Stop Writing Like A Magic Circle CV
Most solicitor website copy is written in a voice nobody actually uses. It's costing you instructions.
Read your website out loud. Now read your last three texts to a friend out loud. The voice is different, isn't it? On the website, you sound like a press release. In the texts, you sound like a human. The website voice is the one your visitors encounter, and it's the one quietly making them go elsewhere.
The Magic Circle voice
Long sentences with multiple subordinate clauses. Hedging adverbs. Passive constructions. The words “robust,” “strategic,” “comprehensive,” and “tailored.” The phrase “a wide range of.” References to the firm in the third person even on the founder's own About page. Latin phrases that haven't been used in conversation since 1998. The whole apparatus of legalese as decoration.
Why it doesn't work
Three reasons. First, it bores the visitor and they leave. Second, it's indistinguishable from every other solicitor site, which means you can't be remembered. Third, it signals expensive — clients read this voice and assume the bill is going to be £15,000 minimum, which is fine if that's your market and a problem if it isn't.
What to do instead
Short sentences. Active verbs. First person where it's about you. Direct address where it's about the client. Real opinions. Specific examples. The plain English you would use to explain your work to a competent friend at a dinner party. Not dumbed down — clarified.
The test
Read each page out loud. If it sounds like something a person would say, it's working. If it sounds like a press release, rewrite it. The bar for “sounds like a person” is much higher than most lawyers think, and the gap between professional and stiff is the gap between instructable and forgettable.