.facts — 8 layout options

The "LaW Facts / Did You Know?" section, rebuilt. Every option here is a different answer to one question: what is this section actually for?

What the section does today, and why it is the weakest block on the page:
  1. 948px — most of a screen — for one sentence. It is the tallest section on the homepage and carries the least information per pixel.
  2. The firm's strongest proof is hidden in a slider. A unanimous Supreme Court of Canada decision is one of N rotating panels; most visitors see one and never learn the rest exist.
  3. "Did you know?" frames it as trivia. Winning at the SCC is not a fun fact — it is the single most persuasive thing this firm can say, and the framing files it under entertainment.
  4. Nothing is clickable. No route to the case, to results, or to the lawyers involved.
  5. It names one lawyer. The client's own words are "we are teams of legal professionals, not lawyers supporting clients" — a hero-lawyer panel works against the idea the site is supposed to carry.
  6. Six real facts exist, and five of them are effectively invisible. The slider holds the SCC win, the Victoria News award, 160+ years of combined experience, the largest marine practice on the Island, free injury and estate consultations, and the Westside Village move — six genuine credibility claims, of which a visitor sees one.
The direction doc puts this zone as "credibility — reviews, 160 years, results." So the strongest options below stop treating it as a fact slider and start treating it as the proof layer.
The six facts, as the live site words them (pulled from the homepage slider, 2026-08-21):
  1. Argued and won unanimously at the Supreme Court of Canada, 2017 — Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61.
  2. Chosen Victoria's best law firm by readers of Victoria News — 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2025.
  3. In its Westside Village home since 2014, expanded in 2018.
  4. More than 160 years of combined legal practice experience across the lawyers on the team.
  5. Free consultations in personal injury and estate litigation.
  6. The largest marine law practice on Vancouver Island.
⚠ Two content problems found while collecting these — both need Darren, not a designer.
  1. "7 years in a row" is not what the years say. The live copy reads "7 years in a row – 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2025" — seven wins, but with 2024 missing, so "in a row" is wrong as printed. The options below say "seven times" instead. Confirm the real record before launch; this is the kind of line a competitor notices.
  2. Fact 3 expires this year. "In its Westside Village home since 2014" contradicts the November move to the new office across from the courthouse. Either it is rewritten as history ("in Westside Village from 2014 to 2026") or it is retired and replaced. Same flag as the footer address.
Still placeholder and still a legal/ethical matter: the case notes in K4, the review quotes in K8 and the team names in K5 are written by me to show layout. Invented case outcomes and invented reviews are not merely a content gap for a law firm — each must be replaced with real, client-cleared material before this goes anywhere.
K1Baseline — fact slider + photo 948px The current section, for reference.
LaW Facts

DID YOU KNOW?

In 2017, Darren Williams successfully argued in front of the Supreme Court of Canada resulting in an unanimous decision in his client's favor. (Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61.)

Photo — Darren at the SCC
(live site asset)
K2Proof band — four numbers ~300px The four credibility claims collected into one dark band of hexagon cells. Everything visible at once, nothing hidden in a rotation, a third of the height. The most information-dense answer and the least like the old site.
Why clients choose us

The record behind the advice

2017Argued and won unanimously at the Supreme Court of Canada
7×Victoria's best law firm, chosen by Victoria News readers
160+ yrsCombined legal practice experience across the team
LargestMarine law practice on Vancouver Island
FreeConsultations in personal injury and estate litigation
2014In our Westside Village home, expanded in 2018
K3Lead fact + proof rail ~520px Keeps the SCC story as a proper statement — not trivia, not a slider — with the other three claims stacked beside it. Middle path: the fact still leads, but it stops costing a full screen and the rest of the proof stops hiding.
Argued and won

In 2017 we argued before the Supreme Court of Canada — and won unanimously.

The country's highest court decided in our client's favour, nine judges to nothing. The same team that took that case is the team that answers the phone here.

Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61
Read the Case
Victoria's best law firm, seven timeschosen by Victoria News readers
160+ years of combined experienceheld across the team, not one résumé
The largest marine law practice on the IslandVancouver Island
Free consultationspersonal injury and estate litigation
In Westside Village since 2014expanded in 2018
K4Case notes — results, not trivia ~560px Three matters as Situation → What we did → Outcome, no client names. Converts "did you know" into evidence a worried visitor can measure their own problem against. Strongest persuasion of the set — and the one that needs real, cleared content before it can exist.
Results

What this looks like in practice

Every matter is different and past results never guarantee a future one — but this is the kind of work the teams here do week to week.

