same, and they all looked desperate.
That is the problem most law firms have and never see. To a stressed prospect, one lawyer’s postcard, website, or ad reads like every other one. When nothing stands out, people fall back on the one thing they trust: a name someone they know gave them, or a name they already remember.
Francesca, a Tampa criminal defense attorney, has built her firm around being that remembered name. About 90% of her cases come from word of mouth, and the brand behind that word of mouth is impossible to forget. She sat down with us on the Non-Stuffy Attorneys podcast to explain how she built it. Here is what any firm owner can take from it, whatever your practice area.
Make Your Tagline the Best Advice You Can Give
When Francesca agreed to start making social videos, she had one rule before filming: the firm needed a line to close every video with. At the end of an early take she said “Shut up and call us,” looked at her associate, and knew that was it.
The line works because it is not marketing fluff. It is the most important thing a criminal defense lawyer tells a client: stop talking and get a lawyer. So it does three jobs at once:
- It teaches. Viewers get the single most useful piece of advice in five words.
- It is repeatable. New clients call and say, “I was told to shut up and call you.” Judges say it back to her. Prosecutors call to say, “Your guy did not shut up and call you.”
- It gives people something to talk about. In a field as heavy as criminal defense, a line that makes people laugh makes the firm memorable to the whole courthouse.
She then built everything around it. A friend told her to buy the domain, so she did, in December 2024. When she bought out her father’s practice, she renamed the firm to set it up for growth but kept the family name, because that name carries 45+ years of authority in Tampa. Then she added merch: a shirt designed like a dictionary entry for the Fifth Amendment that points to the tagline and the domain. She gives them away, and friends now send her photos of strangers wearing them around town.
The takeaway for your firm: your tagline should be something a client could repeat to a friend as advice. If it only describes you (“aggressive,” “experienced,” “trusted”), nobody will repeat it.
Show Up on Video, on a Schedule You Can Actually Keep
The biggest objection attorneys have to video is time. Francesca’s firm is in court every day, often twice a day, so she built a system that takes almost none:
- One shoot day for polished content. Her videographer comes in for a Saturday, and the team records 30 to 40 professional videos. That covers months.
- One hour a month for trend videos. A second creator comes in monthly, and the team knocks out four or five funny, trend-style videos in about an hour. Everyone picks their idea ahead of time so no one wastes the session.
She also did not wait for perfect. The first videos were shot on just a camera, without a proper mic. She believes the raw, unedited feel helped, because people could tell she had real things to say.
Other lawyers made fun of her at first. Then the cases came in. The firm has landed large personal injury matters from people who had only seen her videos and did not even know the firm handled PI. Sometimes the content does not matter as much as being seen at all: a prospect sees a lawyer they like and calls.
She also knows her audience. At least 40% of her clients do not speak English, so the firm posts in Spanish too.
The takeaway for your firm: video is a likability contest before it is a legal one. As Francesca puts it, people shop around and hire the lawyer they connect with most. Video lets them connect with you before they ever call.
Carry the Brand Off the Screen
Francesca’s online brand works because it matches what people see in person. Three habits do most of the work.
She treats the courthouse as a marketing channel. She always carries a stack of business cards. People in the gallery watch her argue, and on her way out they ask for her card. Some already have a lawyer or a public defender. Some recognize her from social media. Either way, they just watched her work, which is a better pitch than any ad.
She dresses like the lawyer people expect to hire. Growing up, people knew her father as “the suit guy.” When she became a prosecutor, she understood why: many lawyers in court looked disheveled. Her view is that if you show up early and look sharp, you are already ahead, and it shows respect to the judge. Prospects notice. Nobody wants to pay a high fee to someone whose pants drag on the floor.
She makes the office part of the experience. Clients who come in get a clean, good-smelling office, custom water bottles and coffee mugs with the firm’s logo, and a team that is dressed well. The message, in her words: this is the representation you get, and this is who you show up to court with.
The takeaway for your firm: every place a prospect meets you, from a reel to a hallway to a waiting room, either supports your brand or undercuts it. Audit them all, not just your website.
