Miscellaneous

U.K. Law's Fast Fifty

By Bill Gratsch

Legal Week has an interesting piece this week entitled 'Fast Fifty' Tracks U.K. Firms' Top-Growth Sites.

This year's Intendance "Fast Fifty" benchmarking of the 50 fastest-growing law firm Web sites is further proof of how the legal sector is stepping up its online operations. Famed throughout the business-to-business sector, sometimes unfairly, as being among the least innovative of the professional services in terms of harnessing the power of the Internet, law firms are now showing signs of shedding that image. Of course, the big news since last year's report is the arrival of the much-heralded Legal Services Act, which will open the sector up to outside competition. It is too early to tell whether the act has focused partners' attention on developing hitherto untapped business streams, but there are advantages to be had by developing online capabilities. 

Some snippets of note:

In particular, two statistics stand out from the survey: 42 percent of respondents expect to increase their spending on online projects in the future; while 26 percent strongly agree that Web 2.0 will be a key component of their online strategy.

It is not just the largest firms that are plowing their efforts into making their content more appealing through new technology such as RSS feeds, podcasts and video clips. Freeth Cartwright, content winner in this year's Fast Fifty, is a fine example of a smaller firm that has created a name for itself by leading from the front.

Personalized content is a very progressive aspect of Web development -- the BBC has only recently adapted its homepage to be customizable -- but the legal profession is slowly catching up.

Another trend to emerge from this year's Fast Fifty, related to the global/local issue, is the need for improved search engine optimization, especially where firms are rolling out new offices worldwide. Country-specific SEO is imperative, as different regions favour different search engines.

Check out Intendance Research for more information.

Full post as published by Blawgs Blog by Bill Gratsch on June 24, 2008 (boomark / email).