Simple, elegant, well-organized. The site stays away from generic blah, blah, blah rhetoric, and follows the KISS approach. Excellent navigation. User-friendly. Up to date. The site remains a nice textbook site for other power firms trying to figure out how to use the web effectively to post data, get the message across, and be a communication tool.
There are so many bakers in the law firm kitchen, I never remember McKenzie from Botts from Hostetler from Daniels from Donelson from the muffin-maker (my personal favorite, but not a law firm). For the nation’s largest law firm (BakeMac), they have accomplished quite a feet by getting a site that is straightforward, structured and fresh. They follow the (keep it simple stupid) approach that is often needed with that many cooks (or should I say Bakers) in the kitchen. It is organized and up to date, which is a chore in itself. Firms with far fewer offices, attorneys and practice areas fail to score online, where these folks have gotten the web tool appropriately positioned.
Calfee is celebrating 100 years with a new web site that takes many of the expected site components and jazzes them up a bit. The search components are different. It is always refreshing not to see the same things 100 times over. Everything is right where it should be. I would still like to see a few more contact options, for gathering online info and possible subscription info. The “media kit” was under construction. If you are very cultured, like me, you must see the art work on display. The site’s look is very modern and has a nice finish. The freshness of data is up to speed as well.
As I stroll through the 250 largest U.S. firm sites, I am just beside myself with shock at how many firms have new sites since last year. Cooley is no exception. One of the first things I look for is correcting the problems from the previous site. The bios are better; the download time fine; good variety and depth of information. I like the “alerts” and the sign-up, as well as the events and events calendar.
Still one of my favorites among the largest firm web sites. To repeat from IMA 03…Tasteful, elegant and useful. Cov.com provides lots of little touches that increase its value to visitors. Many documents are offered in both HTML and PDF, with the document sizes included… Other little touches include the current time at each office location around the globe. It was not broke, so there was no need to fix it.
Fulbright.com is all new, and all of last year’s criticisms (IMA was harsh…splash pages, poor home page, etc.) have been done away with. The upgrade amounts to a premier large law firm effort. The site takes on the look and feel of a major corporate site (that is a compliment, in case you are wondering), while giving lots of props to “recruiting” and “hot items” throughout. A little busy in terms of design. You might miss the “download” section, which provides an easy way to promote and distribute materials through the site. I saw it in a corporate counsel magazine ad as well—good convergence (go to Fulbright.com/download).
Hey, if you are going to have a page called “what’s new on the web site”, you better keep it updated. It really is a wasted page, since news and highlights should tell me what is new. I’ve seen fewer print ads out there (which were probably a waste). There appears to be a renewed focus toward seminars. Here is a hint. Put them on yourself, to better control the audience, content and speakers. GCs are more impressed when a firm does it themselves. I like the secure section for new hires, which is a nice tool for a large firm. Overall, the HD site has been very good for a number of years now. Which is a good lesson for many…when you build a strong platform, the site will have a longer shelf life. WILL ALWAYS LOVE…good online forms and interactivity capabilities. Note—This review pre-dated the Wilmer merger.
The “Representative Matters” database is outstanding, with interesting search criteria options. Something worth stealing, and deserving of a little better play. The home page has not too little and not too much—probably just right. Interestingly, besides the photo changing with each visit (refresh), so did the highlighted practice (which gives everyone a shot at front page exposure) and the headlines (which I did not really get). WILL ALWAYS LOVE…good mirrored sites in a few foreign languages.
How many times am I going to have to say “vast improvement” during this year’s IMAs? A home page with balance, brand and a message. One of the best “our services” pages I’ve seen. Here is a suggestion. Add a page of every category listed alphabetically as well. A little more detail for each office would be nice. And the navigation categories could use some refining (once you get into the site, you can get lost). But, it is on its way to being top-drawer.
One of the reasons that IMA is taking 2005 off is that firms like KC take all the fun out of it by improving the web site too much. With the help of developer Firmseek, you’ve got the online presence needed today. Easy to navigate, interactive where it needs to be, the right content in the right places. Especially gratifying was the level of new materials that had been posted in just the last few weeks. Did you know I was visiting? Probably not. Keep it up. I also enjoyed the option of brief or expanded practice and attorney bio pages.
