Legal Marketing Association

What Legal Marketing Association does

The Legal Marketing Association (LMA) is a US-based non-profit professional membership organization founded in 1985 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. LMA operates as the recognized trade association for legal marketing professionals, serving marketing directors, managers, and specialists at law firms ranging from solo practices to Am Law 100 firms, as well as the vendors and consultants who serve that ecosystem. Its core functional offering is a unified membership experience that combines structured education, credentialing, peer networking, and career services, rather than discrete standalone software products.

The product portfolio is anchored by the Body of Knowledge (BoK) framework covering six domains — Business Development, Business of Law, Client Services, Communications, Marketing Management and Leadership, and Technology Management — and is delivered through an extensive on-demand Webinar Library, the flagship Annual Conference (most recently in May 2026, with the 2027 edition scheduled for Seattle), regional conferences, and the BoK Beyond Borders international programming. Community engagement runs on the LMA Connect platform powered by Higher Logic and supported by Impexium for association management, hosting 10 Shared Interest Groups (SIGs), Member Resource Groups, LMA Next (a program for emerging professionals), a Career Center, and the Strategies & Voices content platform (blog and podcast). LMA also maintains exclusive educational partnerships with Harvard Law School Executive Education and the Practising Law Institute (PLI).

LMA's revenue model combines four recurring and event-driven streams: annual membership dues (subscription), event and conference registration, educational content sales (webinar bundles and learning bundles), and sponsorships via its media kit and prospectus offerings. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The go-to-market motion is community-led, with member acquisition and retention driven by regional chapters across six US regions plus Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, supported by content marketing, email, organic social, webinars, and the flagship annual conference. LMA is governed by an elected President (Kevin Iredell) and led by a CEO (Ashley Stenger), with a small permanent staff supported by extensive volunteer committees and task forces.

Name

Legal Marketing Association

Legal name

Legal Marketing Association

Website

https://legalmarketing.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

The Legal Marketing Association is a US non-profit trade association serving marketing professionals at law firms worldwide, delivering education, certification via its Body of Knowledge framework, annual and regional conferences, peer networking through Shared Interest Groups, and career services to thousands of members across 10 regions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Legal & Governance Professional Development (EDAGANAK)

Keywords

• Legal marketing association
• Professional membership services
• Continuing professional education
• Professional development programs
• Industry networking events

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership fees for legal marketing professionals. Members gain access to educational content, webinars, regional events, SIGs, career center, and member directory.
2. Event Registration: Revenue from annual conferences, regional conferences, local events, and webinar recordings. The 2026 LMA Annual Conference recordings bundle and various regional events generate registration fees.
3. Educational Content Sales: Sale of webinar bundles, learning bundles, and recorded educational programming on topics including AI in legal marketing, social media, competitive intelligence, and business development.
4. Sponsorships: Partnership opportunities for vendors and service providers to reach LMA's membership base through event sponsorships, media kits, and prospectus offerings.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Legal Marketing Association (LMA) is a nonprofit professional membership organization that serves legal marketing professionals working in law firms. It sells annual memberships that grant access to an online community platform (LMA Connect), structured educational programming through the Body of Knowledge framework, a webinar and conference recording library, regional chapters across the U.S. and internationally, Shared Interest Groups (SIGs), an annual conference, and a career center. Revenue is generated through membership dues, event registrations, sponsorship sales, and educational content offerings.

Product overview

The Legal Marketing Association (LMA) operates as a professional membership organization offering a unified platform of products and services for legal marketing professionals. The core offerings center on membership access combined with educational programming through the Body of Knowledge framework, an extensive on-demand webinar library, and the flagship Annual Conference. LMA provides community engagement via LMA Connect (powered by Higher Logic), regional events across global chapters, career development resources, and content platforms including Strategies & Voices. Specialized Shared Interest Groups (SIGs) focus on specific practice areas such as Marketing Technology, Social & Digital Media, and Competitive Intelligence. The organization also maintains a Hall of Fame recognition program and partnerships with Harvard Law School for executive education. The portfolio is delivered as an integrated membership experience rather than modular software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Strategies & Voices: LMA's content platform featuring articles and podcasts covering topics in legal marketing, business development, and professional development
• Body of Knowledge
• LMA Connect
• LMA Next

