Finding a Lawyer - Equitable Briefing

Genevieve Hancock*

How does a client find a lawyer?

The answer is very different now compared to five or so years ago. Online searches are now key. Even if a client seeks a referral or a recommendation first, they will often use an online search to validate that referral. 1

At the same time, there is generally less visibility of women practitioners online compared to men, particularly outside of the large firms. Speaking from my own experience in assisting my clients to find lawyers in other practice areas, it can be incredibly hard to identify women practitioners in particular areas even when you know they are out there.

Equitable briefing is at the heart of what the Wellington Women Lawyers’ Association does. So, we came up with the idea of publishing a modern online directory of women lawyers. We engaged Richard Best, who has developed a number of online legal tools (https:// stoplookgo.co.nz/ and https://contractfoundry.co.nz/). Richard believed in the project so much that he did most of the work in his own time.

The “brief” (pun intended) was to focus on the user experience and produce a modern and engaging directory that would promote women lawyers and be a channel for instructions and appointments.

And voilà: meet https://womenlawyersdirectory.nz/, our wonderful new directory of women lawyers. It includes categories for sole practitioners, barristers, King’s Counsel, in-house counsel, lawyers at law firms, academics, and lawyers working in another field. It can be used to find a lawyer to appoint, brief or instruct or just to connect with colleagues. And best of all, it’s super appealing and easy to use. Users (and prospective clients) can filter by type of lawyer and/or practice area so they can instantly see the lawyers that meet their criteria.

As well as the obvious benefit – anyone searching the directory can see the women listed - adding a profile to the directory also increases traffic to the lawyer’s own website and enhances search engine optimisation (SEO), helping rankings in online searches for that lawyer (or law firm). 2 SEO is the foundation of digital marketing. 3

Feedback from in-house counsel is already hugely positive:

• “This is an excellent resource for finding experienced women lawyers and profiling their skills." (Jeremy Valentine, General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer, Chubb Insurance New Zealand)

• “This is a superb resource for anyone wanting to instruct a lawyer.” (Jason Woolley, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Meridian Energy)

• “This is a great initiative to boost the visibility and accessibility of women lawyers and their fantastic skills and expertise” (Larissa Vaughan, GM Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel, TSB Bank)

Any woman member of WWLA can upload a profile to the directory. We invite all members of the New Zealand Bar Association - Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture to join WWLA and add a profile. We have a range of membership options and joining is easy: https:// www.wwla.org.nz/membership/. We have a number of members who are from out of town but do work or have other connections with Wellington.

We are also planning a series of networking events to support the directory, focussing on introducing women barristers and those in small firms to potential new corporate clients. You can sign up to our newsletter on our website (www.wwla.org.nz) to hear about these events.

Genevieve Hancock is the convenor of the Wellington Women Lawyers’ Association and a sole practitioner in Wellington focussing on commercial law, privacy, data and intellectual property in relation to technology. The Wellington Women Lawyers’ Association promotes the interests of women in the law, including providing scholarships to women law students in financial hardship, providing training and networking and mentoring.

References

1 See for example: https://www.clio.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-Legal-Trends-Report.pdf , https://www.lawyer-monthly.com/2022/01/whatyour-clients-want-research-from-law-firm-marketing-club/ and https://www.clio.com/blog/how-do-clients-find-their-lawyers/

2 https://www.embroker.com/blog/how-to-get-clients-as-a-lawyer/ 3 https://growlawfirm.com/blog/seo-for-lawyers-guide