Initially, the strategy enables Hugh James to build on its traditional areas of strength, such as group actions, and improves the visibility of other divisions, such as its financial services arm.

Managing Partner Matthew Tossell said: “Our goal was to make Hugh James a nationwide player and in order to achieve this we had to reshape our internet presence. I don’t think any other law firm in the UK has a site with quite our scope. Yet despite being so content-rich, it has been structured in an intuitive way, making it easy for visitors to find the information they need. Fusionworkshop have also built it to meet the needs of different user groups, which will play a critical role as our online marketing takes shape.

“Some features, such as the ‘Invite to tender’ function, have already yielded results, which was important as we wanted a rapid return on our investment. Going forward, the new site allows us to be totally transparent in what we’re offering and, through innovation and by embracing technology, it helps us develop Hugh James into a nationwide player.”

The website will now be at the centre of a series of digital marketing campaigns, with emphasis on search, social networking, as well as blogging, email marketing and the use of viral marketing. It also identifies high net worth business for individual attention and enables analysis of return on investment.

Chris Short, managing director of Fusionworkshop, said: “Hugh James wanted an online presence that would start paying for itself from day one as well as facilitating long-term goals. To achieve this we brought together a multi-skilled team with specialists in project management, strategy, marketing, user experience, web development, information architecture and commerce. Everyone’s very pleased with what we achieved so far.”

Mr Tossell said: “We are confident that we are in safe hands with Fusionworkshop. They clearly stood out from all internet business specialists we saw. They were prepared to go that extra step and were highly business-focused. They had the technical excellence we required in key areas of integration and provision of secure hosting as well as outstanding credentials in working with Alterian CMC, our preferred content management system.”