Marketing sites fail to impress solicitors

Most solicitors are unimpressed by legal marketing sites on the Web, believing them to offer poor value for money, recent research has revealed.

A survey of more than 70 law firms by legal IT expert Delia Venables showed that while Internet users utilise free information on Web sites, this interest rarely progresses into 'real' work for lawyers.

Legal marketing sites are commercial Web pages that attempt to attract people with legal problems and then refer their work onto a panel of solicitors who pay for the privilege of being listed.

'Most people searching for legal information on the Web are looking for free advice,' said Ms Venables.

'They don't want to be a proper client, so when they are passed on to a solicitor, there are difficulties.'

She also said that part of the problem was that many Web-based legal services were 'constructed by people with good intentions, but who don't necessarily put the correct investment into the business'.

This meant that the sites were not properly advertised.

'I also think most solicitors have an emotional inclination not to hawk themselves about in this way,' she added.

Comments in survey responses included: 'I am very suspicious of some of the claims of the pay sites and they don't seem to be able to guarantee any level of return for the initial outlay'; and 'The majority emphasise how many people will view their site, but in practice what interests solicitors is whether they will be persuaded to contact a solicitor included on the Web site'.

Those few sites spoken of favourably in the survey included DivorceOnline, LawJunction.com, CanIClaim?, FirstLaw.co.uk and non-legal directory site yell.co.uk.

Andrew Towler