Law firm website of the month: Davis LLP

This law firm reaches out to clients through a simple website design and blogging
This law firm reaches out to clients through a simple website design and blogging

Davis LLP

The expansive and content-rich website for Davis LLP includes everything you would expect to find at the online home of a major, full-service Canadian firm, presented with a clean, no-nonsense design aesthetic that has aged amazingly well; the current configuration of the site is four years old and updates are imminent, says Alison Cumming, the firm’s practice group manager, business development and communications.

We wanted to know more, so we picked Alison’s brain for details on the philosophy behind Davis’s online brand.

Who is the target audience for your site?
The target audience is current clients who might want more information about all of our lawyers and services and of course prospective clients who may want to learn more about a particular lawyer or lawyers, as well as get more background on our areas of expertise. This includes in-house counsel, and a wide array of individuals from owners of smaller businesses to managers and decision makers at larger corporations.

How much traffic does your website see?
We typically see an average of 25,000 visits per month. However, since the beginning of February of this year, we have seen a spike to about 35,000 visits per month.

One thing that strikes us about the Davis site is its clean, simple design. There is a lot of information to be had, but the home page features only a handful of key links. Why is that important to Davis’s online brand?
Our site design is definitely relatively simple compared to some other law firms. Sometimes too much information on a home page can be overwhelming for the visitor, so our site should allow visitors to find what they need. However, we do hope to make some improvements to the site this year to bring it more up to date, including full screen width on all pages and new graphics and layout.
You’ve been recognized for your extensive array of bloggers. Why is blogging important for a law firm?
Blogging allows our lawyers to communicate regularly with our audience. Our blogs have been very successful in generating interest in our firm. This includes contact from media that has led to additional exposure for our lawyers, as well as interest from prospective clients.

What’s your most popular blog? Any guesses as to why?
Our video game blog, climate change blog and environmental blog are our most active and seem to garner the most attention. I think our expertise in video game law is a real niche for us and that is why it is popular. With the climate change and environmental blogs, there is a lot going on right now in those areas so it attracts a lot of attention.

To what degree does providing a robust online content offering factor in to Davis’s efforts to lessen its environmental impact?
Certainly, having a website with a lot of content allows us to communicate what we need to electronically. We don’t actually produce a lot of paper copy brochures here at Davis. I think as with almost any organization today, the website is the first point of contact.

What’s new on the Davis website? What initiatives can we expect to see soon?
Just last week we added a Japanese website. Being the only Canadian law firm with an office in Japan (Tokyo) we wanted to be able to communicate more readily with this audience. We are also currently improving the content on the French version of our website to ensure that all content (news, publications, etc.) is available bilingually.
We are planning a refresh of our website this year, which will include improved layout and better use of graphics and colour. There will also be some improvements in how our practice areas are organized and presented, and we also plan to make our experience more prominent, among other changes.


Does your firm have a great online look? Tell us about it and we could profile your website on our blog.