MOORESTOWN, N.J., Feb. 4, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Piper Rudnick joined Faegre & Benson and Morrison & Foerster, scoring top honors in the 2003 web site ratings and review of the 250 largest law firms in the United States. The independent survey was conducted by marketing attorney Micah Buchdahl of InternetMarketingAttorney.Com and was based on five criteria: design, content, usability, interactivity and intangibles.
Sites were awarded up to 10 points for each measure, for a maximum total score of 50. The 30 highest-scoring firms received platinum, gold or silver honors. The high score was 45. Forty-six firms managed ratings of 35 or better, garnering at least an IMA honorable mention.
Rounding out the ten platinum award-winners were Holland & Hart, Robins Kaplan, Holland & Knight, Jones Day, Mayer Brown, Reed Smith, and Powell Goldstein.
Gold IMA recipients include McGuireWoods, Arent Fox, Winstead Sechrest, Vinson & Elkins, Coudert Brothers, Oppenheimer Wolff, Jones Walker, Milberg Weiss, Davis Wright, and Preston Gates. Silver honors went to McDermott Will, Greenberg Traurig, Heller Ehrman, Haynes & Boone, Stoel Rives, Jackson Lewis, Pennie & Edmonds, Lane Powell, Wiley Rein, and Akin Gump.
Reviews and awards were expanded this year to include a small/mid-size law firm category and an international category for firms outside the United States. In the small/mid-size firm category, platinum awards went to Siskind Susser, Parker & Waichman, Miller Nash, Schwabe Williamson, and Edgar Snyder. In the international category, platinum honors were given to Australia's Clayton Utz, Clifford Chance in the UK, and three Canadian firms-Osler Hoskin, Blake Cassels, and Duhaime & Company.
"The scores were higher and the competition more fierce this year," said Buchdahl. "Many firms corrected last year's shortcomings. Even among the lower-scoring firms, there were few losers this time around."
A complete scoring list as well as details on the review process will be posted at InternetMarketingAttorney.com on February 4, 2003. Advanced copies are available to the media upon request.
Mr. Buchdahl, a Pennsylvania-licensed attorney, has been involved in law firm Internet business development for the last seven years. The IMA site prohibits vendor sponsorship, advertising or affiliations of any kind. While offering marketing expertise through HTMLawyers, Inc. Mr. Buchdahl does not sell web sites or related products to any firm. No award-winning firms were paying clients of HTMLawyers.