Professionals’ Biographies

AmLaw Global 50 Aggregate Scores

Top Trends + Insights

If you’re seeking a tutorial on how to dramatically improve your lawyer bios, listen to this 28-minute podcast with Deborah McMurray. Moderated by Scott Love with the Attorney Search Group, it is practical and proven advice.

Analytics continue to prove that the reason visitors come to a law firm website is to view the bios. 50-75% of all visitors on the analytics we track view lawyer biographies. They must work harder for you.

The bio photo may be the bane of a lawyer’s professional existence, but it remains a critical element in shortcutting the pathway to trust. By today’s high standards, too many of the Global 50 firms scored poorly on their professional photos – the average of the 50 firms was 48.0.

• Several firms use the phrase “one-firm” in their ABOUT section descriptions, yet we will see lawyers in different offices using different colors, backgrounds and image styles. Consistency in photo style is key in promoting “one firm” and a memorable firm brand. (NOTE: This doesn’t mean that the lawyers’ poses and expressions should be exactly the same. “Tone” and format of the images should be consistent – that’s what we’re looking for.)
• Only four firms scored 100.0 on attribute #3 – “Photos are larger format, "magazine-style" and consistent; they convey the professionals’ personalities” – White & Case, Cooley, McDermott Will & Emery, and Proskauer.

The attribute with the second-lowest score in FBP4 - Professionals' Biographies was #5 relating to the person’s accessibility (not to be confused with WCAG accessibility compliance discussed in FBP10 - Site Hygiene + Usability). The average for the Global 50 firms was 57.0.

• The highest score awarded for this attribute was 80.0 – 12 firms were leaders in including links to their social accounts, as well as other sharing options.
• If you believe this is important (as we do) and you want to give your lawyers examples of Global 50 firms that are doing this, we are listing all dozen of these firms by name: Latham & Watkins, DLA Piper, Skadden, Dentons, Jones Day, Freshfields, White & Case, CMS, Herbert Smith Freehills, Morrison & Foerster, Goodwin, Winston & Strawn.
• Why should lawyers care about this? To create relationship stickiness and to eliminate any communication barriers. When competition is increasingly tough, the person who makes it easier to do business with them just may come out on top.

15 firms scored 100.0 on “full contact information is easy to find.” You wouldn’t think this would be hard, but in some redesigns such foundational things are slipping. Firms scored a 99.0 on this in 2016 – but they have slipped to 87.0.

13 firms scored zero on attribute #2 – “Don’t use Mr. or Ms. Use the person’s first or nickname.” Please stop doing this. With the ease of casting aspersions and judgment today, you are creating a barrier to entry and intimacy. It doesn’t set you higher on the professional ladder – it just makes you seem remote and unapproachable.

Buyers of legal services want to know four things: what have you done, for whom have you done it, how will you do it and what can you do for me?

The lawyers/firms that do a good job with their experience do a very good job. There were no firms that scored zero, but two scored 10.0 (“unacceptable”) and several others scored 60.0 or below. Too few sites turned experience details into a reader-friendly illustration of the lawyer’s practice focus and strengths. Don’t forget to teach associates how to master presenting these details. Associates’ experience details were often non-existent or light. A shout-out to Kirkland & Ellis for consistently sharing excellent detailed experience (even on associates’ bios), as well as Skadden, Jones Day, Dentons, which did a fine job with subheads and non-repetitive titles for each entry, and Sullivan Cromwell. All these firms scored 100.0 on this attribute.

With the redesigns since the 2016 Study, firms have done a better job organizing bio pages so they are more consumable. We are looking for smart design that presents an intuitive and accessible information hierarchy, the use of containers, headers and subheads, bullet lists and otherwise ways to better present bio information.

• 12 firms scored 100.0 on this attribute, with several other firms scoring 90.0.
• The most engaging sites more effectively used headers, different font sizes and styles to capture the visitor’s attention.

Professional staff and associates too often do not have bios (if they do, they are lacking in information that could be relevant to your visitors). Most often, sites feature either administrative professionals OR associates – not both.

Strangely, professional staff and associate bios are often not the beneficiaries of the website’s full search features. Rather, they are merely listed on a page of firm management without full bios. When associates are billed to clients at U.S. $500 or more per hour, they deserve full bios.

Experience lists are almost always too long, randomly organized and don’t adequately answer a prospect’s short-list questions. Learn how to be a good storyteller in 140 characters to 2 sentences.

• If they have experience at all, too many are extensive bulleted lists of blandly written accomplishments with too much jargon and not enough meaningful specifics. Remember: buyers’ short-list questions include what have you done, for whom have you done it, how will you do it — then, what can you do for me. You must answer these questions first to have any chance at being hired.

Professionals are mostly wasting the rich opportunity offered by the bio Overview. Too many merely re-state their title, office location, practice group membership, academic credentials and other obvious data (that are listed elsewhere on the page) without differentiating the professional or the firm. The first two sentences of your bio (another way of saying this is the first 140 characters) are the most important online real estate most lawyers will ever own. This is critical for search engines (because few firms take the time to write good meta-descriptions on a page by page basis) and human visitors alike.

Standout Firms

White & Case

Came in first on FBP4 - Professionals' Biographies with the best bios we’ve recently seen. The page organization is intuitive and visually appealing, the photos are large, magazine-style and show personality. The descriptive copy and experience are very good across the board, even for associates and staff. Crosslinking is well populated and draws your eye with imagery and placement, within a "related content" area. Tab structure is kept simple (biography and experience). Good page tools, social and sharing.

Greenberg Traurig

Came in second with strong written content and large format pictures. The page organization is outstanding with consumable containers that one can navigate according to preference (scroll or click), with transition effects that make the page feel engaging and modern. Experience is well populated and organized. Good crosslinking with options to filter insights by type.

McDermott Will & Emery

Tied for third with very good bios, both in terms of content and structure. Large, magazine style photos. Persistent navigation that allows for scrolling or clicking, with the ability to expand individual content areas. Crosslinking is well populated, displayed attractively and organized with filter options. Experience is substantial and found on most partners’ bios. Nice button-less search with progress bar showing it's working. Full bios for associates and staff.

Cleary Gottlieb

Also tied for third with strong content that is well organized and consumable – both in terms of how it's organized and the styling – scanning feels easy. Good photography that shows personality. Full bios for associates and professional leadership. Experience is robust on almost all partners, and when long, it's broken into subheads and includes a “Read More.”

King & Spalding

Tied for third with well-organized pages that are easy to scan and attractive blocks of a different color. Suggestion: It could improve if the visitor experience were more consistent when you click the "More" links within each block – sometimes it expands down, sometimes a pop-up window appears, and other times it opens search results and you've left the bio. Good photography and bios for both associates and the team of other professionals.

Morrison & Foerster

The final firm that tied for third includes quotes from the lawyers, which are good, but we wish more people had them populated (seems about 3 in 10 partners). Intros are mostly good, and the photos are appealing. Social, sharing and page tools are easy to find. For the partners that include it, experience content is good and utilizes expand/contract to show more details. (We urge more MoFo partners to complete their experience profiles!) There is an interesting effect with how the header gets smaller as you scroll down, but keeps the contact info visible. Associates and staff have full bios.

Do's

Don'ts

FBP4 Total Scores

Top Ten Performers

5 firms tied for 10th place so we are including all of them here.

The Results