# About page — draft copy (v1) **Status:** first draft, not client-approved. Every fact below is sourced from the firm's own published words (site content in this build) — the source is named in brackets. Anything the firm has to confirm is marked **[CONFIRM]**; nothing in this draft was invented. --- ## 1 · Hero tagline Pick one. All three are built from the firm's own language. | # | Tagline | What it does | |---|---|---| | **A** | **Not one lawyer. A league.** | The organising idea of the rebuild, in six words. Already used on the homepage prototype, so the About page echoes it rather than introducing a new claim. | | **B** | **A team behind every client, since 2014.** | Same idea, plus the only firm-history fact that is fully sourced. | | **C** | **Twelve lawyers. Six offices. One team.** | Concrete and checkable. Needs the numbers re-checked before each publish. | Recommended: **A** for the hero, with B's "since 2014" carried by the timeline below. --- ## 2 · About copy ### Opening > League & Williams is a Victoria law firm built on a simple idea: a client is > better served by a team than by a lawyer working alone. > > Established in August 2014, we act for clients across British Columbia in injury > claims, estate disputes and planning, marine and transportation law, real estate, > and business law — from six offices on Vancouver Island, in Vancouver and in Kelowna. *Sources: "Established in August 2014, Victoria, BC based League and Williams (LaW)…" (post 4355). Office list: the six location pages. Practice areas: the site's own service structure.* ### How we work > Our cornerstone philosophy is that clients should have the best recovery possible, > and that fair and just settlements come from working collaboratively with the client > and their care providers as a team. > > That is why we staff matters as teams rather than as individual files. A client > works with the lawyer who fits their issue, and the whole bench stands behind that > lawyer — its litigators, its solicitors, and the assistants who keep a file moving > while a client is getting better. *Source: the firm's own words in "Quality Legal Services are a Function of Firm Values" (post 4366) and "The LaW Team" (post 4355).* ### What clients can expect > **Effective.** Lawyers are only effective if they have the skill and experience to > represent a client properly, in negotiation and at trial. > > **Competent, compassionate, responsive.** We answer. We explain what happens next. > We treat the people on the other end of a file as people. > > **Holistic.** A legal problem rarely arrives alone. We look at the whole situation a > client is in, not only the part that fits a claim. *Source: the five firm values named in post 4366 — holistic, effective, competent, compassionate, responsive — expanded into sentences using that post's own explanations.* ### Recognition > Victoria News readers have voted us the best law firm in Victoria in the Best of the > City Awards. **[CONFIRM — how many years, and the most recent year]** *Source: Darren Williams' bio, which says "for several years" without naming them. The homepage's "over 160 years of experience" is **[CONFIRM]** — the prototype log already flags it as possibly out of date.* --- ## 3 · Timeline block Every dated entry below is sourced. The firm needs to fill the **[CONFIRM]** rows — those are the ones that will make the timeline feel like a history rather than a staff list. | Year | Heading | Line | |---|---|---| | **2014** | The firm opens | League & Williams is established in Victoria in August 2014. *(post 4355)* | | **[CONFIRM]** | The name | Where "League" comes from. Not stated anywhere on the current site — the firm has to tell us. | | **2017** | Forty years of solicitor practice joins the bench | Don Linge joins, bringing more than 40 years as a solicitor in estate planning and conveyancing. *(bio)* | | **[CONFIRM]** | The offices | Years the Nanaimo, Duncan, Campbell River, Vancouver and Kelowna offices opened. Six locations exist today; the dates are not published. | | **2021** | The bench grows | Lisa Guidi joins as a litigator in January; Joji Kawaguchi begins articling in February and is called to the BC Bar in January 2022. *(bios)* | | **2023–2024** | Home-grown lawyers | Reid Warren articles with the firm from May 2023 and is called to the Bar in May 2024; Vera Syrma joins as an associate in October 2024. *(bios)* | | **2025–2026** | The next generation | Georgia Lockhart articles from February 2025 and is called to the Bar in February 2026. *(bio)* | | **Today** | A league of twelve | Twelve lawyers, six offices, five practice areas. *(counted from the site)* | **[CONFIRM] — worth adding if the firm can date them:** the Supreme Court of Canada matter the firm refers to, the year the marine practice reached its current size, and any milestone the firm considers important that the website has never mentioned. --- ## 4 · Photography brief — November shoot The About page is the strongest argument for the November shoot: it is the one page where the firm, not the service, is the subject. Shot list, in priority order: 1. **The bench, together.** All twelve lawyers in one frame, equal size, standing close. This is the page's hero image and the visual proof of "not one lawyer, a league". Landscape 16:9 master. 2. **Two or three working groups**, 3–4 people each, mid-conversation over a file — not posed at a boardroom table. Used beside "How we work". 3. **The Victoria office**, exterior and entrance, in daylight. Anchors "a Victoria firm". 4. **One or two candid portraits** of assistants and staff, not only lawyers — the copy says the whole team moves a file, so the photography should show more than lawyers. 5. **The branded car and the Supreme Court trip**, if either is re-shootable — both already appear in the homepage filmstrip and would tie the About page to it. Rules carried from the prototype: colour, 16:9 masters with room to crop, and every placeholder on the page labelled as a placeholder until the real files land. --- ## Open questions for the client 1. How many years, and which, for the Best of the City award? 2. Is "over 160 years of combined experience" still accurate? 3. Where does the name "League" come from? 4. What years did each office open? 5. Is there a case or milestone the firm wants on the timeline that the website has never published?