The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/448505
PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 42 FEATURES • Bios include detailed experience and matter lists – 74 • The page technology supports elegant content organization that enables visitors to quickly scan and access what they want (e.g., Ajax, jquery, javascript) – 93 • Associates have full biographies – 88 The worst attribute score was for using "Mr. and Ms." instead of a lawyer's first name, with an average of only 32. This is a hard habit to break, but we are living in an increasingly informal world. Not having social media links on the bios was also rated low at 35. In 2010, only one firm had social media links on bios; in this study, it climbed to 32 firms. This number will continue to grow. For bios with detailed experience and matter lists, the average was 74, which is down from 2010, when it was 77. Bios have definitely improved since the 2010 study, where they scored 65.5 or Fair, and now they scored 75.3, which is Good. Two firms scored a perfect 100. This includes all content, except lawyer bios. Content includes multimedia, practice/ industry content and imagery, careers, charitable, pro bono, media and publications, events, etc. The attributes include: • Content is visitor-focused, has consistent language use and is specific – 77 • Content is organized intuitively, by services and expertise clients buy, not how the firm is organized – 63 • Practices and industries are broken out separately. Geographic regions is a bonus option – 58 • Descriptions include experience specifics, including client names or descriptions of clients – 68 • Video and multimedia content is available, and is relevant and current – 37 • News/press pages are current and written for maximum PR benefit – 78 • Publications/articles/events are well-organized and are easily sorted by topic and author/speaker – 75 • Site has a statement of core values – 55 • Site illustrates firm's commitment to diversity – 95 • Charitable and civic commitment is described and evident – 81 • Pro bono commitment is described, highlighting stories and specific matters - 91 The most disheartening part about this category is proven by website analytics — visitors are not reading practice pages. The analytics also prove that visitors typically view industry pages three times more than practice pages, so breaking out industries from practices will drive higher readership. A noticeable trend is that LGBT initiatives and affinity groups are a major point of emphasis, and pro bono content is richer. There is still very little multimedia content, with an average score of 37, compared to 29 in 2010. The Am Law 100 as a group scored Fair, with an average of 70.6. Only 11 firms scored Excellent. However, with the enormous effort most firms are dedicating to content creation, that number should be higher. Content marketing is a huge trend. As firms develop a 360-degree content strategy, which is recommended, these numbers should improve significantly. WEBSITE CONTENT EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR UNACCEPTABLE 19% 46% 29% 10% 1% EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR UNACCEPTABLE 44% 29% 21% 5% 1% HOW DID AM LAW 100 WEBSITES RATE IN WEBSITE CONTENT? HOW DID AM LAW 100 WEBSITES RATE IN LAWYER BIOS?