Something Old, Nothing New, Everything Borrowed, Shades of Blue

[Editor's Note: Before you run off to copyright your Web site, as advocated in Michael McCoy's accompanying article, you may want to check that it's original! Consider these observations of Ms. Tursi, abridged from her commentary in A&FP's sibling newsletter Marketing the Law Firm.]

Recently I've been doing some research on law firm Web sites and have noticed that the look, the feel, and yes the content of many of these sites is virtually the same. In a couple of instances, the exact wording from another firm site was used to describe a practice area.

Most of the larger firms started the same way and ultimately have merged and purged to get to the size they are today. Corporate America does that all the time, and the only time they tell you about it is in an annual report. Must we read about it every time we click on a law firm site?

I counted over 20 sites of major firms that have some shade of blue in their logo and as the backdrop for their homepage. Some other firms do their sites on the cheap and utilize the basic color palate right from the “auto font” color chart. Don't you know that it's the first impression that counts? Get with it … spend some money ' that's “some” money; not an amount equal to the national debt. And for goodness sake, don't let your nephew create your site.

I'm trying to figure out if there is a disconnect between the in-house law firm marketing people and the outside or inside visual communication people. Don't they talk to one another? Because if they did I am fairly certain that law firm Web sites would have some differentials. You can actually tell what Web developer created which site. It seems to me that Web developers have a boilerplate brand that they convince law firms to purchase so that everyone looks the same.

And then there are the biographies … BORING! I don't think anyone would hire someone after reading some of these bios. Looking at some of these bios would make one think that the individuals have received every accolade that the legal profession has to offer and have worked on every important matter that ever existed. Come on now … let's get real here.

Does the word “portraiture” mean anything to anyone? A word to the wise: cameras in the hands of a staff person will not do the job!

Law firms need to rethink how they present themselves. I'm bored to death by ratings, awards, overblown bios, pontifications on winning cases, the listing of billion-dollar corporate matters even if the firm's role was minimal (acting as adviser to the adviser), and so on and so forth.

I'm beginning to think that nobody is following the advertising rules for professional services. I'm right … nobody is.

[Editor's Note: Before you run off to copyright your Web site, as advocated in Michael McCoy's accompanying article, you may want to check that it's original! Consider these observations of Ms. Tursi, abridged from her commentary in A&FP's sibling newsletter Marketing the Law Firm.]

Recently I've been doing some research on law firm Web sites and have noticed that the look, the feel, and yes the content of many of these sites is virtually the same. In a couple of instances, the exact wording from another firm site was used to describe a practice area.

Most of the larger firms started the same way and ultimately have merged and purged to get to the size they are today. Corporate America does that all the time, and the only time they tell you about it is in an annual report. Must we read about it every time we click on a law firm site?

I counted over 20 sites of major firms that have some shade of blue in their logo and as the backdrop for their homepage. Some other firms do their sites on the cheap and utilize the basic color palate right from the “auto font” color chart. Don't you know that it's the first impression that counts? Get with it … spend some money ' that's “some” money; not an amount equal to the national debt. And for goodness sake, don't let your nephew create your site.

I'm trying to figure out if there is a disconnect between the in-house law firm marketing people and the outside or inside visual communication people. Don't they talk to one another? Because if they did I am fairly certain that law firm Web sites would have some differentials. You can actually tell what Web developer created which site. It seems to me that Web developers have a boilerplate brand that they convince law firms to purchase so that everyone looks the same.

And then there are the biographies … BORING! I don't think anyone would hire someone after reading some of these bios. Looking at some of these bios would make one think that the individuals have received every accolade that the legal profession has to offer and have worked on every important matter that ever existed. Come on now … let's get real here.

Does the word “portraiture” mean anything to anyone? A word to the wise: cameras in the hands of a staff person will not do the job!

Law firms need to rethink how they present themselves. I'm bored to death by ratings, awards, overblown bios, pontifications on winning cases, the listing of billion-dollar corporate matters even if the firm's role was minimal (acting as adviser to the adviser), and so on and so forth.

I'm beginning to think that nobody is following the advertising rules for professional services. I'm right … nobody is.