Top firms 'fail Web test'

CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY: only one out of 17 practices meets criteria, according to RNIB


A number of top 100 law firms are failing to meet basic accessibility tests for their Web sites, the Gazette can reveal.


A Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) analysis, commissioned by the Gazette, found that only one out of 17 firms picked for testing passed the internationally recognised benchmark for Web site accessibility, WCAG 1.0, despite the guidelines being out since 1999.


The RNIB was asked to manually check a selection of top law firms after the Gazette was shown a trawl of the top 100 firms by Web design company ClearPeople, in which 60% of firms failed the WCAG (Web content accessibility guidelines) test when an automatic testing program was used.


But the real figures are almost certainly far higher, as the RNIB found that only one law firm out of 17 picked for more rigorous, manual testing passed WCAG 1.0 level A.


Though the law cannot currently demand compliance with WCAG 1.0, service providers are potentially caught by part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, meaning any provider of a service on-line must provide disabled users with an accessible service.


All the firms that failed who replied to the Gazette acknowledged that accessibility is extremely important, and there was a unanimous commitment to comply with WCAG.


Some firms pledged to be compliant by the end of this month or said their lack of compliance was a temporary Web site problem. Others said that either they would be compliant by the end of the year, or that the problems will be addressed as part of ongoing programmes of implementation.


The only firm to pass the RNIB test was City firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Catherine Trow, head of publications and Web site at Freshfields, said she was delighted.


'There are guidelines out there that we feel it's important that we comply with... it is important when you're a major international law firm to have your Web site working in this way. You can't ignore these things and you shouldn't ignore them,' Ms Trow said.


The firms examined as examples following ClearPeople's automated results were: Bircham Dyson Bell, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Eversheds, Freeth Cartwright, Freshfields, Hammonds, Herbert Smith, Linklaters, Morton Fraser, Nabarro Nathanson, Olswang, Pinsent Masons, Simmons & Simmons, Slaughter and May, Thompsons and Wragge & Co.


Henny Swan, senior Web accessibility consultant at the RNIB, said proper testing is the key to compliance. 'Automated testing cannot be relied upon when assessing the accessibility of a Web site. It only comes into its own when used together with manual testing, as shown here with only one site in fact passing the WCAG Level A. The failures identified were mainly areas that could only be manually tested.'


Rupert White