I run a law firm. What would this look like?
A firm website where each enquiry says what kind of matter it is, nothing leaves in your name without your say-so, and privileged files stay yours.
Every enquiry is a different kind of matter.
A conveyancing question, a contested will and an employment dispute all land in the same inbox, under the same subject line: “Enquiry from your website.” Working out which is which means reading every one of them, and that is time a fee earner doesn’t have.
So the enquiry form asks what kind of matter it is, and the few questions that matter to that kind of matter, before anything is booked. Each one arrives already labelled.
The ones outside what you do get a straight answer rather than silence, before either of you has spent an hour finding out.
Nothing goes out in your name until you’ve read it.
A firm’s name on a letter carries weight, and it carries responsibility. Nothing goes out with your name on it until you’ve said yes.
A solicitor needs the enquiry form and the documents that go back out looking right. What you send a client looks designed, because it was.
A matter can run for months. Nobody should have to re-explain it.
The client who first got in touch in the spring is still your client when the matter closes, and every conversation in between belongs to the same file. A client’s history is remembered, so nobody re-explains anything.
Decisions get written down when they’re made, so nobody re-argues them later.
Privileged means privileged.
What a law firm holds is about as sensitive as information gets. Client files stay in your accounts, under your control. Anyone else asking is refused by the lock itself, not by a rule we wrote.
Every account is in your name, and the code is yours. If a client wants their data gone, it goes, and you don’t have to chase anyone.
People search for the matter, not the firm.
Nobody types “law firm” into a search bar. They type the thing that has just happened to them. You find out what people type when they want what you sell, and pages get written for the things people are actually searching for.
What actually changes for the firm.
- Nothing goes out with your name on it until you've said yes.
- Only you can open your files. Anyone else asking is refused by the lock itself, not by a rule we wrote.
- A customer's history is remembered forever, so nobody re-explains anything.
- Decisions get written down when they're made, so nobody re-argues them in March.
- What you send a customer looks designed, because it was.
- You find out what people type when they want what you sell.
- Pages get written for the things people are actually searching for.
- Every account is in your name, and the code is yours.
The audit shows what someone finds when they look you up at the moment they need a lawyer, alongside the firms they’re comparing you with.
Would you rather discuss the firm's set-up with a person first? Message on WhatsApp, or send a message and it reaches the person who would do the work.
Questions people ask
- Can the enquiry form tell me what kind of matter it is before I read it?
- The enquiry form asks what kind of matter it is, and the few questions that matter to that kind of matter, before anything is booked. Each one arrives already labelled.
- What happens to enquiries for work we don’t do?
- They get a straight answer rather than silence, before either of you has spent an hour finding out.
- Will anything be sent to a client without us seeing it first?
- No. Nothing goes out with your name on it until you’ve said yes.
- A matter can last months. Does its history stay with it?
- A client’s history is remembered, so nobody re-explains anything. Decisions get written down when they’re made, so nobody re-argues them later.
- Is privileged material kept away from everyone else?
- Client files stay in your accounts, under your control. Anyone else asking is refused by the lock itself, not by a rule we wrote.
- Who owns the website and the accounts?
- Every account is in your name, and the code is yours.