Feb. 6, 2019 – Law firm websites allow lawyers to stand out from the crowd, help attract potential clients and keep existing ones. Is your law firm website shining bright?

Catherine Sanders Reach, director of practice management at the North Carolina Bar Association, recently discussed law firm websites at the 2018 Wisconsin Solo and Small Firm Conference. In this video, she provides a few short tips.

“Your firm’s website is about your client. It’s not about you,” said Sanders Reach, formerly the director of law practice management and technology at the Chicago Bar Association. “Use their language. Mimic the questions they ask you.”

Sanders Reach said clients want to know a lawyer is qualified, but don’t necessarily care to read biographical information about what the lawyer accomplished in law school.

The North Carolina Bar Association’s practice management guru said potential clients want to know about the lawyer’s experience solving their legal problem.

“Be humble. Let your personality come through,” she said. “Be casual like you are with clients and make them understand that you have empathy for them.”

Online legal providers like LegalZoom provide a service. But lawyers can provide a high level of personalized and customized care. Law firm websites can express that.

Don’t Think You Need a Website?

Many lawyers rely on referrals. Thus, the expense of a website may not be high on the list. But even referral-based practices should maintain websites, Sanders Reach says.

“The reality is, if [a friend] comes to me and asks me for a referral, I have a lot of attorneys in my head that I can refer to. First thing I’m going to do is Google them, find their website, and send a link to my friend. You really need a web presence,” she said.

Law firm websites also give lawyers control over the information about them on the internet. “If I go Google your name, and your presence in Avvo, Findlaw, and other directories ­– possibly Yelp – you aren’t controlling the information,” Sanders Reach said. “Why would you not have a website that controls the message about your firm?”

Creating the Website

Lawyers can build their own websites. Sanders Reach says it just depends on how technical they are and how much time they want to spend on it.

“If you hire someone – there’s a whole lot of people doing websites for law firms – you want to make sure that they don’t promise what they can’t deliver,” she said.

“You also want to make sure that you own the content, and you understand the terms of the contract.” In other words, understand the contract so you aren’t locked into a long-term deal, and if you want to move, the content on the website is yours to take.

Contact Your Practice Management Advisor

Sanders Reach, who spoke on law firm websites at the 2018 Wisconsin Solo and Small Firm Conference, said lawyers with questions concerning law firm websites, should start with their own bar association’s practice management resources.

Questions? Contact Christopher Shattuck, who manages the State Bar of Wisconsin’s law practice assistance program (Practice 411^™), at (800) 444-9404, ext. 6012 or practicehelp@wisbar.org.