@home with lawyersWEB MARKETING: Martindale Hubbell helps small firmsLegal publisher Martindale Hubbell chose last weeks exhibition to launch two on-line products: Lawyer HomePages, a Web site design service aimed at small to medium-sized...Legal publisher Martindale Hubbell chose last weeks exhibition to launch two on-line products: Lawyer HomePages, a Web site design service aimed at small to medium-sized law firms, and www.lawyerlocator.

co.uk, an on-line search directory and information service to help the public find lawyers.HomePages has been developed in association with LawyerLocator, and firms with a Lawyer HomePage will automatically be listed first in the Lawyer Locator search results category.

The search engine contains all UK firms listed in Butterworths Law Directory.Yolanda Dolling, international publishing and product development director, said the HomePage programme would be of benefit for smaller firms who did not necessarily have a large IT support or marketing team.

We design and host the firms Web site for them, including their domain name registration and registration with a number of search engines, but we also offer a raft of support services, said Ms Dolling.

We use our marketing experience to advise firms on the content of the site for example, if they have a conveyancing page, its also a good idea to have a page on wills.The preferential placement of the HomePages on the Lawyer Locator search engine would also help market smaller firms, said Ms Dolling.

Firms without a HomePage would also be listed on the search engine albeit lower down with either an external link to their own site, or a list of their details and credentials.

Ms Dolling stressed that the HomePages were more than just a brochure we want to help firms put information thats useful for their clients on the site.

As a result, the sites have secure e-commerce facilities to enable clients to instruct solicitors and pay on-line using credit cards.We want to put the entire legal process on-line, explained Ms Dolling.

Enquiring about legal services is one thing, but we want to let people carry out everything from instructing to paying on-line.Victoria MacCallum