Arter Hadden http://www.arterhadden.com "A moment in time" - The home page changes daily with a historical moment noted, as well as a way of hyper linking to a related section within the site.
Morgan Lewis http://www.morganlewis.com HSRscan - Unique database and vertical site built for Antitrust considerations regarding the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act.
Pillsbury Winthrop http://www.pillsburywinthrop.com Site mirrored in Chinese. Use of foreign languages to address worldwide audience (key in Intellectual Property practice).
Morrison & Foerster http://www.mofo.com "The Mofonics," a firm garage band, with audio downloads. A much more impressive display of "cool" for recruits than just another flash show.
Squire Sanders http://www.ssd.com Excellent attorney biography database. Good search functionality. Say what you want, but a firm`s value and selling points are in the attorneys. The easier to do the advanced category searches, the better the site.
Heller Ehrman http://www.hellerehrman.com "Meeting Center" - Use of webex for on-line meetings. Good technology use to make a web site truly interactive.
Internet Keyword: Perkins Coie http://www.perkinscoie.com Own their "internet keyword" or "realname," so that all you need to do to get to the site is put the firm name into your Internet Explorer browser for a direct connection to perkinscoie.com.
Perkins Coie http://dc.perkinscoie.com Specialty site for Perkins Coie DC, specifically the Political Law Site. If a firm is marketing to a particular practice group or city, do not hesitate to create independent specialty sites when appropriate. Just make sure you link through to the original home site.
Duane Morris http://www.duanemorris.com E-mail link to colleague; printer-friendly version links on each page. Like many good informational sites in the web industry, make it easy for someone to forward an article of interest, or e-mail an item forward to a colleague.
Patterson Belknap http://www.pbwt.com Guest Services. Do not forget the original "gimmes". A nice concierge-like feature for info on parking, hotels, directions, etc.
Orrick Herrington http://www.orrick.com Online Press Room. Resource for visiting media and journalists. The fourth estate is an often-overlooked "audience" for these sites. "About Orrick". Use of audio and video to deliver the Chairman`s Message.
Sullivan & Cromwell http://www.sullivancromwell.com Virtual Tour. Ideal for all audiences. For recruits and potential laterals, a detailed tour of the facilities, for clients and prospects, a show of influence.
King & Spalding http://www.kslaw.com K&S University. Again, powerful for recruiting, in showing continual commitment to education and career enhancement. For clients, the knowledge that your attorneys are staying on top of changes, and continuing to improve.
Fried Frank http://www.ffhsj.com Services by Email. Good use of e-mail to deliver timely and informative communications to those asking for these services.
Manatt Phelps http://www.manatt.com Bios in Flash. The often-overused flash component actually becomes part of the information distribution with the choice of viewing bios in flash or html.
LeBoeuf Lamb http://www.llgm.com iBusiness Survival Guide. Stop saying you know how to practice in the "new economy" and show it!
Bracewell & Patterson http://www.bracepatt.com Attorney Alumni Network. Keeps alumni in the loop as another potential end-user audience, and also shows off talent now in important new roles, such as GCs, political appointees, judges, etc.
Linowes & Blocher http://www.linowes-law.com Representative Clients. An old page but a goodie. The best way to display representative clients on-line, with descriptions and hot-links.
Ballard Spahr http://www.virtualchase.com Legal Research. You can get to it from the www.ballardspahr.com, but most users go right to the source. Some firms have librarians that enjoy the web, and show off research talents. Another source of good site content.
Seyfarth Shaw http://www.hrcomply.com HR Compliance Business. True e-commerce, spinning off an Internet business from a firm specialty area.
Holland & Hart http://www.caseshare.com Extranets/Paperless Office. Firm builds technology internally and spins it off as a side business.
Womble Carlyle http://www.firmlogic.net Practice Support. Another example of true law firm e-commerce, taking a resource and creating a business subsidiary.
Fulbright & Jaworski http://www.fulbright.com West and Martindale Biographies. Instead of their own bio database, gives users a choice of using West Group or Martindale profiles.
Cleary Gottlieb http://www.cgsh.com Employment Benefits. Again, forget the flash, show me the cash. Great detail in showing employment benefits for firm associates.
