Telling the Lawyers' Story of Victim Advocacy 

The client was a law firm that works with survivors of childhood sexual abuse. They practice civil law, so they can typically only take on cases where there is an institution that should have been responsible for the safety of the child who was harmed. Many survivors have negative views towards lawyers making any money off of helping survivors pursue financial compensation. Many others are frustrated that if their abuser was a family member, there are fewer remedies available.

Our job was to produce a film that told the story of how these lawyers work with survivors and to help people understand why the lawyers can’t help everyone and what the process is like. We wanted to help potential clients understand what pursuing a legal claim means so that they may be able to calm their nervous system prior to talking to the firm.

We saw immediate results.

We incorporated pieces of this film into an ad campaign and sent people to a page with this film on it. With just $1.22 spent, we had our first qualified lead. Let’s be clear: that won’t continue, and it didn’t. The point is that within minutes of incorporating this into their marketing, they were seeing results.

Since then, we’ve seen leads continue to come in at or under their previously best costs. Over time, the firm plans to incorporate this into more and more parts of their marketing and intake processes.

Not only that, we saw an immediate shift in tone in the comments on the ads. The ads run are typically flooded with negative comments about lawyers. The ads we produced from this film immediately resulted in heartfelt comments and appreciation. This helps reflect that our emotional storytelling was both honoring of the lawyers, the sensitivity of the topic, and the needs of viewers.

This film wasn’t even part of the plan when we went to film in Toronto. We were there to film for our first feature-length documentary. We knew we wanted to collect as much as possible, so we asked all kinds of questions for a wide range of materials. As the vision began to unfold, we knew we needed to tell the story of who these lawyers are and how they help folk.

We view this as an excellent example of our abilities to over-deliver, time and time again.