What's in a Website?

In its December issue, the National published the results of its nationwide survey on the best Canadian law firm websites. The survey involved a panel of nine legal technology professionals who ranked and commented on Canadian law firm websites within different categories, including Blogs, Student/Recruiting and Multimedia, among others.

Some of the key factors considered by the panelists when ranking the websites were:
1. The website's simplicity;
2. The website's "curb appeal";
3. Whether the website posted any blogs;
4. Lawyer biographies;
5. Whether the lawyers' photos were professionally produced and present lawyers as being "real" and "approachable";
6. How clearly appropriate contacts were identified; and
7. Whether the website effectively merged various technologies such as Twitter, videos, blogs and web copy.

Davis LLP was the co-winner for the best website in the Blogs category (this category only included law blogs created and maintained by law firms), along with Clark Wilson LLP. Davis LLP's blogs received particular praise for social media best practices, including RSS feeds, Twitter connections and regular updates. Furthermore, Davis LLP's Video Game Law Blog was specifically recognized as an example of a "team blog" since it features multiple contributing lawyers.

Winners in other categories included Ogilvy Renault for the best website within the category of a Large/ Multi-Jurisdictional firm and co-winners Hyndman Law and Neff Law Office for the best website within the category of Small/Solo firm. Hull & Hull LLP was rated the best website in the Multimedia category and Bull Housser & Tupper LLP was ranked the best website in the Student/Recruiting category.