Evidently, we’ve come a long way, baby, in law firm website strategy and attorney photography.

I designed my first website around 1995, as Marketing Partner of Ungaretti & Harris.  It was very different back then — the Internet was still developing.  I recall an article saying we were one of the first three law firm websites in the Midwest.

In the early years of law firm websites, many women lawyers refused to post their photos on their law firms’ websites.  A story was circulating that a lawyer had been stalked and injured after a crazy person found her photo on the firm’s website. It’s generally regarded as an urban legend, but back then, who knew?  We were all making up the Internet rules as we went.

Many law firms circulated memos permitting the women to opt out of showing their photos for personal-safety reasons. 

Things have changed a lot since then.

Earlier, we blogged about J. Clark Fischer, a body-building criminal-defense lawyer in Winston-Salem who uses an oiled-up, spray-tanned, bikini-clad photo as his website biography head shot.  Frankly, I wouldn’t have recommended anything quite so “out there” on a professional firm website, but I don’t know his target audience; maybe it’s working for him. Or maybe he goes to court like that, I don’t know.  It certainly got my attention.

I’ve also written about Ms. Corri Fetman (pictured above), one of Chicago’s least-understated matrimonial lawyers. She gained brief worldwide fame for her one-day “Life’s Short. Get a Divorce” billboard that got unceremoniously yanked by some peeved Chicago aldermen.  Lawyer Fetman turned that notoriety (and buxom lingerie-clad photos) into a very brief stint (then lawsuit) with “Playboy” magazine.

Perhaps the self-proclaimed “Incredibly Talented and Beautiful Love Lawyer” could arrange to grab a cup of coffee with Mr. Fischer, if his legal work ever brings him through Chicago.  I have a feeling they’d get along just fine.