Paul Hastings http://www.paulhastings.com Many firms still struggle with putting together a decent newsletter sign-up page. Why? I don’t know. But here is a good example. Make sure it is easy to find and can be accessed throughout the site.
Hunton & Williams http://www.hunton.com They call it “legal resources”, but it is actually a page of their ancillary websites. What better way to send people to expert sites than to build your own?
Vinson & Elkins http://www.vinson-elkins.com Law students, pick your school and get ready to pursue a career at V&E. Each school page is essentially a mini-site dedicated to a specific law school. Complete with logo and relevant contacts. A better approach than the generic flash film.
Sonnenschein http://www.sonnenschein.com So many firms have the typical Chambers USA press release, go to the Chambers page here to see a nice chart with attorney and practice breakdowns. Even niftier is “Snapshot Sonnenschein”—a photo gallery of all sorts of stuff. So many firms fail to have the camera out at firm events. Not an issue here.
McGuireWoods http://www.mcguirewoods.com Not many huge firms have incorporated easy credit card payments for event and related registrations. It is not just for small firms anymore. A double-nifty shout-out to the Contract Builder—yet another innovation from the perennial IMA favorite. Always thinking outside the box.
Kaye Scholer http://www.kayescholer.com You’ll notice that many articles offer a web page view or a PDF view—take your choice. Lazy firms just have the content as PDFs. The better way to do it is to think of the PDF as the “printer-friendly” version, and make the content easier to quickly access as a web page.
Womble Carlyle http://http://www.wcsr.com/?id=86&objId=481 In a world where law firms go through themes, brands, taglines and attorneys like running water, the survival of Winston the Bulldog is a phenomenon. His link and identity with Womble shows good marketing sense. Now, he has his own bio page, with related articles (actually, ads he appears in) and an e-mail link.
Mister Thorne http://www.misterthorne.org He is not a lawyer and this is not a law firm site. This guy has the gall to suggest to law firms that they might not be doing everything correctly in regard to law firm marketing, citing specific law firm examples. I’ve reviewed thousands of resumes in assisting law firms with hiring. His approach might not necessarily work, but it is a nifty change of pace.
Skadden http://www.skadden.com Say you are visiting the site of a really big firm, unsure of what you are looking for or need? So the site lets you bookmark pages as you go along, keeping a tidy list for you. Much easier than adding these pages to a favorite list, or printing pages you might not really need. A helpful, user-friendly tool.
Baker Botts http://www.bakerbotts.com Not all “publications” need to be dense and time-consuming to be effective. Note Mark Stancil’s “Supreme Court Reports” as an example. Short and sweet on a topic that is often long and sour. Another nifty BB site component is a breakdown of practice areas that are manageable and make sense. Forget the laundry list. Organize, for goodness sake. They’ve done that.
Orrick http://www.orrick.com A few sites have done what Orrick has accomplished—combining a big-money ad campaign with the look and feel of the web site. The same ads you might spot in a magazine may very well be the images you see in the compact graphic designed box on Orrick.com. Nothing like a media campaign that matches up with the web site. Many fail here.
Arent Fox http://www.arentfox.com Under “newsroom”, the “find an expert” is a great tool for a journalist or anyone seeking specific expertise. Even niftier is the “life beyond the law” category at the bottom of many bios. A perfect human touch. And to those that have nothing listed under “life beyond the law,” I can only imagine you have none. So sorry.
Carlton Fields http://www.carltonfields.com The Florida Courts Week-At-A-Glance Page from the firm’s appellate practice is an extraordinary hyperlinked summary of selected civil and criminal cases. This is the type of dedicated, resourceful content that takes a firm’s presence a step further than the typical bio, practice, office genre.
Chapman and Cutler http://www.chapman.com The home page “streams” – deal stream, featured matter, and market trend – shows content in a manner that is visually appealing and strategically wise. A clever use of home page space.
Balch & Bingham http://www.balch.com Go to the attorney bios to see the listing of contact info for relevant legal assistants (secretaries and paralegals) for the individual, complete with phone and e-mail info. A clever way of showing an individual attorney’s team and providing access to people that probably know where he or she might be when in need.
Harris Beach http://www.harrisbeach.com The Harris Beach “Company Store” links you to a site for purchasing HB IP – such as publications and programs. See something you like? Add it to the cart and pay. The data is on your way. More and more firms are looking for revenue in slightly different places.
