What is Justia?
Justia is a U.S.-based, legal internet services company headquartered in Mountain View, CA. It offers hosted website CMS, and digital marketing services to legal professionals. It was founded in 2003 by former FindLaw employee Tim Stanley and boasts one of the largest online databases of case information.If you've explored your options for legal marketing in any depth, there's a very good chance that you're at least passingly familiar with Justia and their offerings.They provide a range of marketing services for attorneys and law firms, including website design, content development, search engine optimization, and social media syndication.They also manage the Justia lawyer directory, with the option to purchase upgraded "Premium" listings.
What services do they provide?
As mentioned above, Justia's offerings are relatively comprehensive for legal marketing. They are (including, but not limited to):
- directory placement
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- Justia provides a free legal directory. All you have to do to be included is fax in your bar number. The directory is an Ahrefs DR 88 link. Claiming your free profile is a no-brainer for all attorneys.
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- They also offer premium directory placement. Depending upon your respective location and practice area, this may be a viable option for you. However, be sure to do your due diligence to evaluate traffic, CPC (cost per click), and other relevant metrics.
- website design
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- Justia websites are what I would refer to as "semi-custom" websites for lawyers; Justia law firm website designs (in terms of structure and layout) tend to be very similar to one another. They use their own proprietary CMS (content management system), which I'll expound on below.
- content development
- We have clients who use Justia and, in their opinion, the content development services are affordably priced.
- That said, it is my opinion that you get what you pay for. Most of the content we've seen is less than 1000 words, does not include custom media/images, and overall, it tends to be very cookie cutter. Similar to their design services, content is affordable, but not as original as you might like.
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- Having said that, their copy does pass all Copyscape tests for unique copy, so there are no concerns about authenticity; it just won't blow your hair back, that's all.
- SEO (search engine optimization) Justia actively fixes crawl errors and offers scholarship campaigns, some citation building, and external blogging. Overall, their on-page and technical SEO make up the lion's share of their SEO offerings. From my understanding, their link building services are more limited in scope.
Do you own your website?
This depends on how you measure ownership. While you do, in the strictest sense, "own" the website that you buy from Justia, it is also true that (by virtue of their proprietary CMS) you are effectively handcuffed to them going forward. By this, I mean you have to use their web development team in order to make any changes or optimizations to "your" site. In practical terms, you are not fully free to do as you please with "your" site.One caveat: all of the above is subject to our experience with former Justia clients. I have asked Justia representatives if they would convert an existing site to WordPress (to allow for full freedom of use by the firm owner) and they declined.Many of their external blogs are built on WordPress, so there's clearly familiarity with the platform.
The only logical reason for their custom CMS is to restrict clients from leaving down the road, plain and simple.This is the biggest red flag for me when it comes to considering their services.
Do their sites rank in organic search?
In our Justia review (performed 6/12/19), I analyzed the top five organic (not maps) results for "car accident attorney" in the ten largest cities in the U.S. I chose "car accident attorney" as my test query because it's one of the most competitive terms in the legal vertical. I also limited my results to the top five because there is little traffic volume below that threshold.Here were my findings:
- New York City - #1 organic was a Justia site for Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauftons.
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- If you didn't catch that, I said "Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauftons." (Whew...say that out loud three times fast.)
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- One of the primary reasons that they rank is due to their inbound link profile. They have a ton of links from New York-specific sites (including 8 from the New York Times, a DR 93 site).
- Los Angeles - No Justia websites ranking in the top five organic search results.
- Chicago - No Justia websites ranking in the top five organic search results.
- Houston - No Justia websites ranking in the top five organic search results.
- Philadelphia - No Justia websites ranking in the top five organic search results.
- Phoenix - No Justia websites ranking in the top five organic search results.
- San Antonio - #1 organic was a Justia site for Carabin Shaw.
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- The question I have here is how they acquired 1115 dofollow links from Justia.com. This makes me ask, "If you have Justia build your website, do they add you to more categories within their proprietary directories?" It certainly seems that way, having reviewed non-Justia-based websites with Justia profiles.
- San Diego - No Justia websites ranking in the top five organic search results.
- Dallas- No Justia websites ranking in the top five organic search results.
- San Jose - No Justia websites ranking in the top five organic search results.
One last thing I'd like to point out: most attorneys think that if they see a web design logo in the footer of the website, that company is also providing SEO services. I can't definitively say that G, G, C, R, B, H, S & M and Carabin Shaw are only using Justia marketing solutions. It's very possible that they have an external SEO vendor.
We asked 30+ attorneys what they like best and least about Justia
Summary of key themes in their Justia reviews:
Like best:
- Customer service
- Low cost
- Website design services/quality
Like least:
- Lack of exclusivity
- Expense
- Lack of results
Attorneys' overall rating of Justia (scale from 1-5):
Dave AbelsPartnerAbels & Annes, P.C.
