Abstract

Given the ever-increasing demand for audiovisual content on the Internet, more and more law firm websites have started to dedicate space to multimodal texts in which oral and visual communication substitutes the written word. This contribution aims to expand knowledge on the linguistic nature of a new audiovisual genre often embedded in law firm websites, i.e. attorneys’ video FAQs. In previous research, video FAQs in American law firm websites emerged as an innovative audiovisual genre of legal knowledge popularisation, through which attorneys answer a series of hypothetical questions potential clients may have on crucial points of law. By means of a corpus-assisted approach, this study quantitatively and qualitatively investigates the way in which person pro-forms (i.e. subject and object personal pronouns, possessive adjectives and pronouns) are exploited by attorneys to discursively construct different facets of identity so as to engage with the audience, guide their attention, and promote the credibility of the law firm.