Choate Hall http://www.choate.com The “alumni” section on most sites gives you nothing more than an entry page to a secure extranet, so you really have little clue about the firm’s alumni program. However, Choate gives you some details, including a newsletter and photos. Plus a registration form. Yet another double-fisted nifty example here…the “Check out Choate” chart—very effective visual.
Adorno & Yoss http://www.adorno.com Plenty of firms highlight “diversity”, few actually are diverse. The breakdown pie charts and related information goes further than the typical law firm diversity mumbo-jumbo.
Best Best & Krieger http://www.bbklaw.com Under “news & events”, the “program handouts” and “court wins” are two ways of going a step further in getting value from your events, and from your victories. A step up on just listing news and past event participation.
Kluger Peretz http://www.kpkb.com Giant firms probably can not do this, but midsize firms could and should. Click on the attorney list to see a little abstract on each person, along with the phone, e-mail and vcard. Many times, the sentence abstract is all we need. However, if you want the strong bio, of course it is there. Same goes for abstracts for news, articles and events.
Day Berry http://www.dbh.com Link off the home page to vignettes on diversity and women’s initiatives at the firm. They are called TrueView web videos from www.legalinsight.com, who produce a number of different types for a variety of law firms. Effective web content that goes beyond the typical. A nice add-on to existing sites.
Robinson & Cole http://www.rc.com The newsroom offers downloads of photos and logos, complete with instructions. The more sponsorships and other biz dev initiatives you are involved in, the nicer it is to send people to this page rather than constantly having your marketing department bothered. A good example of something more and more firms are making available. Some argue that they like to retain control over this. It is more of a personal preference sort of thing.
Thompson Coburn http://www.thompsoncoburn.com Yet another more creative approach to showing you care about diversity and related issues that the typical web site page. Thompson Coburn celebrated Black History Month with a series of inspirational vignettes aired on KMOX Radio. Produced by the Missouri Historical Society, these one-minute spots salute the heroic and often history-changing achievements of St. Louis African-Americans, past and present. And when the month was over, the firm still has these media clips on the web site.
Holland & Hart http://www.hollandhart.com No, it is a web page. No, it is a newsletter. How about both? Blue, the firm’s new e-zine, combines the best of both worlds into a vibrant page/document that effectively meshes the two marketing components. Subscribe for yourself and see.
Dinsmore & Shohl http://www.dinslaw.com Billing. Shhhh. We all do it, but nobody ever wants to talk about it. Under “firm profile,” D&S has the guts to provide a page dedicated to billing information, complete with explanations and billing comparisons.
Winstead Sechrest http://www.winstead.com Need to find an attorney? Try Winstead’s attorney match page. They also have an alphabetical page and a keyword search page. True story--when I told my wife that I compared this feature to Match.com, she asked why I know what a Match.com search looks like? I said it was strictly law-related, whatever that meant. Yikes.
Schulte Roth http://www.srz.com The very good “hot topics” section is also integrated into the home page design. It highlights areas of newsworthiness and interest, leading you to particular practice pages and details.
Preston Gates http://www.prestongates.com “Other Publications” includes stuff you do not see on every law firm site, like the 2006 Congressional Calendar. It is interesting to see all the things that do not fit into generic newsletter and news categories.
Blank Rome http://www.blankrome.com Not enough firms highlight authors and books under “publications”. It is another way to help sell the books, highlight expertise and book covers provide nice little jpeg images to add to a web page’s design.
Bryan Cave http://www.bryancave.com Another good example of a firm that churns out lots of timely client alerts, easy to find on the site and easy to subscribe to via e-mail.
Davis Polk http://www.davispolk.com It sounds simplistic, but printing out the David Polk directions page for the NYC office provides a paragraph of public transportation (and walking) instruction so key to New York, yet missing on most law firm sites. I go to these firms all the time, and constantly have to phone reception to find out the subway stop, the cross-street, the building entrance, and whether I’m better off with Penn Station or Grand Central. Why is this so hard for so many to replicate?
Silverberg Zalantis http://www.szlawfirm.netAnother great site example for the solo or small firm. I don’t really advocate going the free route to a web site, but spending a few well-placed bucks can give you a nifty presence. Now, granted, Mr. Silverberg is a colleague of mine from the ABA Law Practice Management Section. After seeing Tim Stanley’s presentation about using the web effectively at an ABA LPM program last year, he said, “I’ve got to call this guy.” A few weeks later, his small firm with a big practice looks like a big firm with a bigger practice.
