Spinning a web of intrigue to entice clients

DELIA VENABLES TRAWLS THROUGH THE MYRIAD OF LEGAL SITES AND OFFERS PRACTICAL ADVICE ON DESIGN

Most firms now have some kind of Web site but these vary from simple 'brochure' sites through to complex sites which sell legal services on-line.

First, brochure sites.

This phrase is not an insult but a simple description of the purpose of the Web site; the site provides an on-line brochure for the firm.

Indeed, the brief given to the Web design company may have been to take the firm's brochure and present it on the Internet.

For a firm, in 2003, not to have even this basic type of Web site is inexcusable.

And it is becoming clear that potential clients will often look at a firm's Web site before contacting the solicitors.

Here are a few pointers for designing a site in this form:

- If you are simply presenting the basic information about a firm, avoid complicated graphics; sites built using Flash can look good but take a long time to load.

Remember that most private homes do not yet have broadband access to the Internet.

- Use the firm's logo, if appropriate, or some graphics, but avoid large pictures of the senior partner or the building.

These slow down the site and do little to build confidence.

Try to keep a lightness of touch in colour and design.

- Ensure the firm's full address and telephone details are included, preferably on the first page, and ensure also that a working e-mail address is given.

Firms that attempt to avoid unstructured e-mails by providing an on-line form requesting information (with no actual e-mail address given) are unlikely to get many responses.

- Provide information about the work of the firm, and for private clients in particular, use words which the potential client will recognise (or be searching on), such as divorce, house purchase and employment rather than family department, conveyancing and litigation.

- Include information about the partners or other lawyers in the firm, possibly with small pictures.

If you use pictures, make sure they are good ones in which the lawyers are smiling.

Turning to sites providing free information, these are still primarily brochure sites (and all the points above still apply) but they also offer free information to attract potential clients.

The topics that appear most often on firms' sites are accidents and personal injury generally, conveyancing, divorce and wills, but just about every other legal topic has at least a few firms providing free information.

A few sites are effectively on their own in their chosen topic.

For example, there is 'With Women In Mind', from London firm Rooks Rider; holiday law from Andrea & Co in Guildford; garden law from solicitor Richard Smithies; horse law from solicitor Jane Phillips; the Dental Law Partnership (the name of the firm); and Bikeline from solicitor Alyson France.

Legal disclaimers are usually in place on these sites, saying that people should not rely on the information provided, but even so the information needs to be kept up to date.

Large firms which offer extensive free information on their sites include Simmons & Simmons, with elexica, and Masons with Out-Law.

Some firms offer more detailed information on their sites as a subscription service.

For example, Winward Fearon has a construction law database with full case reports, but this is rare.

It was widely assumed that sites selling legal services on-line would be the way that all Web sites would develop ('earning while you sleep'), but this does not seem to be the case.

Indeed, since Desktop Lawyer withdrew from providing sites for firms of solicitors selling documents which could be generated by the client without direct assistance from a lawyer, this type of site seems to have disappeared from view.

Desktop Lawyer used a document-generation program called Rapidocs.

Users who wanted a document for, say, a will or a divorce, downloaded the Rapidocs software and the template for the particular document, after payment of the requisite fee.

They then generated the document themselves on their computer.

However, some of the original firms offering documents in other ways are still doing so, including small firms Kaye Tesler, Fidler & Pepper, Tessa Shepperson, and Briffa & Co.

At one time, there was a real fear within the legal profession that commercial sites would offer legal documents on-line and take away substantial amounts of business, but this does not seem to have happened.

There are many commercial sites offering documents on-line, but, if they are selling large numbers of, say, packaged divorces, they are keeping quiet about it.

This applies to high street firms.

Larger firms selling documents and packaged advice include Hugh James with click2law.com, Osborne Clarke with gamesbiz.net, Dickinson Dees with dickinson-dees.com/bizdocs and Berwin Leighton Paisner with complytoday.com.

Some large firms also offer advice and documents on-line as paid services, including Linklaters' Blue Flag and Clifford Chance with NextLaw.

Moving to sites that offer enhanced services, the real excitement lies in the provision of services via the firm's site.

The two main types of this are case tracking on-line and 'deal rooms'.

The idea of case tracking on-line is that a client can access the firm's Web site and find out the latest progress on the case at hand.

To do this, the latest case information is extracted from the firm's case management system, either on a scheduled basis or, in the more sophisticated types of system, on a continuous basis, and placed on the firm's Web site, in a form which can be accessed by the client, who is armed with the appropriate passwords.

If the client is an estate agent or company providing multiple cases to the firm, the type of report can cover the whole range of cases at hand for that work provider.

Sites which have examples of case tracking on their sites (so the casual viewer can see sample reports) include Arora Bailey, Fidler & Pepper and Sykes Anderson.

Other sites which offer case tracking on-line (although you cannot see sample reports on their sites) include AMS Law, Stanley Tee, Franklins, Lees Lloyd Whitely, JST Mackintosh, FitzPatricks and Sills & Betteridge.

While having case reports on-line may sound relatively straightforward, it requires the software company providing the case management system to have developed the particular modules needed.

It also needs a whole new level of security provisions to be set in place by the firm or (if the software supplier is hosting the Web site) by that supplier.

In particular, if the provision of the case information is to be up to date (that is, provided in 'real time') then the case management system has to be in close contact with the firm's Web site.

Considerable volumes of data transfer will take place, with the constant risk that the case management system (which is the firm's ultimate repository of knowledge) could be hacked into by an external person.

Most smaller and medium-sized firms have not yet attempted this type of development and indeed should be very cautious about doing so - but it will certainly come.

The 'deal room' (or extranet) is really a more sophisticated version of case tracking on-line, in which not only the progress of the case but also supporting documents are made available to the client.

All parties in a transaction have access to the case reports, with different levels of access provided to different participants.

Drafts and amendments are fully tracked and offers and responses can be sent electronically.

This type of system is also relevant to on-line dispute resolution with, for example, different participants seeing only the level of information which is appropriate to them.

Most large firms have now implemented deal rooms of various sorts for their commercial clients and the software can be purchased from several sources.

However, again the security of such sites is a major concern.

With regard to other models, several firms have set up marketing arrangements with companies so that their information, and a link to their Web site, appears on that company's site.

Examples of this include Sykes Anderson working in association with Hairco and Country Life, and Sherrards linking up with a business transfer agency called Forum Commercial.

FirstLAW manages legal tenders and LawGym provides fixed price (but individual) advice via the Web.

In Scotland, many firms offer estate agency services via their sites (compete with full house details and searching processes) but these are not yet much found in England and Wales except on the Solicitors Property Shop site (www.sps.net).

Finally, remember that most people use the Web to find out answers to legal questions (where possible) and to discover more about firms of solicitors, rather than to replace the solicitor with a completely impersonal on-line service.

Of course, this is as the 'traditionalists' predicted in the first place - but they need to be careful, since the more adventurous firms are finding ways to enhance the service they offer via the Web.

Already, a firm without a Web site is considered to be old-fashioned.

In a few years, any firm that cannot provide access to case progress on-line will be at a disadvantage.

For links to all the firms mentioned above, see www.venables.co.uk/firms.htm.

Delia Venables is a computer consultant for lawyers.

She edits the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers (www.venables.co.uk/newslett.htm)