This year’s post about best law firm websites is a little different than the past. In 2010 and 2011, I provided links of sites that I found to be the best representation of great website design in order to provide inspiration for firms that were looking to develop or redesign their websites. I based my choices on my own professional design judgement with a few criteria that I explained.

This year, nominations took place here, on Lawyerist.

Selection Criteria

The collection below is different because it represents a selection of the best sites that were nominated here on Lawyerist. So while the sites in the past were researched and sometimes supported with other awards, these sites were often self-nominated. After leaving the post open for a while, Sam and I collected all of the nominees and sorted through to identify the best candidates. My criteria for the best websites included unique and memorable design and great content, with a bonus for interesting navigation strategies. Sam was looking for clear navigation paths and calls to action, together with great design.

Vote for the #1 Law Firm Website

We would like to hear what you think, please vote below! Without further ado, the top 11 candidates for your votes follows, with a few of my comments about what makes these sites great.

To vote, click here. Voting closes at noon on May 31st, 2012.

Law Offices of Kottler & Kottler

Great visuals, color and layout. The navigation is a bit hard to find, and the content areas are the typical boring FindLaw style with too much text and linked keywords.

Prairie Law Group

I love everything about this site – the imagery and layout, non-Flash animation and interior page layout are all spot on.

The Mahon Firm

Design: Nice use of balanced colors and themes – being classic and modern at the same time.

Content: Good font choices and easily read content areas, but overall could use more content (news, blog, etc.).

Stein Sperling

Design: Really interesting use of the grid on the home page with unique images and colors.

Content: Clear and easily navigated.

BDBL Avocats

Another good use of the large, full-screen background image with a unique image of the firm’s office.

Harvis Marinelli Saleem & Wright

Great use of large background images, although once on the interior pages the images kind of interfere with reading the content.

Harrison Pensa

Design: Great use of layout – the way things are heading in website design, shorter with larger images and more mobile-friendly and animation without Flash! Good use of color.

Content: Interior page layout is clean but well organized and contains lots of content, good social media integration.

Wallack Law

Clean and well designed

Military Experts

Design: Great use of color – not the typical patriotic colors associated with the military but still military-related, easy to use navigation and compelling, unique images.

Content: Regularly updated content, specific to their niche target market and a good combination of blog posts and news.

Stanton Law

Interesting, good use of imagery and layout, but a bit distracting at the same time.

Fabian IP

Design: Great use of imagery and layout, navigation and content areas could be a little more clear and the images are links but I don’t know where I’m going.

Content: Interior text is a bit hard to read and could use some breathing space.

Vote Now!

Voting closes at noon on May 31st, 2012.

Vote for the Best Law Firm Website of 2012

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakebreak/6155842863/)

Best Law Firm Websites of 2012 (Vote for #1) is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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