http://etukurua.can.com


etukurua@1stcounsel.com

<Mod edit to comply with Site Review Rule #1 - Masterpeace>

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A Nigerian Law Firm serving clients in various countries

Interesting site.

Have gotten my JD from William & Mary years ago. Let me offer this advice.

If you are appealling to a US audience, you must remember that US lawyers are Solicitors and Barristers, they can do both.
You pass the bar and you can do anything. Stupid rule!

Admiralty = proctors (and a specialty)
Patents, Trademarks = a specialty
Tax = a specialty

General practice is almost anything else.

Esquire = Esq. Check your usage

Show pictures of the partners.

The intro page is awfull. Lawyers are found in stodgy
surroundings. They are technically uncool. You want a page that shows stability, age, trust etc.

If a lawyer does corporate work say it. Do not say the guy does domestic relations (even if he does) and corporate work. Basic rule, even if it is not a specialty some practices do not look good together. A good match, commercial law and bankruptcy. A bad match divorce and corporate law. A really bad match criminal law and any other practice.

The public opinion of most lawyers is that they are slime balls, with one exception, their lawyer.

Therefore, the web site should engender trust in the firm. Use pictures of your lawyers (maybe even with their famities). Drop the Isreali law firm to "Of Counsel". If you have clients that I would recognise use them. Otherwise, a line like represent clients from many countries or over 20 countries.

Having gotten my nicotine fix, I think I know what I would do with this site.

1 Get rid of the front page.

2. Get rid of the links.

3. Put pictures of the senior partners on the 1st page. With a blurp about their education, where admited to practice and areas of expertise. What is a transnational transaction? We can represent your interests In Nigeria is sufficient.

4. An e-mail link phone number and mailing address under the blurp.

5. A 2nd page with the junior partners and associates.
Same blurp and contact info.

6. Lanquages spoken.

7. Even if it is customary for lawyers to sell real estate; drop the link. One the page is not all that good, second it is not expected by a US audience. We have realtors who do that sort of thing and its not good form. To give you an idea, if you are an accountant and a lawyer, you cannot run 2 practices, accounting and law, out of the same office.

8. The law dictionary must go. I'm hiring you to tell me about the rule against perpetuties, I don't need Black's.

9. Not sure just what the portfolio is. The find the links trick should be destroyed and replaced by a "normal" set of links. Don't make me work to hire you.

10. Fees are always negotiable. I expect to pay a lot less per hour for a bankruptcy representation than a patent representation.

This is a US perspective. Not necessarily reality.