My seven year old nephew could instantly tell you that the four globes on the home page represent the four continents that LLGM practices in. I’m 40 and can barely find my home state on a U.S. map. That aside, the site strength is still lots o’ content. The weakness --organization. Messy, messy, messy. The site is clearly improved from a year ago, with a search mechanism now in place. That helps. The site still needs a redesign to appropriately compliment outstanding contributions from firm attorneys. I’ll repeat what was said a year ago—tell a developer to take what you’ve got and get it all prettied up.
The firm has successfully taken some nice web elements from other sites (i.e. managing partner video, historical firm timeline) and incorporated them with the expected elements (i.e. practices, bios) to put forth a good firm overview. I was a little put off by the second browser opening up to see the “publications and articles” page that relates to a given practice. That did not make sense. A strong recruiting section. There are still some issues with keeping the site fresh, which was a criticism of the previous online edition. The graphic look is good. A little tweaking and beefing up of content would take you higher.
Maybe I’m in a better mood today, but the same basic site from a year ago (that scored a 21) seemed a little bit better than that. It is still basic, but it is current. However, not having attorneys listed by practice (as an option) kills me. What is that about? It looks okay, but still does not work for me.
Nothing has been done to fix the criticisms from ’03. The home page is so crowded that nothing sticks out. The navigation bar subcategories stick out onto the web site page, making it a pain to maneuver. I still like the “contact us” page. As Frankenstein used to say – content….gooooood – organization…baaaaad.
So many new sites and new looks in ’04. This is not one of them! Never a big fan of this site, with a home page that could double as a “satellite image of earth” screensaver. Dark and foreboding. Lacks warmth. The data is there, but just not user-friendly. Ironically, when this site hit the web, it was all timely. Now it is time to catch up. I’m also tired of the little “careers” flash show site. WILL ALWAYS HATE…the home page look and feel.
Sometimes in the IMA review process, timing is everything. Unfortunately, Venable comes after a stretch of looking at Mintz, Haynes, and Kilpatrick—three outstanding sites. This site’s look is dated. Yet, it is better than it looks (if that makes sense). It is rare that IMA says that a fresh coat of paint will go a long way, but it would. It is even rarer that I suggest the firm needs to better brand itself on the site. One of the things the Venable site does extremely well is to display the practice groups and related practice areas in a way that makes sense (such a rarity in itself). A firm that actually knows how to divide up practices and name them. Brilliant! One other suggestion for redesign…get rid of the legal columns. As a Baltimore native, I would not mind seeing a picture of Camden Yards or the Inner Harbor someplace. That home page blue is blah. WILL ALWAYS LOVE…the keyword search list in the attorney bio db…having a toll-free number there for you on every page.
The site still has that olde-tyme HTML feel to it. What you need is there, but just not delivered in the best way possible. You also need some patience in finding what you want. The most impressive new thing was a link to www.wcuniverse.com, from the home page—which should be better promoted, and offers more of a 2004 feel in site structure and organization. The downside on the review day is that the “news” in the universe had not been updated in two months. It is rare that I suggest a focus on look over content, but it is time to dump all the current site materials into something a little more modern (which has been done in the WCUniverse site).
It is rare that I am so annoyed by a reliance on PDFs to carry a web site. They are great for printing out something of particular interest. Most of today’s good web site back-ends easily allow a page to be turned into a pdf or word doc, as well as be…a web page. The attorney bios section is slightly improved. Are the four “Adams” in the Cincinnati office related? Just curious. The practice area sections continue to be a site strength. On the home page design and “message”, it would be much more effective to show me “Midwest” rather than have a freakin’ globe! I know the Midwest is part of planet earth, but…
The download time from a year ago is improved. The site is structured in such a way as to offer up the big firm basics—simple organization, good searching. The home page is up to date and timely. One area to point out to many other firms—the simple one sentence firm description that Gibson Dunn offers up on the home page. This is missing on many sites. No matter how big and powerful you might be, most people do not know who you are! The home page is especially well put together. You lack the “contact us” invitations to…contact us!
The background music is gone, but the rest of the site remains generally the same. Rather than take my suggestion of upgrading the press room and publications sections, they just got rid of them. Outside of a few short news items on the home page, the rest of the site is relatively static. They do have well-written practice descriptions and a very good attorney biography database. Still love the color, graphics and font selection. Would love to see even more. If you are looking for a very well conceived “overview” style site, this is one of them. Many firms struggle with the notion that maybe less is more, depending on the capabilities of the marketing department (if there is one). It is not always the wrong move. And if you are looking for a tasteful, web-friendly design, here it is.
