Law firms showing signs of Web-wisdom

INTERNET MARKETING: There are 8,524 law firms in England and Wales; 895 now have their own Web sites

More than 10% of all active law firms in England and Wales - 895 in total - now have their own Web sites, a survey has shown.

According to leading legal IT consultant Delia Venables, the boom shows no sign of slowing down, with more sites being launched daily.

There are 8,524 active law firms in England and Wales on the most recent statistics.

English firms account for 860 of the Web sites.

Many of the firms on the Web have set up additional sites specialising in a niche area of work.

Examples include hrlaw.co.uk from Fox Williams, marketinglaw.co.uk from Osborne Clarke, landlord-law.co.uk from Tessa Shepherdson, injuryclaimsline.com from Stephen Rimmer & Co, areyoumovinghouse.co.uk from Penmans, and from Shoosmiths, shoosmithsclaimscompensation.co.uk

The reasons for firms setting up new sites rather than merely expanding their existing one are twofold, according to Ms Venables: they may want to offer a more specialised and focused site separate from the main one, or they may want a trendy Web address to get picked up by the major search engines.

For example, Bristol-based Osborne Clark runs gamesbiz.net, a specialised site for computer games companies, as well as marketinglaw.co.uk and osborne-clarke.co.uk

'Names such as gamesbiz.net are snappy and trendy, and so are much more likely to get listed by a major search engine, which will bring in business,' explained Ms Venables.

Some firms have gone to extremes in a bid to make themselves more Web friendly.

In April, Nottingham-based firm Freeth Cartwright Hunt Dickens renamed itself 'freethcartwright'.

Other firms have taken less drastic steps to get noticed on-line, and have bought up domain names that point directly at the firm's main site.

For example, yoursolicitors.com leads directly to the site of Reading-based firm Field Seymour Parkes, and cerebalpalsy.co.uk leads straight to the site of Altrincham-based medical negligence and personal injury specialists Alexander Harris.

l For a full list of law firm Web sites, visit: www.venables.co.uk/firms.htm

Victoria MacCallum