Laura V. Hudson
Chief Marketing Officer
T 919.277.9218
F 919.277.9177
E LVHudson@wardandsmith.com
O Raleigh, NC
Laura Hudson shapes the voice, strategy, and reputation of one of the Carolinas’ most established law firms. As Chief Marketing Officer, she leads Ward and Smith’s marketing, communications, and business development efforts across seven offices, translating complex legal services into clear, compelling stories that connect with clients and communities.
In a career spanning more than two decades, Laura has worked at the intersection of law and marketing, advising mid-sized multi-office firms across the Southeast on how to grow with intention. Her work encompasses content strategy, brand development, attorney coaching, lateral integration, and firmwide communications, covering the full range of what it takes to build a firm’s reputation from the inside out.
Laura is a recognized leader in the legal marketing profession. She has served on the international board of the Legal Marketing Association (LMA), where she co-chaired the Governance Task Force and Governance Committees. She founded the LMA’s Raleigh City Group and served as the 2023 President of LMA’s Southeast Region, one of the organization’s largest and most active chapters. Her service reflects a career-long commitment to elevating the profession, not just practicing it.
That same commitment to excellence extends to the firm’s internal operations. Laura holds a Yellow Belt certification in Legal Lean Sigma® and Project Management from the Legal Lean Sigma Institute, and she served as an appointed public member of the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization from 2017 to 2023, a distinction that reflects the unusual depth of her engagement with the legal industry beyond marketing alone.
Whether the work calls for a major brand refresh, a strategic communications plan, or a thoughtful announcement about the firm’s growth, Laura brings a practitioner’s rigor and a storyteller’s instinct to every challenge.
Honors and Distinctions
Recognized by North Carolina Lawyer’s Weekly as a “Unsung Legal Hero” in 2017
- M.A., Communications, The University of Georgia
- B.A., English, Communications, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Legal Marketing Association, Member
International LMA Service: Co-chair, Sponsor Relations Committee (2004-05); Member, International Board of Directors (2006-08); Co-chair, Governance Committee (2009-2011)
Regional LMA Service: Southeast Chapter Board of Directors (2002-04); LMA Southeast Regional Governing Board Director of Outreach (2019), Director of Membership (2020-21), and President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President (2022-24); Nominations Committee Chair (2024)
Local LMA Service: Founder, Raleigh City Group (2002). Membership Chair, Triangle -Triad Local Steering Committee (2016-2018)
- North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, Public Board Member 2017-2023
I asked Claude what I should disclose here based on what my main AI companion knows about me. Here is the unedited (gulp!) view:
The work that drives me most is the kind that makes something complicated feel simple. Legal services can be intimidating, and I believe that clear, honest communication is one of the most valuable things a firm can offer its clients. That conviction shapes everything I do, from how we write a practice area description to how we announce a firm milestone. I hold strong opinions about language and punctuation. I will defend the Oxford comma without hesitation or apology, and I have never met an em dash I didn’t want to delete.
One thing that surprises people about my role is how far it extends beyond traditional marketing. Strategic planning, culture assessment, firm expansion, attorney development: the work of building and sustaining a firm’s reputation happens everywhere, not just in the communications that carry the firm’s name. I’ve come to think of my job as less about marketing and more about coherence, making sure the firm that exists on the inside matches the one the world sees.
That perspective deepens with time. I joined Ward and Smith in 2016 and have had a front-row seat to the firm’s growth from 80 attorneys to 120, from five offices to seven, and from one state to two. I’m not an outside observer of our firm’s story; I’ve helped write it.
My educational background in communications, a B.A. from Carolina and an M.A. from the University of Georgia, gave me a foundation that I draw on every day. And my six-year appointment as a public member of the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization was a reminder that credibility in the legal industry isn’t reserved for attorneys. It has to be earned, and I take that seriously.
Outside the office, I bring the same instincts to everything else, which my family finds either admirable or exhausting, depending on the day. I recently coordinated an Oktoberfest trip to Munich for my son and six of his friends, approaching it with the same thoroughness I would bring to a firmwide content audit. Spreadsheets were involved.
Articles + Insights
Ward and Smith: Our Highlights of 2023
December 27, 2023
Year in Review: Ward and Smith’s Top Articles of 2020
December 30, 2020