Sullivan & Cromwell http://www.sullivancromwell.com I never tire of watching soon-to-be-very-wealthy youngsters enjoying a fun-filled summer at a big NY firm. For me, it is hard to believe that my fun-filled summer associate year was 17-freaking years ago. Not in NYC, but in breezy, no-humidity Maine. My point is that the slide show in the summer associate section of SullCrom is put together just-right. It brings you back. And should help bring you in.
Kilpatrick Stockton http://www.kilpatrickstockton.com Check out “Get News” under “Contact” for a very cool way to customize the info you receive from the firm via e-mail. The choices go well beyond the typical practice group check boxes.
Klarquist Sparkman http://www.klarquist.com The left side of the home page highlights something you rarely ever see. Of course, listing clients is not unique. Listing the year they became clients of the firm is. From Fred Meyer to Amazon.com—they highlight clients sticking around for the long haul.
The Justinian Society of Philadelphia http://www.justinian.org When it was “suggested” to me that I consider this Justinian Society site for inclusion in the Nifty Fifty, I decided it was in my best interest to comply with the Philadelphia legal organization comprised of attorneys, judges and law students of Italian-ancestry. Just kidding around. Those darn Sopranos. The truth is that many legal organizations struggle to put together a good site, since it is generally created and maintained by volunteers. This is a good model for many similar organizations throughout the country.
Smith Gambrell http://www.sgrlaw.com The “legal limelight” under “what’s new” is another creative way of painting a human picture of your practitioners. Separate from the bio, it provides a nice space for highlighting attorney interests.
Leonard Street http://www.leonard.com If you are looking for more unique ways of displaying your practice area pages, visit Lenny. The combination of general text with a clever right-side box makes for a nice display. Like the head shots incorporated in as well. The firm also had a unique program for 1Ls—something you rarely see—but the focus is expanding. Soon, firms will recruit from Kindercare.
Irell & Manella http://www.irell.com Few firms offer a “link” option from the individual bio contact information. But, if you think about it, that could be a useful thing to offer up. If you are checking out an attorney and want to just forward the bio, this makes it quite easy.
Polsinelli Shalton http://www.pswlaw.com The home page link to the firm’s sponsorship of the Director’s College at www.boardpractice.com is one of the more interesting firm sponsorship endeavors I’ve seen this year. Something a little different is always nice.
Boies Schiller http://www.boies-schiller.com OK, so maybe this flash site is not so nifty, but I just can not get over the ironic twist of Davey Boies’ firm having such a glitzy presence. I expected to see some guy in a rumpled blazer and sneakers. Not a site out of a Nike product launch.
Dickstein Shapiro http://www.dicksteinshapiro.com HR professionals and legal admin at law firms should check out the “open positions” at DS to see how well the site can be used as a conduit for legal and non-legal job applicants. Or better yet, see if they have an opening. Use an offer as leverage.
Michael Best http://www.michaelbest.com Few firms have a section for “sponsorships”, as opposed to events or community stuff. More should. This display is a better fit. And easy to update and maintain. Also, still like the printable directory.
Patton Boggs http://www.pattonboggs.com The media guide in the media center is another creative approach to making your firm’s experts and IP better accessible to journalists. A few firms had sections following this theme. It adds value to the site.
Jenner & Block http://www.jenner.com Practically hidden on the bottom-left side of the home page is the “resource center”, dedicated to a number of high profile cases. It deserves better play. I prefer the case with Rumsfeld as the defendant to the one with him as the plaintiff. Way to go Rummy! Some of these case resource centers have extensive depth and detail.
Powell Goldstein http://www.powellgoldstein.com The weekly corporate communicator and health care communicator are two of the stronger weekly law firm e-mail newsletters you’ll see. Also check out “our clients speak” under “above and beyond.”
Wilson Sonsini http://www.wsgr.com If you want another top-notch example of an events section, see WSGR. I especially like seeing the Outlook-like calendar highlighting days where things are going on. This only works, though, if things are going on! They are at Wilson Sonsini.
Jones Day http://www.jonesday.com Another of the stronger publications sections, with an excellent publications subscription form. Worth checking out.
Akerman Senterfitt http://www.akerman.com The office pages actually tell you where to park. It sounds simple. Does your firm do this? Probably not. Do it. Also like the practice area pages (short and sweet, with expanded options). And a particularly good events page.
Stroock http://www.stroock.comThe cartoons under the careers section are still too entertaining to ignore. And another nice touch under publications is the division of firm pubs and outside pubs. And those outside pubs include podcasts, pdfs and web pages.
