Megan Ellis & Company Lawyers: Website

Recently we have been working with Megan Ellis Q.C. to develop a website for her firm Megan Ellis & Company. Ms. Ellis started the firm in 2002 and has since been joined by Shannon Aldinger and most recently Paula Kalsi. Ms. Ellis is well known as one of the first lawyers in Canada to devote a significant part of her practice to representing adult survivors of sexual abuse and assault. As a result, her work in this complex area of personal injury law has led to significant developments in the law and legislation as it pertains to victims of abuse and assault. These three women are exemplary litigators with a unique and necessary set of skills. They wanted a website that was modern and sophisticated in design but straight forward and to the point in terms of content and navigation. We have done our best to develop a site that works on both these levels. Take a look:  www.ellisandcompany.ca.

Murray Rankin, Q.C.: Brand Identity and Website

We are happy to have helped Murray Rankin establish his new brand and a web presence as he starts a new chapter of his practice. He has garnered a reputation as an accomplished, caring and thoughtful teacher at UVic. His professional reputation is equally favourable as he has graced the halls of Arvay Finlay, Barristers and most recently Heenan Blaikie LLP. Click here to view the new website. It was both an honour and a pleasure.

Fowler and Smith Barristers: Brand Identity and Website

Fowler and Smith Barristers are a boutique criminal defence law firm. They came to Skunkworks to help them develop a corporate identity for their firm and a website to establish their online presence. Taking cues for their offices in The Marine Building and photographs from this iconic Vancouver landmark we gave them a clean and simple word mark coupled with a visually unique website based on a WordPress Content Management System. Both prolific trial lawyers, Lyndsay Smith and Richard Fowler wanted a way to communicate the types of cases they are working on to prospective clients. As a result, we incorporated a Cases & News feature into the site that operates along the same lines as a blog and will allow them to talk about cases they think may be of interest to the public. We are very pleased with the resulting site www.fowlersmithlaw.com and we wish Lyndsay and Richard every success in their new firm venture.

Taylor & Blair: Bike Accident Law Microsite

With Vancouver continuing to grow, the number of cyclists on the street increases on a daily basis. The roads will only get more crowded and the benefits of riding a bike, whether convenience, health, cost, or speed, are too hard to ignore. Accidents will occur and ICBC is left with the aftermath. Unfortunately, ICBC represents the insured (the driver) and does not represent best interests of the cyclist. A bike accident can be a traumatizing experience and cyclists need someone on their side.

Vancouver personal injury lawyers, Taylor & Blair, needed a way of marketing themselves to the cycling community. Rather than an add-on page to their existing site, Skunkworks developed a stand-alone bike accident microsite to reflect Taylor & Blair’s commitment to this growing practice area. The new site can be found at bikeaccidentlaw.ca. Vancouver cyclists should certainly be able to identify with the imagery.

Kelly Harvey Russ: Family Law Website

Kelly Harvey Russ, a British Columbia family lawyer who  has focused his law practice on family law matters for the past 17 years, came to Skunkworks looking for assistance in expanding his law corporation’s online presence beyond his Twitter account.

Kelly was happy to continue to use his existing logo and colour palette so we simply incorporated them into a custom WordPress site design. Family law matters tend to be situations where emotions run high and Kelly wanted a site that was straightforward and easy to use. We kept the number of pages to a minimum and emphasized his philosophy which is to protect the dignity of his clients during the resolution process. To help ensure the presence of refreshed content on the site we incorporated his Twitter feed and included Google Analytics so that he can monitor the traffic to his site.

The design is calm and creates an approachable atmosphere. You can check out the results here: russfamilylaw.ca.

Lovett + Westmacott: Brand Identity & Website

Deborah Lovett, QC and Angela Westmacott have been practicing public and administrative law from their Victoria offices since 1997. They have recently been joined by Nitya Iyer, who brings her own impressive slate of professional achievements. In short, this is a group of dedicated and highly skilled senior lawyers. We were honoured when they asked us to assist them in expanding their online presence.