Estate Disputes

An estate divided unequally between siblings

Situation
A will left one child a fraction of what the others received, after decades of unpaid work on the family property.
What we did
Brought a wills-variation claim and assembled the record of contribution over twenty years.
Outcome
The estate was redistributed on consent before trial.
Personal Injury

A cyclist struck at an intersection

Situation
Liability was denied outright and the initial offer did not cover time off work.
What we did
Reconstructed the collision with an engineer and documented the loss of earning capacity.
Outcome
Settled for a multiple of the first offer.
Marine Law

A charter that ended on the rocks

Situation
Owner and operator each pointed at the other, and the policy excluded both readings.
What we did
Established the chain of responsibility under the charter agreement.
Outcome
Coverage confirmed and the repair funded.
See More Results
K5Team-first — "it took a team" ~560px The same SCC win, retold as the team that won it rather than the lawyer who argued it. This is the direction doc's core idea made literal — "we are teams of legal professionals, not lawyers supporting clients" — in the one place on the page where the old site says the opposite.
Why a league

It took a team to win at the Supreme Court of Canada.

One lawyer stood up to argue it. Behind that argument were the people who built the record, ran the research, and kept the client informed for four years. That is how every file here is handled — a group, with a named lead.

Meet Your Team
The team on that file
Lead
Named leadCounsel
Photo
Team memberAssociate
Photo
Team memberParalegal
Photo
Team memberResearch
Photo
Team memberClient care
K6Split with photo, halved and de-slidered ~470px The most conservative move: keeps the shape the client already approved — dark panel beside a photograph — but halves the height and replaces the rotation with three facts always visible. Safest to get past a "why did you change it?" conversation.
LaW Facts

In 2017 we argued before the Supreme Court of Canada and won unanimously — Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61.

Chosen Victoria's best law firm by readers of Victoria News — seven times.

The lawyers here hold more than 160 years of combined legal practice experience.

We run the largest marine law practice on Vancouver Island.

Free consultations in personal injury and estate litigation.

In our Westside Village home since 2014, expanded in 2018.

Photo — courtroom / firm
(November shoot; crop 620×470)
K7Quiet statement + stat rule ~430px One sentence at display size on off-white, then the numbers on a thin rule beneath. No photo, no panel, no colour block — the section becomes typography and a horizontal rule. The most "modern, clean, sharp" reading of the brief, and it costs almost nothing to build.
We argued in front of the Supreme Court of Canada — and won, unanimously.
Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61
7×Victoria's best law firm, Victoria News readers
160+years of combined experience
Largestmarine law practice on the Island
Freeconsultations in injury & estate litigation
2014in Westside Village, expanded 2018
K8Reviews-led — proof from clients ~480px Leads with the Victoria News readers' award — third-party recognition, seven times over — with client quotes below and the firm's own claims reduced to a strip. Credibility spoken by someone other than the firm, which is usually the more persuasive voice. The two quotes are the only invented content left in this round.
7× Victoria's best law firm★★★★★Chosen by readers of Victoria News — 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2025
Read Client Reviews

"Placeholder review copy — a client describing being kept informed through a long file, in their own words, two or three sentences at most."

— Placeholder name, Google review

"Placeholder review copy — a second client, ideally about a different practice area, so the two quotes do not read as the same story twice."

— Placeholder name, Google review
SCC unanimous win, 2017
160+ years combined experience
Largest marine practice on the Island
Free injury & estate consultations

Round 2 — no slider, image kept

Six more, all built on one constraint: every fact is visible at once — nothing rotates, nothing hides — and the photograph stays part of the block. Round 1's densest answers (K2, K7) bought their efficiency by dropping the image; these do not. Heights are given against the current 948px.

Photography note: all images here are labelled placeholders sized to their final crops, per the project rule — the November shoot fills them. K11 flag: it uses a full-bleed photograph, and design-direction.md rules out large expansive imagery; it is included so the option is on the table with its objection attached, not because it clears that line.

All six options carry all six real facts, pulled from the live site's slider — no invented statistics.

