Websites and law firms

The class discussion on Saturday reminded me of a summer internship that I applied for in Edmonton a couple of years ago.  The firm was headed by a very respected criminal law attorney who also lectured at the University of Alberta.  In preparing for the interview I took a quick look at the firm’s website only to find an empty index page.  This seemed a bit strange to me as the email addresses for the firm worked fine, so I mentioned it when I went in to the interview.  The partner interviewing me told me that it was a conscious decision on their part not to have a website – they felt it would be a debasing move that would associate the firm with the riffraff hanging out in the full page ad section of the Yellow Pages legal services section.  While I’m sure that this works fine for his firm, as their reputation ensures that there is no shortage of business, it seems an odd choice to not even put up a basic contact information page.   This is a pretty old school attitude to the internet – to be honest, I was surprised that the site was still vacant when I was writing this up – I guess not everyone is willing to be dragged into embracing the internet.  On the other hand, what kind of crazy industry is this where even a website is eschewed as potentially sullying to a firm’s reputation?