Post-event follow-up for law firms: Email templates, timing, and ROI

The most effective post-event follow-up for law firms happens within 48 hours. It should come from the lawyer who met the contact and give each person a clear reason to continue the conversation. Best practice for follow-ups is to plan before the event and log new contacts in your CRM.

Events remain one of the strongest business development channels available to law firms. In Splash’s 2025 Outlook on Events report, a survey of more than 1,000 US marketers, 72% named events as their company’s most effective marketing channel, but 41% said they struggled to measure event ROI. A lack of follow-up is what makes ROI difficult to track.

Sheenika Gandhi, Chief Marketing Officer at Greenberg Glusker, is a proponent for planning outreach before and after events. “If you’re not doing that intentional outreach beforehand, and there’s no structured follow-up after, you’ve left a lot of value on the table.”

This guide covers how to plan follow-up before your event, three email templates you can copy, and how to measure ROI.

How should a law firm plan follow-up before the event?

Good follow-up starts with the guest list. Before your event, agree on the goal, whether that’s visibility, deepening existing client relationships, or meeting specific prospects, since the goal will decide who you follow up with and what you ask for.

Assign an owner to each key guest (usually the lawyer with the strongest relationship), and tag decision-makers and priority prospects in your CRM so you can track them afterward. Draft your follow-up emails before the event too. Prepared content helps lawyers to send personal notes the next morning instead of starting from a blank page.

How soon should you follow up after an event?

Aim to follow up within 48 hours, while the conversation is still fresh for both sides. For a firm-hosted event, a same-day or next-morning thank-you email to all attendees works well, followed by personal notes from the lawyers who spoke with each guest.

At Greenberg Glusker, an automated email goes to the attorneys involved after every event or sponsorship. It prompts them to note who they met, make sure those contacts are in the CRM, connect on LinkedIn, and send a follow-up within 48 hours. “We give them concrete things to do so attorneys can continue to stay in touch,” says Sheenika.

What should a post-event follow-up email include?

A strong follow-up email is short, personal, and has a clear purpose. Reference something specific from your conversation and offer something useful like the slides, a recording, or relevant article.

The best person to send it is usually the lawyer who met the contact, since the relationship sits with them. Marketing can support with the firmwide thank-you, the recording, and a feedback survey, leaving lawyers free to focus on personal notes.

Tailor your follow-up to each group. Clients may welcome a quick check-in on the matter you discussed, while prospects need a reason to meet, and referral sources often respond best to an introduction or an offer to return the favor. People who registered but couldn’t attend should receive the recording or slides with a short note and an invitation to your next event.

What post-event follow-up emails should a law firm send?

Most events call for three follow-ups spread over the following three weeks. Copy these email templates and adapt the details for each contact.

1. Thank-you email (within 48 hours)

Subject: Great to see you at [event name]

Hi [first name],

Thank you for joining us at [event name] on [day]. I enjoyed our conversation about [topic you discussed], and I’ve been thinking about your point on [specific detail].

As promised, here’s the [recording / slide deck / article] we talked about: [link].

I’d love to continue the conversation soon. In the meantime, if anything comes up on [topic], I’m always happy to help.

Best regards,
[Your name]

2. Content share email (one to two weeks later)

Subject: Something useful on [topic]

Hi [first name],

After our chat at [event name] about [topic], I thought you might find this useful: [title of article, alert, or guide] ([link]). It covers [one sentence on why it’s relevant to them].

[Colleague’s name], who leads our [practice area] work, has been advising several [industry] clients on this. I’d be glad to introduce you if that would help.

Best regards,
[Your name]

3. Meeting request email (two to three weeks later)

Subject: Coffee in the next few weeks?

Hi [first name],

I’ve been thinking about what you mentioned at [event name] about [challenge or priority]. We’ve worked through something similar with other [industry or role] clients recently, and I’d value the chance to hear more about where things stand for you.

Would you be open to a 30-minute coffee or call in the next few weeks? [Two suggested times] work well for me or let me know what suits you.

Best regards,
[Your name]

How do you keep engagement going after an event?

A single email will rarely turn into new work, so keep the relationship moving with a few light touches over a few weeks. Connect with attendees on LinkedIn, share the recording or a summary of key takeaways, and invite engaged contacts to your next event or a smaller session on the same topic.

Event attendees are often a good fit for your practice group newsletters or client alerts. Add them only if your firm has the right permission, since consent rules vary by country.

Hold a short internal debrief within a week of the event. Ask each lawyer who attended to share who they met and which contacts deserve priority, so the follow-up plan reflects what happened at the event.

How do you measure the ROI of a law firm event?

Reflect on the goal of your event. Anne Heathcock, Founder of Heathcock Marketing Consulting and former Managing Director of Marketing at Winston & Strawn, explains: “You go back to your why. If the event was about visibility, then the number of people who attended is relevant. If it was focused on bringing in new clients or educating existing ones, then 60 people in the room who aren’t decision-makers isn’t a win.”

Set a benchmark for what you’re going to track and use the same metrics for every event so you can compare them over time.

Numbers tell part of the story, but Sheenika’s team also collects structured anecdotes from attorneys after each event to track ROI. “I live in an anecdote world. I want to know the stories behind that relationship or how that client came in,” she says. Record those stories against the contact in your CRM so the link between an event and new work is visible when you review your program.

What templates can help law firms plan events?

Two free Nexl templates can help your team plan the next event with follow-up built in. Our event management template organizes the planning process in one place your marketing team and lawyers can share, from invitation lists and budgets to post-event follow-up and ROI data. For firms attending major industry conferences, our conference planning template covers the team, objectives, target lists, meeting trackers, and opportunities, so preparation and follow-up sit in the same plan.

How Nexl supports post-event follow-up

Nexl Marketing connects events to your CRM, email marketing, and workspaces, so registrations, attendance, and follow-up activity sit on each contact record. Teams can build invitation lists from relationship data, manage RSVPs, and send follow-up emails from the same system, then see which contacts engaged and which conversations led to opportunities. Book a demo to see how Nexl helps your firm turn events into new work.