K9Photo band with cards overlapping ~560px A wide photograph runs behind, and the four proof cards sit on its bottom edge, overlapping. The image gets real presence without eating the section, and the overlap ties photo and facts into one object instead of two stacked blocks.
Photo — 1440 × 340 · shot brief: the team on the office steps or a wide interior, shot loose so the lower third can sit under cards
2017Argued and won unanimously at the Supreme Court of Canada
7×Victoria's best law firm, chosen by Victoria News readers
160+ yrsCombined legal practice experience across the team
LargestMarine law practice on Vancouver Island
FreeConsultations in personal injury and estate litigation
2014In our Westside Village home, expanded in 2018

Every file here is handled by a team — the same way the case at the Supreme Court was.

K10Facts beside a photo comb ~520px Three photographs cropped into hexagons and set on the real honeycomb lattice, with the facts listed alongside. The brand shape finally does something structural — it is the frame for the faces, not an ornament floating near them.
Why clients choose us

The record behind the advice

A unanimous win at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2017 — Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61.

Victoria's best law firm, seven times over, chosen by readers of Victoria News.

More than 160 years of combined experience held across the team, not one résumé.

The largest marine law practice on Vancouver Island.

Free consultations in personal injury and estate litigation.

In our Westside Village home since 2014, expanded in 2018.

Photo
240×277 Photo
240×277 Photo
240×277
K11Stats over a full-bleed photo ~430px One photograph edge to edge, darkened, with the four numbers across it. Most impact per pixel of the round — and the one that argues with the direction doc's "no large expansive imagery." On the table with the objection attached.
Placeholder Shot brief: wide, low-contrast, no busy detail in the middle band where the numbers sit — courthouse exterior or the harbour, not a posed group.
Why clients choose us

The record behind the advice

2017Unanimous win at the Supreme Court of Canada
7×Victoria's best law firm, Victoria News readers
160+Years of combined experience
LargestMarine law practice on Vancouver Island
FreeInjury & estate litigation consultations
2014In Westside Village, expanded 2018
K12Alternating strips ~500px Two full-width strips, photo and text swapping sides. Each fact gets its own image and its own sentence, so the section reads as two short stories rather than one statistic dump — and it scales: a third strip is a third fact, no redesign.
Photo — 560×250 · courtroom / counsel at work
Argued and won

A unanimous decision at the Supreme Court of Canada

Nine judges, no dissent, in our client's favour — and the same team that carried that file answers the phone here.

Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61
Photo — 560×250 · the team together, office daylight
160 years, one table

Experience measured across a team, not a résumé

More than 160 years of combined practice, and readers of Victoria News have chosen this firm Victoria's best seven times over.

Photo — 560×250 · harbour / marine file, or the Westside Village office
On the Island, for the Island

The largest marine law practice on Vancouver Island

In our Westside Village home since 2014 and expanded in 2018 — with free consultations in personal injury and estate litigation, so the first conversation costs nothing.

K13Photo half + numbered facts, hexagon inset ~500px The familiar half-and-half, but the facts become a numbered list with the figure carrying the weight, and a small hexagon photo straddles the seam so the two halves interlock instead of just abutting. Closest to the current shape while reading completely differently.
Photo — 660×500 · vertical crop, the team or the office interior
Photo
inset
Why clients choose us

The record behind the advice

2017

Won unanimously at the Supreme Court of CanadaCowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61.

7×

Victoria's best law firmChosen by readers of Victoria News.

160+ yrs

Combined legal practice experienceHeld by a team rather than a single name.

Largest

Marine law practice on Vancouver IslandThe biggest on the Island.

Free

ConsultationsIn personal injury and estate litigation.

2014

In our Westside Village homeExpanded in 2018.

K14Comb mosaic — faces and facts in one hive ~600px Six cells on the true lattice: three photographs, three facts, interlocking. The hive stops being decoration and becomes the section's structure — proof and people literally built into the same comb. Most distinctive of everything in this round; also the most work to keep looking right as content changes.
Why a league

The record behind the advice

Photo
200×230 2017Won unanimously at the Supreme Court of Canada 7×Victoria's best law firm 160+ yrsCombined experience Photo
200×230 LargestMarine practice on the Island FreeInjury & estate consultations Photo
200×230 2014Westside Village, expanded 2018

Cowper-Smith v. Morgan, 2017 SCC 61 · Victoria News readers' choice 2018–2023 & 2025