| Firm Name |
Design |
Content |
Usability |
Interactivity |
Intangibles |
Total |
| Thompson & Knight |
6 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
27 |
| Just the other day, an attorney at a firm I deal with was talking about not seeing the “printer-friendly” button near his bio. The nice thing about the right-side “user-friendly” buttons on TK is that they move with the scroll of the page, so that even the less computer-savvy can figure it out. The look and feel is nice. The practice areas need to be better developed, and linked up to relevant content elsewhere on the site. Still good. |
| Blank Rome |
5 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
26 |
| The home page is getting a little crowded. What is the difference between the headlines on the left and the announcements on the right? How about a few sentences about the firm and one section of highlights? You can always have “more news” inside. I do like the color-coded division of items and the breakdown by months under “news/events”. For a firm of this size, other sections lack a degree of depth. The “contact us” issues pointed out last year were fixed. That is a plus. |
| Brown Raysman |
5 |
5 |
4 |
6 |
6 |
26 |
| The highlight for me was the cle/seminars section, which does a nice job. The home page is simple and effective and the navigation is improved. The site search engine was not the greatest, but is better than some firms that still do not have them at all. I’m still not in love with all the design elements, and some areas still cry out for more (and newer) publications. |
| Fenwick & West |
6 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
26 |
| It seems like on every site, I’m referring to the “new lawfirm.com” web site. Good to see everybody continues to work toward mastering the Internet. F&W’s new site is nicely structured, and is really just lacking in updating and newsworthiness. Gone are the old dump-and-scroll pages and the lack of a search engine. On this review date, it has been two months since anything detectable has been entered. Combined with a static-looking home page, it sends the wrong message to visitors. The back-end and structure are clearly in place. Now, it is time to populate away. |
| Fried Frank |
4 |
7 |
4 |
6 |
5 |
26 |
| Still not the prettiest girl at the dance, but the upkeep is good. The strength is not on the basics—bios, practice descriptions, etc.—but on the updating and practice-specific pages and services offered. There was a host of “newsworthy” items. And I hope that the firm markets the specialty news to clients well. It takes a few minutes, but the more you surf around, the more impressed you get with what you can find. |
| Gardner Carton |
4 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
3 |
26 |
| Still find the design underwhelming, but the content above-average. Everything that really needs to be there…is. The firm continues to participate and promote in a good amount of seminars and events. |
| Goodwin Procter |
5 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
26 |
| An extensive perusal of the site shows that the firm is doing a nice job of getting out relevant materials and putting on some nice (and quite timely) seminars. The organization and relating of some content still needs some improvement. However, the site is better than a year ago. While I like some of the areas such as “contacts” and “clients” for each section, things do get a little crowded. The pro bono data is good stuff. Like in NYC, Boston firms have come a long way in improving themselves in the online world. |
| Gordon & Rees |
7 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
26 |
| The blue background and slightly different look works. The home page is strong, sending all the right messages. The internal pages do the trick. Some sections could use a few more items (such as presentations), yet it is hard to argue with the way most of the information has been set out. |
| Gray Robinson |
6 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
3 |
26 |
| The firm and site formerly known as Gray Harris is now gray-robinson.com. The new site is still the basic nuts & bolts. Good bios. Simple practice descriptions. A stand out item was the “media information” buried on the lengthy “news and events” page. Still taking the “overview” approach, but the “entry” page is long gone and the news items are improved as well. |
| Kaye Scholer |
5 |
7 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
26 |
| This site started to grow on me the longer I surfed through. There was more to see than first meets the eye. I think it could still be a little jazzier, but the reality is the go-to items are there and in order. On this day, the home page had a powerful headline of a major firm victory in a patent matter. While I really liked having the “deskbook” there to download, many probably would not know exactly what it was (a 60-page overview of the firm in a PDF). It could use a slicker icon to highlight it as well. Otherwise, lots of good areas—media, seminars, alumni—in an understated delivery. While the icons might not be the coolest, they were NOT legal clipart, which is always appreciated. |
