DivorceLawyer.com case study
Turning a lawyer directory into a two-sided, content-led marketplace.
DivorceLawyer.com has been around for a while on a category-defining domain, in a market set by Avvo, Super Lawyers and Martindale, but it hadn't yet found its stride. It had tried being a straight directory, selling ranking spots, then a self-serve, SaaS-style model. What it did best was help people: a library of genuinely useful guidance for anyone going through a divorce. The founders wanted to put that front and center, and make it the reason lawyers want to be here. We set the strategy, structure and design to make it work, on a fast turnaround so the business could move while the market was ready for it.
A directory can't sell authority.
Listings and ranking spots kept the two sides of the site pulling against each other. Consumers came for guidance. Lawyers were asked to claim a profile, pick a plan and pay. That self-serve sale works in plenty of markets, but family lawyers buy on reputation and recommendation. The answer was already on the site: content people actually read. It needed a model that made those readers the reason lawyers join.
The consumer side is the sales pitch.
The old site leaned on SaaS patterns for a subject this personal. People arrive at one of the hardest times of their lives, so the site has to feel authoritative and caring at once. It didn't. The directory was hard to read, and the pitch to lawyers wasn't straight enough to persuade anyone. We turned that into one model the founders could repeat: a done-for-you reputation service, where lawyers publish profiles, articles, videos and podcasts that widen their visibility on Google and in AI answers. Consumers stay front and center, because people reading that content is what makes lawyers want to be published here.
Two homepages, one for each audience.
Each audience lands on a page built for it. The consumer homepage is for people going through a divorce, and the proof for everyone else, with new content every day so it works as a genuine resource hub, not a listing page. The lawyer page works like a landing page. Lawyers who arrive wanting to be part of it see exactly what joining gets them, and the page makes the sale.
What sets Ben apart is how quickly he gets the business behind the screen. We serve divorce and family law attorneys, a niche audience with specific needs, and Ben understood who we were designing for and why each page mattered before a single pixel moved.
Devon Rifkin
Founder, DivorceLawyer.com
Paying more has to look like more.
On the old results page the three levels looked almost the same, so paying more bought a lawyer little they could see. Membership is what the business sells, so the hierarchy had to be clear at a glance. Featured lawyers get a full card with portrait, firm and practice areas. Preferred get a detailed row. Everyone else stays listed with a phone number. Consumers still see every lawyer in their area, and one plain line says paid placement is membership, not a ranking.
No checkout. Just a conversation.
The claim-your-profile checkout is gone. In its place, one Book a call page: one form for lawyers and partners, the lead type preselected by the link they came from, and a real confirmation URL so ads and outreach count every booking. Pricing happens on the call.
From bland directory to the front page of family law.
The old homepage led with a lawyer count and a search box. The new one leads with what the lawyers wrote today, so it reads like the publication the profession checks first. Newsreader and Libre Franklin, flat surfaces, square corners, teal for navigation, rust only for Find a lawyer. In legal, restraint is the prestige signal. The result is a site that makes the pitch on its own, to both sides.
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