What do you like best about Justia?
I really like having access to their great staff for guidance on building and maintaining competitive websites and blogs. Their SEO advice has been so helpful over the years. My law office has been with Justia since 2007.
What do you like least about Justia?
I really don't have any significant complaints.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
They already offer several services that I don't take advantage of enough, but weekly or monthly online group video chats between Justia staff and attorneys to discuss SEO issues would be a nice option.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Chris AllenLaw Offices of Chris Allen & Bill PattilloPartner
What do you like best about Justia?
Communication, ease of use.
What do you like least about Justia?
Not having a section where clients can review. Right now, we have to transfer reviews from other mediums onto the Justia site. I also feel like other sites seem more modern for lack of a better term. More bells and whistles seem to draw more attention for potential clients.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Client review directly on the site.
Justia review (1-5): 4
Santo ArtusaArtusa Law FirmAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Relatively low cost.
What do you like least about Justia?
Lack of leads.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Divorce.
Justia review (1-5): 1
Steven BlumenthalLaw Offices of Steven E. BlumenthalAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Good website design; excellent search engine optimization -- I've had very good results with Justia; good advice regarding online marketing; I like the company's mission of providing legal information.
What do you like least about Justia?
I write my own content for my website and posts for social media, but the tradeoff is lower cost; I think there is an advantage also in communicating with people searching for an attorney in using your own content to reach them.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
[I] am happy with the services.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Edward GonzalezMoney Law FirmAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Gets me results!
What do you like least about Justia?
A little pricey. More phone contact.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Having trouble thinking of what. I used Justia for marketing. Other practice management tools may be good, but then could also complicate things.
Justia review (1-5): 4
Coy BrowningBrowning Law FirmAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Good referral source.
What do you like least about Justia?
Nothing I can think of.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Allow video to be added to our profile.
Justia review (1-5): 4
Philip CaveThe Law Office of Philip D. CaveAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Good pricing, easy to use, and always responsive about questions.
What do you like least about Justia?
Can't think of anything right now.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Don't have anything in mind.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Zachary CrosnerCrosner LegalAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
The exhaustive lists of federal and state statutes.
What do you like least about Justia?
I'm unaware of any way to "shepardize" cases to see if there are any cases that have been overruled or distinguished.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
AI features to enhance research for brief writing.
Justia review (1-5): 3
James DiTommasoDiTommaso Law LLCAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
The customer service is so fast and always willing to help no matter how big the task and how obscure the time.
What do you like least about Justia?
The only negative I can think of, is the price, but its actually quite fair. I honestly have nothing that I truly like least about Justia.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Social media support like it offers for their web services. If Justia ran our social media it would be the end all, be all.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Shawn DominyDominy Law Firm, LLCAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Customer service.
What do you like least about Justia?
None.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
None.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Tom EvansInjury At SeaAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Justia has been like a life boat, keeping us from drowning in a sea of competition. Having practiced maritime law since before there was a Microsoft,before search engines, before there was a Google, I now know no one does the web better, faster, and as reasonably priced as Justia.
What do you like least about Justia?
I don't own them.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Graphic design and personal video support.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Joshua FriedmanFriedman & Houlding LLPPartner
What do you like best about Justia?
We have had more excellent leads than we could handle since we started with them. They know everything an attorney needs to market successfully. If I have questions one of the own[er]s will speak to me personally. I have been with them since day one, never a disappointment.
What do you like least about Justia?
Sometimes I feel guilty that I receive so much more in return from them, than the very fair fees they charge warrant.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
They will provide whatever I need.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Ron GrazianoGraziano & Flynn, P.C.Attorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Good design. Good content. Great exposure.
What do you like least about Justia?
Not always high enough placement.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
None. I am quite happy.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Robert GuestGuest & GrayAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Cost, efficiency, they value my time and perform updates quickly.
What do you like least about Justia?
They could use some better integrations with video, social media, review platforms, and CLIO.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Deeper CLIO integration.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Theodore HarvatinHarvatin Law Offices, PCAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Responsive.
What do you like least about Justia?
No complaints.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
I feel like they offer everything that I need.
Justia review (1-5):
Glenn HolzbergHolzberg LegalAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Its reach on the internet, particularly in Legal issues.
What do you like least about Justia?
Too much competition in my profession and specifically my specialty.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Not sure.
Justia review (1-5): 3
Adam JarvisJarvis Law Firm PCAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
My website.
What do you like least about Justia?
The expense.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
I wish they could add a FAQ page for me. I just don't have time. I know I need one.
Justia review (1-5): 4
Robert KatzKatz Personal Injury LawyersAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Thoughtful personal service. They are great about responding to your questions and concerns and followup.
What do you like least about Justia?
