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Expertise Overview
Industries Overview
Over the past 19 years, SPINX Digital has worked with a wide range of law firms, from members of the Top 30 list to medium-sized and boutique firms as well. In doing so, we’ve amassed a huge amount of experience and web strategy knowhow when it comes to completing projects for these firms. We thought it’d be helpful to share some of the most important considerations a law firm faces when planning these kinds of design projects.
Sites for smaller firms may be simpler, with less pages, content and functionality. But in order to be comprehensive with this exploration, we’re going to consider the essential aspects of building a website for a large, global law firm with ~1,000 attorneys and offices in dozens of countries. Smaller firms may focus on a smaller number of the listed goals and features, but either way, this article should give good food for thought.
We’re going to cover the following:
A website is one of the most important elements of a law firm’s brand and in how it’s perceived by the rest of the world. Your site can do many things for you: It can powerfully present your brand voice and connect with visitors on an emotional level; It can serve as a powerful tool for showcasing your firm’s experience and strengths; it can position you amongst your competition in the marketplace; and bolster your credibility and professionalism. It can also make it easier for prospective clients to learn about your company, your specific expertise, and your attorneys and the kinds of experience they have. Given everything your site can do for your firm, it’s truly one of the most important aspects of your firm’s public life.
To build a site that supports your marketing, clientele building and employee recruiting efforts requires a clear understanding of your organization’s goals, careful planning and consideration of the website’s key elements.
The primary objectives for a large, international firm’s site should include:
Whether you have 20 attorneys or a thousand, there are a few important features you’ll want to include on the site:
A searchable directory of your attorneys that allows users to filter by practice area, location, language, and expertise. Each attorney profile may include:
If you have multiple offices, your website can highlight your geographic reach. It should also make it easy for clients to find your locations so they can know where you have staff and on the ground and they plan in-person visits.
Depending on your firm, you may just need a well designed list of a few locations. For companies with more locations, you may want a robust directory that showcases your office locations worldwide. An interactive map can help users search the globe in an engaging way. For each office, provide:
For firms that serve a diverse, global clientele, or in markets where more than one primary language is spoken, your site should offer multilingual support:
There’s no better way to explain the value you can bring to a client, then a clear understanding of the practice areas in which you excel. You should provide:
A centralized hub for the firm’s thought leadership content will provide a more granular understanding of your firm’s knowledge, case work and successes.
Having resources for effectively recruiting new talent is often one of our clients’ most important goals during a web redesign. Key items can include:
Implement a secure client portal that allows clients to:
When building a website for a firm with a broad reach, consider the following strategies:
Maintain a consistent brand identity across all regions while allowing for subtle localization:
Implement geolocation technology to provide users with relevant content based on their location:
Design a navigation system that allows users to easily access information across different regions and practice areas:
Ensure fast loading times and smooth performance for users worldwide:
Every firm has its own story. Your founders and partners came from different places, eras and industries. Your focus, mission and principals are unique. You may serve very specific clients who have their own concerns & goals. The way your site is designed and the messaging and content you use help define all of these important elements of your brand.
If you’re the bad ass, undefeated business litigation team, you may seek to convey that with a sleek, steely and darkly dramatic design. If you’re a hero of small businesses or supporter of nonprofits battling for justice, you may want a warmer tone, or to convey more urgency or humanity in the design. And there are many ways these kinds of themes can be subtly combined when called for.
Some of the themes we often build into the design, based on our in depth understanding of our clients’ brands are:
The tools we use to convey these ideas can include:
➞Color Palette
A color scheme that conveys professionalism and trust, while aligning with your unique voice
➞Imagery
Images that showcase the firm’s global reach and diverse expertise:
➞Custom Graphics & Icons
Small graphics to enhance the visual language and user experience:
What is the tech stack, hosting environment and content management system that will allow your team to best host, maintain and grow your site?
Some of platforms we’ve used to build large legal sites:
•. Sitecore
• WordPress
• Custom
• .NET
• Drupal
Ensure that the website is accessible to users with disabilities:
Design the website to function seamlessly across all devices:
With a well planned design and UX, your site will increase its ability to grow lead form submissions, expand your email list and the number of followers of your podcasts and other thought leadership efforts. Our strategy will think of the full funnel shopping cycle of your clients. This means we need to make sure your CRM or other lead gen tools are well integrated.
Implement SEO best practices to improve the site’s visibility in search results. (I have to say, SPINX has amazing results in this area.)
Set up robust analytics to monitor the website’s performance:
I know this was a lot! But I hope we’ve given you a good sense of the type of site that might best serve a large, global law firm, as well as some important ideas for medium and smaller sized firms as well.
These kinds of web builds require an experienced strategy and design team. It benefits from a consultative and strategic approach from your digital partner. By focusing on key goals, implementing essential features and carefully considering the unique needs of a global audience, you can create a powerful online presence that effectively showcases your firm’s expertise and unique value and attracts clients worldwide. Sounds easy, right? 🙂
Feel free to take a look at some of our work here. And get in touch with questions!
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