10 People to Interview on Your Legal Podcast

Podcasting for lawyers is relatively easy once you figure out what to talk about. 

Having the right guest on your show is a huge help. You just need to prepare basic interview questions and let your guest do most of the talking. 

The conversational aspect of interviewing a podcast guest not only takes some pressure off you as the host, but it’s also far more engaging for your audience. It gives them more perspective on a topic from someone else, which is far more compelling. 

So, who should you interview? That answer isn’t always obvious for a lawyer running a podcast.

Here are ten candidates to consider:

1. Attorneys Covering Other Practice Areas

This is arguably the best place to start, but it’s probably the most overlooked. 

Legal podcasts strictly covering a single topic can get boring pretty quickly. Even if your practice only focuses on a single area of law, you can still cast a wider net of listeners by covering other topics.

I suggest looking for ways to bridge the gap between your practice and another in ways that make logical sense. For example, a personal injury attorney may interview an estate planning lawyer to talk about things to have in place in the event that you’re incapacitated due to a car crash. 

Ideally, try to interview attorneys nearby who are open to a reciprocal relationship for referrals. 

Most will jump on this opportunity quickly, as it gives their practice more exposure. This can also improve your branding strategy and directly generate leads if that other attorney promotes their appearance on your podcast on their website, social media platforms, and email.

2. Local Business Leaders

Consider this approach ahead of a local event in your community, as it increases the chances of getting those people on board.

Maybe the annual charity auction hosted by your local Chamber of Commerce is coming up. You can interview a member who’s promoting the event while finding legal parallels to discuss (contract law, tax law, employment law, etc.).

Or you can interview a business owner just ahead of or after their grand opening, and discuss things like their legal formation documents and intellectual property.

Again, I like this local-first approach because it’s more likely to generate leads for your firm.

Can you interview an out-of-state business owner and still have a great show? Absolutely. And it’s still good for your listeners, good for your brand, and sends the right SEO signals if you’re publishing episodes and transcripts on your site. 

But your name being mentioned alongside other trusted members of the community is huge.

3. University Presidents, Department Heads, and Professors

Law school deans are the obvious choice here. But don’t stop there.

Look at who runs the criminal justice program at nearby universities or the chair of the business school’s entrepreneurship department. These are the people who are shaping the next generation of lawyers, law enforcement, and business owners, and they tend to have opinions worth sharing.

The angle that works best is asking them what they’re seeing right now. What cases are their students studying? Or what legal issues keep coming up that weren’t there five years ago?

For personal injury attorneys, sports medicine professors can be a surprisingly strong guest. Discussing injury research and how that science holds up in court.

University guests also carry institutional credibility. Your listeners hear “Dean of Law at Northeastern University” and it immediately adds authority to the conversation (and rubs off on you as the host).

This is also a great way to build relationships to land future speaking engagements at these institutions. 

4. Former Clients

Client interviews can essentially become podcast versions of case studies for your law firm. Obviously, you need to have a client who’s willing to participate and has a good story to tell. 

Once you have that in place, these episodes can become some of your best law firm marketing materials.

The idea here is to tell a story. What exactly happened?

Hearing this story through the lens of a client can put your listeners into their shoes. It adds trust because someone else is explaining their version of events.

Any lawyer can “call us and we’ll take good care of you” or “we’ll ensure you get maximum value for your settlement.” But having a real person walk through their own experience with your firm actually shows you follow through on these promises.

Even if we put marketing, trust, and authority aside, this angle works great because podcast listeners love to hear stories. 

5. Judges

Retired judges work best.

Sitting judges have obvious constraints on what they can and can’t say. And you don’t want to put anyone in an awkward conversation. But once they’re off the bench, many of them are remarkably candid.

The best part about these interviews is that you get responses that no legal textbook or internet source will ever tell you. 

These episodes can serve a dual purpose, too. They’re useful to other attorneys who might be listening (legal professionals are a bigger slice of your podcast audience than most lawyers realize). But they’re also fascinating to anyone listening. 

