Legal Marketing

Troubled Law Firms Remained Upbeat Online Before Dissolution, Wayback Machine Shows

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Law firm websites remained upbeat in the face of impending doom, according to a check of the Internet archives.

Law Technology News used the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to check out the websites of these dissolved law firms: Howrey; Heller Ehrman; Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison; and Altheimer & Gray.

“Irony abounds (with 20/20 hindsight of course),” Law Technology News says. Months before Altheimer & Gray’s dissolution, the law firm boasted that it had “embraced the challenges of a rapidly changing global economy.” Brobeck touted its connections to capital for start-ups, even though its dependence on technology clients spurred its collapse. And Heller was busy with news updates up to about a week before it dissolved.

Both Howrey and Brobeck had similar slogans, the article notes. Howrey asked “Why Howrey?” and Brobeck asked “Why Brobeck?”

“The Wayback Machine has taught me a bit about firm marketing: Don’t ask ‘why?’ because partners and clients may be asking that same thing,” the story says.

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