Brobeck http://www.joinbrobeck.com Recruiting Site. Not only a unique URL for recruiting, but a separate site for a different "key" audience. For larger firms, a good approach.
Alston & Bird http://www.alstonbird.com eBusiness Site. The A&B firm site is nothing special, but the side site dedicated to the Internet and eBusiness practice group is database-driven, better looking and impressive for the technology crowd.
Winston & Strawn http://www.winston.com Descriptions for Links. Similar to the Linowes example for representative clients, the resource library links give you some meat around the hyperlinks to other informative sites, such as for environmental law.
Gibney Anthony http://www.gibney.com GAF OWL. Great use of extranets and bulletin boards for clients. Rare use of this type of technology for consumer-based clientele, such as immigration and family law. Also, strong display for IP.
Wilson Sonsini http://www.wsgr.com Cool Navigation Bar and Good Graphic Displays. The nav bar travels with you up and down the page, always keeping the all-important left-hand navigation consistent and visible to the end-user. Also, good use of diagrams and charts, such as in the WSGR Business Plan.
Venable http://www.venable.com Law Quiz. Entertaining interactivity with a humorous law quiz.
Lathrop & Gage http://www.lathropgage.com Home Page. The home page design goes against everything I teach, and every key facet of site creating. But, it is different-looking, truly a rarity in law firm web site design and creation. My tip to them… change the home page to a splash page (another favorite component of mine—NOT), but would be stronger overall.
Dickinson Wright http://www.dickinsonwright.com Powerpoint Slides/Seminars. Not enough sites take their presentations from CLEs and seminars, and use them as fodder for the web. The example used here was on employee stock option plans, by attorney Cynthia Moore. When someone asks you for your slides after a presentation, instead of e-mailing them one by one, make them visit your site.
McDermott Will http://www.mwe.com On-line Registration for Video/Teleconference. Use of technology all-around, for registration and presentation.
Holland & Knight http://www.hklaw.com Banner Ads with a purpose. Use of banner ads on a site for a law firm are generally inappropriate, but this use is beautiful. The banners promote information and sites from the firm`s charitable foundation. An impressive display of pro bono and a firm with a heart - which would impress any audience visiting.
Gibson Dunn http://www.gibsondunn.com Two great points, domain name change and linking to strong content. First, the firm changed the domain name to the appropriate and user intuitive "gibsondunn.com." Also, linked to strong content on the CNN site, in this case, the firm`s involvement in the Gore/Bush post-election fray.
Saul Ewing http://www.saul.com Golf Practice. For most corporate firms, the practice areas rarely change much. But, if you have a unique area of expertise, such as "golf law" - promote it prominently. "Uniqueness" is one of the toughest tests to pass in my web site audit.
Mayer Brown http://www.appellate.net One of their many sub-sites. Reprinting content from other sites. In this case, getting reprint permission from Law.com to simply copy the content and post on your site.
Milbank Tweed http://www.milbank.com Home Page Design Choice. Before eating up download time, you ask me if I would like the site in flash, html, or whether I need or would like the flash plug-in. For the end-user, it is nice to be asked.
Clifford Chance http://www.cliffordchance.com Online Services Sites. Take your pick, such as Nextlaw or Alerter. Sophisticated use of the Internet to cross-sell firm services.
Gatti & Associates http://www.gattiassociates.com Solo Show of Force. "Shame on you, mid-size firm," I often say to those that somehow can not generate any impressive content for its site. Why is this solo from Haddonfield, New Jersey on the 50? An outstanding display of using the web for her international law practice. Others should take a lesson from Margaret Gatti.
Faegre & Benson http://www.faegre.com "My Lawfirm" Customization. So rich and informative, but being able to customize the home page for me is one of the most powerful ways to get repeat traffic. But, you need to back it up with loads of content, and F&B does!
Latham & Watkins http://www.lw.com So strong in all the important components!
McGuire Woods http://www.mcguirewoods.com Always ahead of the curve. Unlike firms that arrived late for the party, and built great sites, the site formerly known as mwbb.com, always does things right. And not just right by law firm web site standards, but follows the Internet industry standards to a tee.
Arent Fox http://www.arentfox.com Interactivity Plus. Another long-time great site always a step ahead…
