Go beyond the law firm website status quo

We’ve reviewed at a lot of law firm web sites over the years. A conservative industry by its very nature, most legal sites are largely all the same. It’s a list of practice areas, which includes an even longer list — often bullet points — of the types of cases and legal strategies and tactics the attorneys cover. The bios of partners and attorneys — the most visited pages on any firm’s website — that read like a laundry list of case types, awards, and then a full paragraph of one’s education.

But a law firm is like any other organization: It is made up of complex and unique human beings, each with a story to tell, and each with a passion for their specific area of interest. Many web companies and search engine-focused writers tend to load firm sites up with copy to help the firm get found by Google. The truth, when you talk to any attorney, is that most new business comes in through referrals, not search engines (at least not without significant investment). Therefore, it’s best to present the best version of your firm — and yourself. And that requires storytelling.

When the Richmond law firm ThompsonMcMullan approached us to create copy for their website, our one requirement is that they let us loose to craft intriguing biographies, practice area descriptions that didn’t sound like every one of their competitors, and a firm profile that captured the rich history of a four-decades-young team of jurists. You’ll also note their home page makes no distinct reference to it being a law firm. They focused, instead, on putting their values front and center. The end product, we believe with full bias, presents this small firm as one of the region’s most distinguished.