Most people’s understanding of a courtroom comes from TV, which is far from accurate. So this can shed light on what actually happens in court, which makes for a genuinely compelling listen.

The ask isn’t that hard here either. Retired judges often do consulting, teaching, or mediation work. Podcast appearances naturally fit into how they’re positioning themselves, and if you can find a retired judge who wrote a book, I can guarantee they’ll want to mention that on the show. 

6. Media Members

Interviewing a journalist on your law firm’s podcast works really well because these people know how to captivate audiences. 

They make amazing guests and interviews because the interview process is often second nature to them, and they’ve been on both sides of the microphone. 

Media members tend to be eager to participate because it gets their name out there, too, which is good for their own personal branding. 

Look for people who covered a high-profile legal case. Ideally, you want the case to be relevant to your practice area. But even if it’s not directly related, these can still be great episodes. 

You want to play the long game with your legal podcast marketing strategy and understand that not every episode, guest, or word spoken is intended to drive 100 new leads. Nobody wants to hear you talk about how great your firm is for an hour every month like one long advertisement. 

Keep putting out great content consistently, and the rest will take care of itself. 

7. Law Enforcement Officers

The key here is finding someone who won’t just give you generic “we work hard to keep the community safe” answers. These are not good for podcast interviews.

So similar to judges, finding a retired officer or detective can be far more useful than active-duty personnel. 

Detectives who work in financial crimes for 30 years probably have a lot to say that’s relevant for a business law attorney’s audience. Or police officers who conducted hundreds of DUI stops over their career can be a naturally dramatic conversation sitting across from a criminal defense lawyer. 

One way to approach these interviews is by finding questions that clients are already searching for on Google.

What happens immediately after an arrest? What do cops look for during a traffic stop?

Police officers who can answer these cleanly can make for genuinely useful content. 

8. Paralegals

If you’re struggling to find a guest for your law firm’s podcast, you don’t always have to look too far. Consider interviewing a paralegal, receptionist, or assistant at your own office.

This is an easy trick that gives your guests the same engaging benefit of a conversation, but allows you to control the script a bit more.

You can always turn things around and let the legal aid ask you questions. Or “questions that you hear all the time.”

The end result is the same. You have an interview, compelling content gets produced, the episode is published, and the transcript goes on your site. Nobody will care if someone in your office is involved. So keep this one in your back pocket to use if it’s been a while since you had a guest and you don’t feel like doing cold outreach. 

9. Lawmakers

Try to land interviews from mayors, city council members, state senators, and other lawmakers at both the state and local levels.

These guests can shed insight into newly passed laws, which is something that any great legal podcast should cover. Plus, they can give your listeners more insights into laws making their way through legislation. 

If you’re able to talk about relevant laws applicable to your practice, it’s a natural way to promote your practice without actually soliciting anything. The relevance is key. 

10. Conference Organizers

Legal conferences, bar association events, and CLE organizers are the best places to start.

These people are worth pursuing because they know everyone. So in addition to having them on your show to promote an upcoming event, you can use their connections as a gateway to dozens of future guests.

Make them look good on the episode and let them talk about whatever they want to promote. They can speak to trends across the industry because they’re constantly fielding pitches from speakers and watching what topics draw the biggest rooms.  

Just make sure to get the timing right. You’ll want the episode to air while an event date has been announced and tickets are still on sale. 

Final Thoughts

The best podcast guests for lawyers aren’t always the most obvious ones. But they aren’t super hard to find either. 

You’d be surprised how willing people are to come on your show. Everyone has an agenda to push, and people love getting their name out there, too. So it’s a win-win.

Don’t overthink the connection to your practice area either.

The goal is to create interesting conversation that keeps people coming back. If the episode is good enough, the audience will stick around long enough to hear what you actually do. 

You’ll still get the long-term SEO benefits, branding, and authority-building, even if every interview question isn’t 100% dialed-in to your specific practice.