Given the firm’s growth in numbers and service reach the decision was taken to rebrand as Lovett Westmacott, Lawyers + Mediators.  We gave them a new logo and stationary package adaptable to both the Victoria and Vancouver offices.

They were very clear from the beginning about their desire for a clean, easy to navigate, site uncluttered by too many bells and whistles. After developing an eye-catching icon we then built them a site that capitalized on the high contrast in their logo met their shared need to have a place on line where clients could go to read about what they’ve done and what they can do. We think we’ve achieved that – you be the judge:  www.lw-law.ca.

Bell Actuarial Consulting – Brand Identity & Website

Bell Actuarial Consulting is a boutique consulting firm led by Senior Actuarial Consultant Jeremy Bell. Jeremy and his team advise a diverse client base that includes pension and benefits plan sponsors, participants and stakeholders. Bell Actuarial Consulting provides non-partisan solutions to pension and benefits issues facing union and management clients in both the public and private sectors as well as expert witness testimony where necessary.

Jeremy wanted to refresh the company brand and create a new simple and clean website that was easy to keep updated.  Skunkworks was more than happy to help with. You can see the results here: www.bellactuarial.com.

Gregory Dillon – Wills Litigation:
Brand Identity & Website

The future of legal practice is a topic of much discussion. The law firm business model of days passed makes increasingly less sense for both clients and the lawyers involved. With this in mind, we are starting to see change from within the legal community. On this note, were very fortunate to work with Vancouver lawyer Gregory Dillon on his new corporate identity and website. Gregory, an experienced lawyer with over 12 years in private practice, combines the traditional values of a barrister with a business model that will become increasingly common in the years to come.

Bronson Jones & Company: Pedestrian Accidents Microsite

When it comes to search results, relevance rules. While Google may assess a variety of factors in determining its secret sauce, each factor is used as a proxy for relevance. Bronson Jones & Company LLP is a leading lower mainland personal injury firm. While they already have a strong web presence outlining their firm and their personal injury practice, they needed to continue improving organic search engine rankings for specific practice areas. Moreover, having independent highly relevant websites also decreases search engine marketing (SEM) costs.

Law firms cannot be all things to all people. The complexity of the legal system requires in depth knowledge of each practice area. Firms need a way to express their relevant expertise.

Vancouver leads the country in pedestrian deaths and this number continues to rise. Pedestrians who have been injured by a motor vehicle need strong representation in seeking compensation from ICBC.  Accordingly, Skunkworks worked closely with BronsonCo to develop a stand-alone microsite dedicated to pedestrian accidents. The site is located at pedestrianaccidents.ca. A site dedicated to pedestrian injuries makes a lot of sense. If visitors need more information on the firm, they can easily link back to BronsonCo’s main site.

Acheson Whitley Sweeney Foley: Brand Identity and Website

Skunkworks had the pleasure of creating a new brand identity package for Vancouver Island personal injury and class action law firm Acheson Whitley Sweeney Foley. A leading British Columbia personal injury law firm the firm represents people who have been injured in motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls, or by defective products the firm. They had an existing website on a CMS that was very powerful but not quite the right fit for what they actually needed.  They were also looking to update their brand identity without foregoing the goodwill they had built up over the years through a consistent brand awareness campaign via the telephone directories.

Starting with their brand identity we developed a new wordmark and icon. The new icon represents the many components that form a typical personal injury file: the nature of the injury, physical and economic losses, prognosis for recovery, and client advocacy. The icon also conveys teamwork and the firm’s commitment to the highest standards of quality and integrity in presenting the complete picture of how a car accident has affected a client’s life. The Acheson Whitley Sweeney Foley website show cases their legal team, provides useful information about ICBC Claims, and includes a Blog for publishing news and important articles, all of which can be easily managed through a WordPress platform. Visit their new website here.