Overview

When we met, KDB had a single-page website, no lawyer biographies or practice descriptions. To meet the complete needs of the project, I teamed up with Selbert-Perkins Design on the website design and Matter Communications on the content strategy for the new website.

Goals, Research & Analysis

We gained a thorough understanding of the goals KDB had for their website through in-person and online conversations. To understand the goals of their three primary audiences we conducted a half dozen interviews with current clients and recent firm hires.

Through these conversations, we identified the following goals for the firm:

• Be competitive with larger law firms that did IP and patient law work
• Convey the personality of the firm
• Employ a modern and contemporary design
• Promote the accomplishments and unique capabilities of the firm
• Have consistent structure across biographies
• Attract potential associates and partners that practiced IP and/or patent law. Ideally, these candidates also brought with them an additional area of expertise, such as a masters or PhD in an area outside of their legal degree
• A responsive site (but of course this way a given!)

Audiences

Audience consisted of business owners, in-house counsel and other lawyers (potential recruits for the firm). The first two audiences (business owners and in-house counsel) shared similar needs and traits and were combined into a single persona for the purpose of validating content and features.

“I want high quality legal work from experienced and understanding lawyers at a price that meets my legal budget.” – Client Persona

The lawyer persona had a different goal altogether. They were interested in learning about the firm’s culture, transparency of expectations, and unique value proposition as it related to how they interacted with clients.

Heuristic Evaluations / Competitive Analysis

We evaluated competitive firm websites for best practices and validated with audience research. A few key findings included:

• Filterable lawyer search
• Consistency on lawyer bio pages – have the narrative follow a set order and visual hierarchy
• Highlight firm news and client testimonials
• Keep navigation as simple as possible using clear labels

Information Architecture and Interaction Design

Taking what was learned from our research and the draft content, we sketched out a sitemap and some preliminary wireframes for the pages. The underlying architecture for the site was kept simple, using four major content sections, plus a landing page for careers.

In our research we found that many clients wanted a couple of things in particular when it came to the lawyer directory on the site:

1. Photos. In some cases they never meet face-to-face; other times they might forget a name, but not a face so a photo helped to identify people. It was also important that the photo be current.
2. The ability to filter the directory by particular criteria, namely: what particular type of law a lawyer practiced, where they were admitted to practice, and what degree(s) they had.

To explore the second point, I sketched out ideas for the filtering function and created a working prototype (shown below).

Design & Development

Using the approved sitemap, wireframes and draft content, a design for the website was created. One key to the design was the use of consistent and high-quality photography. This, in addition to well-written copy, helped to promote KDB’s image as a professional law firm capable of going head-to-head with larger (BigLaw) firms.