The publication of Intendance’s latest research “Barristers’ Websites 2005: Chambers’ Online Strategy” comes at a time when the Bar is undergoing fundamental changes and its ability to communicate in a clear, accessible manner is becoming increasingly important. The recently published Government White Paper on legal services reform adopting many of the recommendations made by Sir David Clementi in his earlier review of the legal profession proves the Government’s commitment to radical reform of the legal profession. The pressure exerted by these reforms, combined with the recognition by the Bar that it needs not only to modernise but also to ensure it is perceived as modern, is encouraging legal practitioners to adopt the practices and tools of a modern business.

A significant part of this evolutionary process necessitates mastering the art of effective communication using media that modern business has grown to regard as standard. In his inaugural speech as Chairman of the Bar Council, Stephen Hockman QC observed: ‘we must and will talk loud and clear about the Bar as an innovative profession, which has embraced IT [and] which has widened the range of those who are able to have access to a barrister’. Of all the media available to chambers the Internet offers one of the most exciting and versatile means to communicate with clients and colleagues alike. Never before has it been so important for the Bar to meet the demands of a broadening client base that expects increasing amounts of information to be made available online. Looking at the wider picture, the growth of direct and public access, and an audience of law college graduates increasingly using the Internet as its research medium of choice, combine to compel chambers more than ever before to establish an effective website.

Recognising the growing importance of the medium, Intendance has been commentating on the use of the Internet by the legal profession for five years, ranking law firms and chambers by the quality of their website. Through our research we aim to offer guidance to the profession in its inexorable move to ‘online’ by establishing a benchmark for website development.

In a departure from the methodology of our previous Bar research, rather than conduct an independent review of chambers’ websites we instead circulated a detailed questionnaire amongst the chambers, seeking an insight into the role played by each chambers’ website and the importance attached to it by chambers.

The findings of our survey are encouraging and reveal a maturing attitude towards the Internet that demonstrates chambers’ have a firm grasp of the website basics. Although results show different parties in chambers have different priorities for their website - those with a marketing focus want a ‘shop window’ which presents a modern, business-like persona, whilst those in an administrative function show more concern for the labour-saving qualities of the website - both points of view are equally valid and with careful planning during development a website’s role should satisfy all stakeholders.

There will always be leaders and followers in any research sample - some chambers have been ahead online for several years - but most respondents to our questionnaire agreed there’s still some way to go before their chambers realises the full business potential of its website. Separate Intendance research indicates legal websites usually follow an evolutionary process, taking them from the online brochure stage, on to a more marketing-focused website with a degree of interactivity, and then possibly to a highly personalised website with extranet content.

It is interesting to note that chambers consider it crucial that their website must not get in the way of direct contact with clients, as they pin new business prospects on personal communication with the clerks. In other words, the website exists principally to add value to chambers’ client services, rather than merely to generate new business. Clients - both professional and now direct-access - are generally the primary target audience, but websites are also seen as valuable tools in the pupil recruitment process as well as attracting and informing prospective tenants. It is worth noting that websites with active marketing content were also in general more active in recruitment.

From other Intendance research it is interesting to note that many larger firms of solicitors have evolved further online, regarding their website extranet content as the real value-added service to clients, while the public web pages are principally elaborate ‘window dressing’ with much content targeted at prospective graduate recruits.

A website’s purpose should always reflect the business stratagem behind it; without a clear understanding of the commercial potential in a website it is difficult to identify fully any return on investment (ROI). In any service industry it is harder to measure direct ROI, but careful analysis of the way in which visitors use the website will provide vital clues. Website usage tools are well established, but the use of web analytics - the study of how a websites is used - is in its infancy in the UK. Even on a relatively basic website, studying how visitors navigate around the site can quickly identify which components work and which do not. If information is buried too deeply website usage data will reveal many visitors give up the search and move on, effectively rendering the information redundant. Popular information should always be made as accessible as possible.

In our latest survey ROI is evidenced by one set commenting that their online facility to book a barrister has produced high-quality work, particularly from overseas. Irrespective of clients targeted, it is fair to assume that any chambers can benefit from using their website to streamline processes and realise cost-savings; no doubt attractive to barristers bearing the costs of legal services reforms and extracting what they can out of an ever-decreasing Legal Aid budget.

Level of website investment can be a contentious issue in chambers; those which followed the ‘DIY’ route in the past are now in danger of being perceived as outmoded. In general chambers’ spend on the construction of their website is comparatively small for the legal profession, typically falling between £5,000 and £15,000, with an annual maintenance budget of £5,000 or less. Chambers with a website built in-house tend to have a small budget for maintenance while those who spent a considerable sum on website construction are keener to optimise their asset by spending money on updates and maintenance. There is an instructive level of correlation between dissatisfaction with marketing and communications achievement and websites built in-house.

There is no apparent correlation between the size of chambers and the number of individuals involved in supporting the website which may indicate only a certain number of individuals can usefully be involved, or that chambers simply vary in their attitude - some feel everyone should be included in maintaining information. In either case, website discussion generally only reaches chambers’ management level when there are significant changes.

Understandably smaller sets are less likely to have a formal website or marketing function, but a clear majority ensure their website is updated at least monthly. Chambers using their website actively place great importance on a continual process of updating news, events, members’ CVs etc., ideally via individual editing by barristers. This can substantially reduce the amount of printed updates posted to clients.

Among the chambers surveyed, half set up their website more than three years ago, perhaps when it became a necessary element. Although many left it broadly unchanged for some years, a number of chambers, particularly smaller ones, have recently rebuilt their site, and more are in the process of doing so. All chambers should be reviewing their web presence on a regular basis as the life span of a commercial website is usually not more than two to three years.

The survey was conducted nationally although the majority of chambers approached are London based, reflecting the concentration of larger chambers in the capital. Level of response was roughly in proportion to regional spread, but regrettably no chambers in the Midlands or South East could be persuaded to respond.

These are interesting times at the Bar and Intendance will continue to monitor the evolution of chambers’ online presence as the legal services reforms take hold. Inevitably some chambers will resist the forces of modernisation but our research has shown that many others are exploiting the new technologies as part of a modernisation process. I’m sure Sir David Clementi approves.

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Note to editors

This report follows up Intendance’s earlier investigation “Barristers’ Websites 2004: Who is Winning and Why?”.
James Tuke is head of Intendance Research and a director of Intendance Limited, a London and Paris-based company that researches, develops and manages websites and online business applications with a special focus on professional services firms.
Intendance believes in helping chambers to achieve business goals by use of the Internet, resulting in loyal and satisfied existing clients, new clients and reduced operational costs.
For more information, please contact James Tuke on 020 8871 1330 or email reports@intendance.com or visit www.intendance.com.