Skip to content

Jones Day same-sex relationship site a model for niche sites

Jones Day Same Sex Relationship Website

As reported by Jennifer Henderson of The American Lawyer (@AmericanLawyer), Jones Day (@JonesDay) has launched a website providing information on how same-sex relationships are legally recognized in nearly 300 jurisdictions worldwide.

The website, which is available to the public free of charge, allows users to search laws by country, and when necessary, more localized jurisdictions. Available information is related to how countries or subareas recognize marriages originating inside or outside the specific jurisdiction, along with dissolutions of marriages…

The site was the joint effort of 217 members of the firm, including 139 attorneys, 29 U.S. summer associates and 49 support staff.

The site is a role model for other law firms on any number of grounds.

  • Niche focused website that sits independent of firm’s website with a separate domain (samesexrelationshipguide.com). Independent sites/blogs like this claim a mantle of expertise and authority which content in a website cannot. Such sites are going to get used more as a resource and have their content shared more often.
  • Pro Bono effort of the firm. “We built this for you.” Sure Jones Day benefits from the good will and recruiting standpoint (lawyers are retained and attracted by a firm’s pro bono efforts), so what.
  • Responsive design so that site can be retrieved by anyone in the world on a smartphone. Though the site could be improved (in my mind), by having the content detailing the law in each jurisdiction that is now on pdf’s on web copy on WordPress.
  • Valuable information for people world-wide that will be readily retrieved on search and rank high on search because its mobile ready, the content will be linked to and shared on social by others.
  • Ready resource for the media, including bloggers.
  • Information that members of the firm and others can share on social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Though (again in my mind) would be more readily shareable with share buttons built in on WordPress vs pdf’s of the legal detail pages.

Law firms have the opportunity to do niche sites like this on a myriad of subjects. The only limitation is the firm’s imagination and strategy for business and organizational development.

WordPress, used by over 25% of the websites in the world, including major news and information sites, makes it possible to do custom mobile niche sites which can be updated for security, stability, and performance when WordPress roles out a new version. No need for repetitive maintenance and development work.

Concerned about your firm’s lawyers maintaining a blog, here’s your answer. Put a site like this on WordPress blog software and update the law as needed.

Updating the law may be nothing more than getting on the web what your lawyers are already tracking digitally for internal purposes. The site can be a resource for the public, clients, prospective clients and your firm’s lawyers.

When you are ready to launch another resource site just get a new domain, have your web/blog partner change out the custom responsive theme you have developed, and load up the site with content. You claim good will and a new mantle of expertise.

Well done Jones Day. A role model for others.

Posted in: