I studied economics as an undergraduate, with an emphasis on the separate tracks of labour and environmental, and I often joke that I’m really an economist disguised as a chief communications officer.
The connection isn’t as strange as it might sound. One profession studies behaviour. The other works to influence it.
Maybe that’s why I use the phrase ‘There’s economics in everything’ all the time.
Reputation is no exception.
We tend to think about reputation as something organisations and individuals build, manage and work constantly to protect. But reputation is more than an outcome of a great website or respected behaviour. It has economic consequences because it influences the decisions people make.
And like an economy, reputation is best understood over time. It’s created in the daily stories you tell and the culture you build.
Economists don’t assess the health of an economy based on a single day’s movement in the stock market. Similarly, no law firm measures its success based on a single day of revenue. Both require looking at multiple indicators and patterns over time. Reputation works much the same way. It’s rarely created by one announcement, one campaign, one media story or even one great client experience. It’s the accumulated result of hundreds of signals and interactions over weeks, months and years.
Eventually, those signals influence behaviour. Lateral hiring is a good example.
More than 30 lateral partners have joined Vinson & Elkins over the past two years. Economics are obviously part of those decisions. But nobody makes a career-defining move based on compensation alone.
Candidates read about our culture. They experience our brand through our website and media coverage. They talk to people in the market. Most importantly, they have candid conversations with our partners about what it’s actually like to build a career at the firm.
They’re trying to answer questions that don’t appear in an offer letter. Is this a firm where I can see myself for the long term? Will people here look out for me? Can I connect with others and succeed here? Do I belong?
Those may not sound like economic questions, but the answers have enormous economic consequences.
Economists have long studied how people make decisions when they don’t have perfect information. I believe that reputation helps fill that gap. It acts as a signal, giving people evidence about what they might expect from an organisation before they make a decision.
That reduces uncertainty. And reducing uncertainty has value.
The concept extends far beyond recruiting. Clients decide which lawyers to trust with their most consequential matters. Employees decide whether to stay. Recruits decide whether to join. Journalists decide whether an organisation or executive is credible.
In each case, reputation creates context before the next step is taken.
There is growing evidence that this has measurable financial value. Burson’s 2026 Global Reputation Economy research examined 66 publicly traded companies and found that companies with strong reputations could realise as much as 4.78% in additional unexpected annual shareholder returns. Extrapolated globally, Burson estimates what it calls a $7.07trn ‘Reputation Economy’.
Law firms aren’t publicly traded companies, so the numbers don’t translate directly to our industry. But the underlying principle should get people’s attention, regardless of industry.
A strong reputation creates something businesses value enormously: optionality.
Organisations with strong reputations have more choices. They can attract people they might not otherwise reach. Enter conversations they might otherwise be excluded from. Introduce new ideas with greater credibility. And when something inevitably goes wrong, they may have accumulated enough trust to earn the opportunity to explain what happened and make it right.
In other words, reputation doesn’t simply affect the decisions people make about you today. It can expand the choices available to you tomorrow.
But reputation doesn’t appear overnight. In many ways, it compounds.
A positive client experience becomes a recommendation. A ranking in Chambers and Legal 500 becomes badge of honour. A lateral’s experience influences the next candidate. A colleague becomes an alumnus who continues talking about the firm. A series of credible interactions builds confidence with journalists, law schools, clients and other stakeholders.
The opposite compounds too.
That’s why reputation shouldn’t be managed only when an organisation needs it. It’s being created every day, often in interactions senior leadership will never see.
It’s worth remembering that every interaction contributes something. How you treat a colleague. How quickly you return a client’s call. How candidly you communicate when something goes wrong. How you treat someone when there’s nothing immediately to gain. Individually, these moments may seem insignificant. Collectively, they become your reputation.
For leaders across communications, marketing, business development and talent, reputation is more than a messaging exercise. For executive teams and practice group leaders, it’s more than a communications issue. It’s an asset.
It may be nearly impossible to put on a balance sheet, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. After all, there’s economics in everything. Especially reputation.
Allan Schoenberg is the chief communications officer at Vinson & Elkins.
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