...Web site overhaul will allow businesses to search for law firms anywhere around the world….

Monday 7th July 2008 – Legalease, the world’s largest legal referral site, has awarded its website development to New Bamboo, the specialist in bespoke software development using Ruby on Rails. The project will involve updating the site so that businesses can easily access the wealth of information available on 10,000+ law firms around the World.  The contract value was not disclosed.

Launching in summer 2008, the updated website will allow businesses and individuals to explore the content of the Legal 500 directories online and to search for law firms by company name, discipline or country. 

The Legal 500 provides extensive editorial coverage of the strengths and weaknesses of commercial law firms worldwide. It provides thousands of tables and editorials on which law firms are the best for particular categories of work in over 100 countries. This ranges from Tax in Vietnam, Real Property in Paris, Litigation in Wales and Finance in London.
 
The web development will combine Ruby on Rails and an Agile project management methodology.  “We selected this approach as we wanted to complete the web project within 12 weeks. The Agile methodology also allows us to explore new ideas and features throughout the process. The New Bamboo team gave us the confidence to try something new, but within a safe and controlled environment”, comments John Pritchard, Chairman and CEO of Legalease.

Damien Tanner, Co-founder of New Bamboo said, “We are extremely pleased to be working with Legalease on updating their website. Over the last 12 months, we have seen an increase in the number of organisations looking for a fresh approach in web development. The feedback from our customers has been that traditional web development approaches are far too rigid, limiting innovation and creativity.”
Tanner adds, “Traditional development methodologies are prone to problems such as budget overruns and not meeting expectations. The Agile methodology involves regular meetings between the development team and all stakeholders. This process encourages constructive review and refinement rather than pre-determine what can and can’t be done.”

The legalease directory service includes the hugely successful Legal 500 series of guides reviews the strengths and strategies of law firms in over 90 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, North and South America, and the Caribbean. The enhanced features will provide easy-to-navigate and cross-referenced guides, recommendations and law firm rankings to enable clients to identify the best law firm for the job.

Legalease also produces a number of other invaluable reference sources, including the Legal experts guides to the leading specialist legal advisers in the UK and Europe; the Lex 100 student guide to the top law firm employers; the comprehensive Courts & Agency Directory and the Tax Directors Handbook.  All this editorial material is produced by the Legal 500 team of journalists and researchers and is fully searchable at Legal500.com.