Products and services

• LMA Membership Program Annual professional membership program that provides legal marketing professionals with access to educational content, regional events, Shared Interest Groups, the LMA Connect community platform, the Career Center, and the Strategies & Voices content platform.
• Body of Knowledge (BoK) Structured educational framework organizing legal marketing competence into six domains: Business Development, Business of Law, Client Services, Communications, Marketing Management and Leadership, and Technology Management. Includes BoK Beyond Borders international programming.
• LMA Webinar Library On-demand library of hundreds of recorded webinars and learning bundles covering AI in legal marketing, social media, competitive intelligence, business development, content strategy, and marketing technology.
• Regional Conferences and Local Events Regionally organized conferences and local chapter events providing in-person education and networking for legal marketers across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
• LMA Career Center Online job board and career resource center that connects legal marketing employers with candidates seeking roles at law firms and legal marketing vendors.
• Strategies & Voices Content Platform Article and podcast content platform providing thought leadership on AI adoption, business development, marketing technology, competitive intelligence, and leadership in legal marketing.
• LMA Connect Community Platform Online community platform providing member discussion forums, Shared Interest Group spaces, a member directory, resource libraries, and networking features for legal marketing professionals.
• Shared Interest Groups (SIGs) Specialized member communities of practice focused on individual topics within legal marketing, each operating its own programming and discussion forum within LMA Connect.
• Harvard Law School Executive Education Partnership Exclusive educational partnership providing LMA members access to Harvard Law School Executive Education programs as part of their member benefits.
• LMA & PLI Educational Partnership Partnership with PLI providing LMA members access to legal education programming and professional development resources.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• Higher LogiccoreTechnology or IntegrationContracted as LMA's representative for the community portal platform (LMA Connect). Provides community management infrastructure including discussion forums, member directories, resource libraries, and networking features.
• ImpexiumcoreTechnology or IntegrationContracted as LMA's representative for website and online platform management. Supports association management functionality including membership, events, and content delivery.
• Harvard Law SchoolflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerExclusive executive education partnership providing Harvard Law School Executive Education programs exclusively for LMA members, offering prestigious professional development opportunities.
• PLI (Practising Law Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership providing educational programming and professional development resources for LMA members through PLI's legal education platform.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Association of Legal Administrators (ALA): ALA is a membership association serving law firm administrators and operations leaders, with comparable size, dues-based revenue model, and educational/conference programming aimed at the legal services profession. Both organizations monetize community, education, and certification across similar law-firm buyer personas.
• International Legal Technology Association (ILTA): ILTA serves legal technology professionals inside law firms and corporate legal departments via membership dues, an annual conference, regional events, and SIGs. It directly parallels LMA's structure and is an adjacent functional peer for shared law-firm buyers and sponsorship dollars.
• Practising Law Institute (PLI): PLI is an existing LMA partner for educational programming and operates as a continuing-legal-education provider serving attorneys. It is directly comparable as a content-and-events monetization model for legal professionals, and is also a partner, making co-opetition relevant for evaluating overlap.
• Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC): ACC is a membership association for in-house counsel with dues, educational content, conferences, and a similar global chapter model. It overlaps with LMA in serving legal-industry professionals via community-driven revenue, though its members are lawyers rather than marketers.

Broad incumbents

• American Marketing Association (AMA): The AMA is a much larger, horizontal professional association for marketers across all industries. It competes broadly for generalist marketing education, certifications, and local-chapter programming that legal marketers could substitute for LMA membership in part.
• Public Relations Society of America (PRSA): PRSA is a national professional association for communications and PR practitioners with chapters, conferences, and content. Many LMA members come from PR/comms backgrounds and could substitute some education and networking via PRSA, making it an adjacent competitor.
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): SHRM is the dominant US professional association model that LMA's dues-and-certification structure mirrors. While serving HR rather than legal marketing, it is highly comparable as a large, mature, multi-revenue-stream nonprofit trade association with global chapters.
• Above the Law / Law360 (LexisNexis): Law360 and Above the Law produce legal-industry editorial, newsletters, events, and paid communities that compete for law-firm marketing professionals' attention, education budgets, and sponsorship dollars. They are content-led incumbents overlapping LMA's audience.

Emerging players

• Legal Marketing Tech Conference / LawVision: LawVision operates the Legal Marketing Tech Conference and similar education/experiential events directly targeting law-firm marketing leaders. It competes most directly with LMA's conference and webinar programming but from a for-profit, niche event producer angle.
• The Futures Forum / Marketing the Law Firm: Marketing the Law Firm and similar independent podcasts, communities, and education businesses serve the same niche as LMA but in digital-first formats. They represent the for-profit, content-driven disruptor model that could compress LMA's value proposition for younger members.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/legal-marketing-association
• Xx.com/lmaintl
• Facebookfacebook.com/legalmarketingassociation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Legal Marketing Association