News & Events

Mason Hayes & Curran short listed for Golden Spider

06 November 2006

www.mhc.ie has been nominated and subsequently short listed for Best Professional Services website by the prestigious Golden Spider awards. Known locally as the Oscars of the Irish internet world, Mason Hayes & Curran is privileged to be the only law firm nominated in this new category for 2006.

Law firms aren’t typically known for their marketing ability, never mind website developments.  Mason Hayes & Curran attempted to change this, however, following the firm’s rebranding in 2005.  This new approach to branding for Mason Hayes & Curran incorporated an entirely new website that was designed with new content and a new method of navigation for browsers with differing levels of legal knowledge.

“Too many law firm websites focus on presenting themselves to the market based on how they organise themselves internally” said John Hogg, Director of Marketing & Business Development at Mason Hayes & Curran,  “Whilst this may be OK for some clients and other lawyers viewing the site, there are many business people who come to legal websites and go away unfulfilled.”

Following a thorough period of research, looking at best in class websites from within and outside of the legal world and also utilising discussions with clients, Mason Hayes & Curran decided that whilst it was important to have well balanced and well structured content, it was equally important to present this information in a manner that allows browsers with differing legal knowledge, to access relevant information as quickly and painlessly as possible.

The site was therefore designed to present information based on the now traditional list of ‘Practice Areas’ and whilst this may mean something to some browsers, the site also categorises information based on ‘Business Sector’, ‘Business Issues’ and ‘Business Type’.  “The site is constantly evolving and these categories are finding new meaning each day.”, said Hogg.

Whilst the site is designed around a bright, user-friendly interface, with randomised images promoting different practice areas appearing each time a browser comes to the site (this mechanism was used to great effect on the firm’s move to South Bank House earlier this year, with a series of different abstract images of the new building greeting the browser on the firm’s home page).  This approach creates movement and tries to create interest in what can be viewed as a quite undynamic and uninteresting subject matter for some people. 

Another fundamental shift in the thinking of Mason Hayes & Curran when the site was being designed, was that the site needed to become an extension of the existing processes.  There was no point developing a website to simply sit static for the next 12 months.  The website has therefore become part of the marketing process.  Every time an event is hosted, or a press release issued, for example, the processes ensure that the latest information hits the website.  The volume of information going onto the site has therefore mushroomed in the last year.

Other features of the website include the profiling of all the firm’s lawyers, a fully up to date publications section, an internal advertising mechanism to draw browsers into different practice areas, a fully stocked archive of legal articles and a purpose-built backend content management system, to allow easy uploading and management of information.  The site was also designed so that eNewsletters can be written and despatched from the website's content management system.

Whilst it has been difficult to design a site that holds the browsers attention for an adequate period of time, the time invested in the research and design stages have paid off, with a website that is regularly commented upon by clients.  “There is still much work to be done, although being short listed for a Golden Spider award is an honour and is recognition for all the hard work completed to date.” commented Declan Moylan, managing partner of Mason Hayes & Curran.