'Fast Fifty' Tracks U.K. Firms' Top-Growth Sites

This year’s Intendance “Fast Fifty” benchmarking of the 50 fastest-growing law firm Web sites is further proof of how the legal sector is stepping up its online operations. Famed throughout the business-to-business sector, sometimes unfairly, as being among the least innovative of the professional services in terms of harnessing the power of the Internet, law firms are now showing signs of shedding that image. Of course, the big news since last year’s report is the arrival of the much-heralded Legal Services Act, which will open the sector up to outside competition. It is too early to tell whether the act has focused partners’ attention on developing hitherto untapped business streams, but there are advantages to be had by developing online capabilities.

For the past seven years, Intendance has been evaluating how the legal profession presents itself online and how it communicates with a whole host of stakeholders, from clients to potential trainees. The success — and increase in scope — of previous Fast Fifty reports has led to a change in format this year, from a single document to a three-part series.