Let Your Team and Your Clients Carry the Brand
A firm brand that lives only in the founder’s face has a ceiling. Francesca is deliberately spreading hers across her team and her clients.
She hires people with a life outside the law. One associate makes music, sings, and has more than 15,000 Instagram followers. She noticed he performs well in trial, and it made sense: he is a performer. Another associate played college soccer. Francesca herself taught indoor cycling for 20 years. Her point is that character is what makes a lawyer interesting, and interesting is what stands out.
She wants reviews for every attorney, not just herself. Most people hear the firm’s name and think of Francesca. Reviews that name each associate build their credibility too, which matters as the firm grows.
She asks for reviews that sound like real people. After a case resolves and the client is happy, the firm texts a direct review link. She also tells clients not to hand her a ChatGPT review. She asks for two honest sentences about what the firm did and what they went through. One good outcome often brings two or three reviews, because family members write them too.
The results show up in the numbers. Her father practiced for more than 45 years with roughly five Google reviews. Francesca’s firm passed 200 reviews the day we recorded, and she is aiming for close to 250 by year end.
The takeaway for your firm: reviews are where your brand gets said in someone else’s words. Make asking a habit at the moment a client is happiest, and ask for specifics.
Price Like the Brand You Are Building
A premium brand and a bargain fee send mixed signals. Francesca sets flat fees in line with the other top criminal defense lawyers in Tampa, and she does not discount to win a shopper.
When a prospect says another lawyer quoted half her price, she tells them to hire that lawyer. Almost every time, she says, they come back and hire her firm. The response tells the prospect she is confident in her value, and it makes them wonder what they would give up with the cheaper option.
She also points out what a low fee usually hides: a lawyer pushing paper. Her team reviews every piece of discovery, including dash cam and body cam footage. That work is how her associate caught an officer whose report did not match the video, which got a DUI case thrown out.
Our own law firm takes the same approach in estate planning. It charges the highest rates in its area, and the client experience is built to match. A fee-haggling prospect is also an early warning sign. In Francesca’s experience, the people who fight hardest on price tend to be the hardest clients to work with.
The takeaway for your firm: your price is part of your brand. If everything else says “top of the market” and your fee says “cheapest option,” prospects will believe the fee.
Get Other People Talking About You
Everything above is media you own: your videos, your office, your fees. The strongest brand signal is media you earn, meaning other people talking about you without being asked.
Francesca has started to see that happen in places she never planned for:
- Reddit. A college student came in with his mom and his girlfriend. The girlfriend had searched Reddit for the best criminal defense attorney in Tampa, and Francesca’s firm came up in several threads. Francesca got the student’s case dismissed after a lawyer from another city had mishandled it.
- ChatGPT. Out of curiosity, she asked ChatGPT who the best criminal defense attorney in Tampa is for drug cases. Her firm came up.
- The courthouse. Her reputation with judges and prosecutors, built partly from three years as a prosecutor, means people already know who she is before a case starts.
None of this came from a single campaign. It is what happens when a memorable brand meets years of good work. As we put it on the podcast: you can do great work for a lot of people, but if no one talks about it, it is as if it never happened.
The takeaway for your firm: what you say about yourself matters less than what others say. A clear, memorable brand gives people the words to recommend you, in a forum thread, in an AI answer, or over coffee.
Where to Start With Your Own Firm’s Brand
You do not need a tagline like Francesca’s to use what she has learned. Start by answering these honestly:
- If a past client recommended you to a friend, what exact words would they use? If you do not know, your brand is not doing that job yet.
- Does your firm have one line that is also useful advice? Can a client repeat it?
- Could your team record a month of video in one afternoon? What would need to be scheduled to make that happen?
- Does the way your attorneys dress, your office, and your courtroom presence match what your website promises?
- Do your reviews name your individual attorneys and staff, and do they read like real people wrote them?
- Does your fee say the same thing about your firm as everything else does?
The mailers in that family friend’s stack were all trying to get attention. Francesca’s brand gets remembered. That difference is why, when someone in Tampa needs a criminal defense lawyer, a friend tells them to shut up and call her.