It's just a little challenging with Justia being on the West coast and I'm on the east coast. However, it is not really a big issue.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Content development.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Leon MatchinLeon Matchin Attorney at LawAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
referals and business it gives me.
What do you like least about Justia?
Nothing.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Nothing else.
Justia review (1-5): 5
John NortonPulgini & Norton, LLPAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
The quality of the website.
What do you like least about Justia?
Nothing stands out.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Justia has pretty much everything covered.
Justia review (1-5): 5
James NovakThe Law Offices of James NovakAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Justia understands the website needs of our DUI and Criminal Defense Law Firm. They build effective and interactive websites. Justia support reviews analytics, provides web traffic reports and feedback that helps us to reach out to more potential clients in need of our services.
What do you like least about Justia?
Justia is a well known and reputable company. As far as I know, they do not provide exclusivity in an attorney's practice area, or geographic service area.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Justia stays in tuned with the market and their competitors. They have added many cutting edge services that fit our firm's needs at this time.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Ross PepperPepper Law PLCAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Excellent insights and practical advice.
What do you like least about Justia?
No in-person communication possible.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Services similar to reputation defender.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Donald PetersonFlorida Robocall LawyerAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
The free listing allows room for a rather detailed description of the types of problems that I can assist consumers with.
What do you like least about Justia?
Of course, Justia competes with my firm site when potential clients search using my name. And, as usual, it may be very difficult to remove reviews which are unfounded or even fraudulent.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
As Google local increasingly relies on pay to play, Justia will need to improve its features so that firms can offer more information about their services to visitors.
Justia review (1-5): 3
Bill PowersCarolina AttorneysAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Stable platform, AMP.
What do you like least about Justia?
Nothing worth mentioning.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Can't think of anything off hand.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Ryan RambudhanNova DefendersAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Premium placements in addition to web hosting.
What do you like least about Justia?
Slow response times from support staff (i.e. adding content, questions about performance, etc.)
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Things that can help with SEO - additional back link uploads, video creation tools, etc.
Justia review (1-5): 4
Jeffrey RandaJeffrey Randa and AssociatesAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
They are responsive, yet don't try and "upsell" services.
What do you like least about Justia?
That they have so many clients, making it almost a conflict of interest to optimize any one site over all others.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Ongoing site assessment with suggestions and social media management.
Justia review (1-5): 4
Jonathan RosenfeldRosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLCAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
Attention to detail is an area where Justia really shines. We a project is worked on, I know that it was done properly and thoroughly. There are excellent quality controls in place to assure that bugs are detected-- before material is published / a site is launched. I appreciate these efforts very much.
What do you like least about Justia?
There's really nothing I don't like about Justia.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
If you want something done, Justia will go out of their way to help or connect you with someone who can.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Brent StewartStewart Law OfficesAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
I like the way it helps promote the legal community.
What do you like least about Justia?
There are a lot of companies trying to do the same thing. It gets overwhelming.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Legal Research.
Justia review (1-5): 4
Steven SweatSteven M. Sweat, APCAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
I have two websites and two blogs with Justia so I am very familiar with their setup. On the plus side, I think the sites are sound from technical standpoint. They have all properties optimized for both desktop and mobile with AMP pages for the mobile.By the way, I've also hired Chris Dreyer to do SEO work for me in the past including a scholarship campaign and I couldn't recommend him more! Great guy and easy to work with.
What do you like least about Justia?
I like the overall customer service they provide but, on the downside, they are sometimes slow to add updates to my sites as requested.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
They have a site management tool but, it is sometimes a little difficult to use. The blogs are in Worpress and you will need to know how to add posts yourself to those.
Justia review (1-5): 5
Tina WillisTW LawAttorney
What do you like best about Justia?
The domain authority is high, so I like having a link and citation to my business.
What do you like least about Justia?
The process for having someone leave a review is long and complicated, which makes it difficult to ask other lawyers to leave them.
What services do you wish Justia would offer?
Reasonably priced, unique content blog writing by lawyers.
Justia review (1-5): 3
Is it worth it?
If you're looking for a low-cost solution for website design and general SEO, you could certainly do worse than Justia. They're reputable, well-known, and widely used.However, employing Justia's services does require you to make some sacrifices.As I mentioned above, their websites have a tendency to look a bit same-y after a while. This is quite possibly a function of my second complaint, the proprietary CMS. As you might have noticed in the round-up, a frequent complaint (even amongst happy Justia users) is that they feel lost in the shuffle with other attorneys. Certainly, having a website with little to differentiate it from its competition is not a positive, nor is being unable to take full control of that website at your leisure.Justia has productized their offerings for scalability and lower costs, but in exchange, they give up the "artisan bread" (unique content, quality, and design) level of services. This is why they don't offer exclusivity: they depend upon a large quantity of clients to generate their revenue in volume.Don't agree with my opinions or have thoughts of your own that you'd like to share? Feel free to email me at [email protected].
