The Law Website Company contacted Improving in hopes to have a site created that allowed users to find legal assistance. They hoped for a modern vessel that would help users who are in a difficult legal situation find someone to help them navigate it all. I was put in charge of the user experience and interface to create an experience that is easy and informative before passing the designs to a front-end designer to be built in Wordpress. I thought this would be a fun opportunity to help them out and create a product that could bring a unique way to create a legal finder.
During the research phase, we spoke to the Law Website Company to ask them what the goal of the project is. The said their primary goal is to ensure that users can find legal assistance in their local areas based on their legal needs. Each attorney would have a profile that they would be able to edit with verified information about their education, their current certifications, and where they currently work. Users - colleagues or clients - would be able to give reviews on their attorney that would be used to give specific ratings to each attorney and law firm. With these requirements, it was clear to us that we would be designing for the both the clients and attorney. After speaking to the Law Website Company, I began researching current attorney sites to understand the process of finding an attorney. Many of them allowed users to add in their zip code or used geolocation to find out where the closest attorney is in the area. The Law Website Company did NOT want geolocation for users to find an attorney so we had to find an alternative: An interactive map that allows users to choose a state and are given cities in that state to select.
Users would be able to click on a state and see the listing of cities in alphabetical order. After selecting a city (or cities), the user will be able to choose their areas of practice they would like legal assistance for.
After choosing a state, city, and field of practice, users are able to see which attorneys are shown. They are also able to filter the search results based on the attorney's ratings.
Attorney Profile
The attorney profile gives the user a thorough look into the attorney's work while keeping a "social network" idea to the layout. It shows the client the attorney bio, their licenses, honors and their verdict results. From this page, users can see the website of the law firm, call the attorney or see a PDF version of the attorney's bio. Users are able to see the attorneys areas of expertise, how long they've been practicing, and their location. The user would be able to decide if this attorney would be a good match for them based on their credentials. Users can also see a map that displays where the law firm that the attorney works for is located.
Clients and colleagues alike would be able to rate and evaluate their attorney. These ratings would then be used by the Law
Website Company to give the attorney a rating of A, A+. Superior, or Excellent.
