06/08/2022

Helping a global law firm to Grow, Protect and Innovate

Businesses such as law firms and other professional services companies face a tricky challenge when it comes to their websites: how do you provide all the information that establishes your expertise, capabilities and thought leadership without overwhelming your visitors with a flood of content gushing from too many taps?

Such was the challenge for Hogan Lovells. As the 11^th largest law firm in the world by revenue, with more than 45 offices in over 22 countries around the world, Hogan Lovells will never run out of content for their website. But how to streamline and organise it so that a visitor would recognise Hogan Lovells as “solving complex problems at the intersection of business and government around the world”?

A holistic journey of discovery

As Living took on this immersive task, our first step was to conduct a digital diagnostic of Hogan Lovells’ online presence. This analysis covered an in-depth UX review, including SEO, content and social media audits. We also gathered input and feedback from partners and other key stakeholders, and undertook a review of competitors’ websites and social channels. Lastly, we applied market best practice as drawn from our annual Living Ratings and delivered our findings report, which focused on three key areas: navigation, streamlining of content and governance.

Making the complex simple and content relevant

Our phased approach to redevelopment of Hogan Lovells’ website started with the redesign of the home page and the site navigation that would be simplified, sharper in focus, and client-centric. We streamlined the old complex site navigation, tightening the nav bar to only 6 primary labels, and creating options that are more logical. This resulted in a user-journey that is intuitive and straightforward. A key part of our short-term development programme confidently surfaced a messaging alignment to three important client issues: how Hogan Lovells helps clients to ‘Grow, Protect and Innovate’ – think of them as the ‘how’ of Hogan Lovells.

For the matter of Evidence, or content, the revised website has introduced new pages that talk directly to clients about what the firm does specific to helping their businesses.The site now features new sections, where content is better curated and displayed, including the promotion of content such as case studies, providing real world examples of how Hogan Lovells has helped clients solve their toughest challenges.

Achieving excellence

Website design and the proper curation of content should work hand-in-hand to help brands prove their attention to visitors by offering smart intuitive navigation that delivers the stories, facts and features that clients want to know. Key to making this happen on a global scale is governance. For Hogan Lovells, we developed a governance ecosystem to ensure that control and quality standards across all digital platforms would support the firm’s business objectives and strategies. Our six-point system covers policies, processes, resources and training, reporting frameworks, technology and architecture.

By clarifying how the website tells the brand story – and positions it from a client perspective – we have helped show that Hogan Lovells understands the challenges clients face and offers the information that is most relevant to them.

Read more about our work for Hogan Lovells.

If you’d like to diagnose how your website can create a better experience for your clients, please contact Duncan Shaw in New York, Greg Hobden in London or Gigi Yung in Hong Kong.