Family law

A new firm, a new face: logo and website for CORE.FAMILY.LAW.

CORE.FAMILY.LAW. is a law firm in Hannover that works exclusively in family law. For the launch we developed everything that gives the firm its public face: the logo, the complete website and a bespoke backend where content, enquiries and the newsletter all come together. No page builder, no third-party content system, all of it built from scratch.

The mark first

What came first was not a draft home page but the question of what this firm stands for. Family law means people arrive in a situation they did not choose. The mark has to convey calm, and it must not promise anything nobody can keep.

The result is the endless knot, a Buddhist symbol. It has no beginning and no end, and every line runs through all the others. It stands for cohesion, connection, family, protection and permanence, in other words for exactly what has to hold again once a family law case is over.

Alongside it sit the wordmark CORE. FAMILY. LAW. in a classical serif and the line „Kompetent. Empathisch. Lösungsorientiert.“, meaning competent, empathetic, solution-focused. The logo works in gold on the reception wall just as well as in one colour on a business card, small in a browser tab and in print.

One area of law, completely

The firm works exclusively in family law. No second area of law on the side, no divided attention. That decision leads the website rather than sitting in a footnote of the firm profile, because it answers every client's first question: does this firm know a case like mine?

The design holds back. Deep navy, gold as the only accent, a calm serif and large photographs from the office. No gradients, no effects, no tiles competing for attention. Someone arriving on a page like this is not looking for a show, they are looking for something to hold on to.

When much is unclear,
it starts with the way in

Most people are not looking for a legal term, they are looking for an answer to their situation. So the home page leads with sentences clients say themselves rather than with statutes: I want to separate. I am getting divorced. This is about our children. This is about maintenance. This is about our assets. We want to put something in writing. My separation affects a business.

Each way in leads to a specialist page with the process, the usual questions and the next step. For anyone none of them fits yet, one more tile sits beside them: I do not know yet what I need. It leads straight to the contact form. Nobody has to be able to name their situation correctly before they can get help.

The CORE.FAMILY.LAW. home page with the entry points by life situation

One face, from the first conversation
to the conclusion

In many firms responsibility changes hands as soon as an enquiry becomes an instruction. Not here. Each lawyer has her own profile with a photograph, her specialisms and the date from which she is with the firm. One click opens the profile, which sets out the cases she handles.

That takes the anonymity out of getting in touch. Clients know in advance who they will be speaking to, and they keep that lawyer through to the conclusion.

The lawyer profiles on the CORE.FAMILY.LAW. website

The CORE.FAMILY.LAW. questions and answers on a phone

Just as complete on a phone

A large share of visitors read pages like these on the sofa in the evening, not at a desk. The website is therefore built responsively: from the large monitor through the tablet to the phone, every page rearranges itself without losing content. There is no stripped-down mobile version, just one site that shows everything on every device.

Two things that usually fall by the wayside come with it. The presentation can be adjusted: larger text, more contrast, less motion, all set through a button reachable on every page. And the site is data-minimising. It stores on the device only what running it requires. No analytics services, no advertising, no third-party services.

A backend the firm
runs itself

Behind the website there is no WordPress and no third-party content system, but a backend we built for this firm. The menu is labelled in plain language rather than in jargon: pages, family law, guidance, news, lawyers, images.

On signing in, the dashboard shows what is due: visits today and this month, open enquiries, confirmed newsletter recipients, plus prompts such as a backup that is overdue or a second user account that is still missing. Beside it stands a record of who changed what and when.

Lead management sits in the same system. Every enquiry through the form becomes a case with a status, open or done, visible to everyone in the firm. Nothing sits in one person's inbox, nothing gets lost between two holidays, and the counter on the dashboard says every morning whether anyone is still waiting for an answer.

The newsletter, the statistics, users, backups and the maintenance screen are part of it too. The firm puts the site into draft mode itself, starts a backup or writes an issue, without having to call anyone.

The CORE.FAMILY.LAW. home page on a laptop

What comes next

The launch is the first step, not the last. In progress:

A calendar in the backend for appointments, from the request through to the confirmation.
The firm's Google Business Profile and its social media channels.
Optimisation for search engines and for answer engines, that is SEO, GEO and AEO.
Social media posts generated automatically from the firm's own content.
A weekly briefing that is produced without anyone lifting a finger and also goes out as a newsletter.

The structure is built for exactly that. Everything runs in one system, so each new part draws on the content that is already there instead of demanding a second tool beside it.

The scope

What the new presence does.

Logo and symbolThe endless knot as the mark, with wordmark and claim, built for the wall, the business card, the screen and print.
A bespoke system, not a page builderWebsite and backend are purpose-built. No WordPress, no page builder, no pile of plugins.
Responsive designEvery page displays properly from the large monitor through the tablet to the phone, with no separate mobile version.
Entry by life situationClients pick their situation rather than a legal term, from separation through to a business caught up in a divorce.
Profiles of the lawyersEach with a photograph, her specialisms and her own profile, so it is clear from the start who handles the case.
Common questions answered brieflyWhat comes before the first call is answered briefly on the home page and in full on the specialist pages.
Describe your case in two minutesOne short form instead of a marathon of form fields, reachable from every part of the website.
Lead management in the backendEvery enquiry becomes a case with a status, open or done, visible to everyone in the firm.
A newsletter in houseRecipients confirm their sign-up, and the firm writes the issues itself, with no external service.
Statistics without an external serviceVisits are counted in the firm's own system. No analytics services, no advertising scripts, nothing passed on to third parties.
Accessible and data-minimisingText size, contrast and motion can be adjusted, and only what running the site requires is stored.
Backups and maintenance modeThe firm starts backups itself, and the maintenance screen can be put in front of the site with one click.