WebCitz started working with this client in 2022
- Client: Kelly Hart & Hallman
- Platform: WordPress
- Industry: Business & Professional Services
- Services: Maintenance / Support, Web Development, Web Hosting
The Challenge
As a “full-service” firm with over 150 attorneys, Kelly Hart required a digital platform that could organize immense amounts of data while remaining user-friendly. Their primary needs included:
- Massive Scale Content Migration: Moving hundreds of attorney profiles and dozens of specialized practice area pages without losing SEO authority or historical accuracy.
- Relational Data Complexity: Ensuring each attorney profile was correctly linked to their respective practice groups, office locations, and educational history.
- Searchability: Providing a high-speed search system to let clients filter attorneys by name, keyword, or practice area.
- Security & Privacy: Maintaining strict IP-restricted administrative access and ensuring the site met modern security standards required by a high-profile law firm.
The WebCitz Solution
We architected a bespoke legal portal that prioritized speed, searchability, and ease of management:
- Custom WordPress Theme Migration (2022): We developed a high-performance theme from scratch, avoiding the “bloat” of pre-built templates to ensure the site was lightning-fast and mobile-friendly.
- Custom Post Types (CPTs) for Relational Data: We built specialized WordPress data structures (Custom Post Types) for Attorneys and Practices. This allowed us to:
- Create a “many-to-many” relationship where attorneys could be easily assigned to multiple practice groups and office locations.
- Ensure consistent formatting for bios, education, and admissions across all 150+ profiles.
- Advanced search system: We implemented a custom search engine that allows visitors to find attorneys by last name alphabetically or via keyword. We later refined this system to include drag-and-drop manual sorting for practice-specific attorney listings.
- Automated content synchronization: To streamline the transition, we synced the development site with the live site during the build phase to ensure no new attorney bios or news items were missed.
- Infrastructure Hardening: Following the move, we implemented advanced security measures, including Sucuri firewall integration and IP-whitelisting for all administrative users.
The Result
The 2022 launch gave Kelly Hart a state-of-the-art legal platform that reflects their status as a premier Texas firm. The use of custom post types has made managing their roster of 150+ attorneys significantly more efficient for their marketing department. The firm continues to rely on WebCitz for Managed WordPress Hosting and ongoing technical maintenance, ensuring their “digital front door” is always open and secure.
