Bringing a Heritage Legal Practice into the Mortimers Family Online

Client: Lewis Lines & Wilkes Solicitors
Location: Brynmawr, Wales
Sector: Legal Services / Professional Services
Website: https://www.lewislinesandwilkes.co.uk/

The Challenge

Lewis Lines & Wilkes Solicitors has been part of the Brynmawr community for decades, building its reputation around local relationships and trusted legal advice.

Following the firm's integration into Mortimers Solicitors, its online presence needed to reflect a new chapter.

The existing website was a single-page Google Site containing little more than a message explaining that Lewis Lines & Wilkes was now part of Mortimers.

It did not properly explain the services available, introduce the wider legal team or give prospective clients the information they needed to make an informed enquiry.

The challenge was not simply to create a more professional website.

It was to balance two important requirements:

Preserve the identity and local reputation of Lewis Lines & Wilkes while demonstrating the additional expertise and resources available through Mortimers Solicitors.

The two websites needed to feel connected without making the Brynmawr practice appear to be a duplicate of the parent firm's website.

Our Approach

We approached the project as a brand-alignment and website-development exercise.

Rather than create an entirely separate visual identity or simply duplicate the Mortimers website, we established a shared design language that could accommodate both brands.

The new Lewis Lines & Wilkes website follows the familiar structure of the Mortimers website, while retaining its own distinctive blue colour palette taken from the Lewis Lines & Wilkes logo.

This creates continuity for visitors moving between the two organisations without losing the local firm's identity.

We also placed particular emphasis on the content.

The website needed to communicate the services available through the wider group while remaining relevant to clients in Brynmawr and the surrounding Welsh communities.

The result is a lightweight, mobile-friendly website that combines local familiarity with the credibility of a wider legal practice.

Services Delivered

Website Design & Brand Alignment
Creating a consistent visual experience between Lewis Lines & Wilkes and Mortimers Solicitors while retaining the individual identity of the Brynmawr practice.

Static Website Development
Building a fast, lightweight website without the ongoing plugin and CMS maintenance associated with a traditional WordPress installation.

Content Migration & Localisation
Migrating and adapting legal service information, fee details and solicitor profiles from the existing Mortimers WordPress website.

Technical SEO
Implementing descriptive metadata, structured data and a sitemap to give search engines a clear understanding of the firm, its services and its location.

Hosting & Deployment
Configuring DigitalOcean hosting and a GitHub-based deployment process to support reliable, version-controlled website updates.

One Design Language, Two Distinct Brands

A central consideration was the relationship between Lewis Lines & Wilkes and Mortimers Solicitors.

Both firms needed to feel part of the same organisation, but the Brynmawr practice also needed to retain the familiarity associated with its established local name.

We used the Mortimers website as the structural reference point, maintaining consistency in layout and navigation.

For Lewis Lines & Wilkes, we introduced its own blue brand colour throughout the interface.

This approach means visitors moving between the two websites encounter a familiar experience while still recognising each firm's identity.

It is a practical example of how website design can support brand continuity during business integration without erasing an established local identity.

Keeping Local Relationships at the Centre

For a long-established legal practice, the people behind the business are particularly important.

We made sure the website reflected that.

Tracy Wilkes, who has been with the firm for more than 25 years, is given a prominent position within the team section.

The wider Mortimers legal team is then presented in a scrolling profile section, allowing visitors to explore the additional expertise available through the group.

This gives the website two complementary messages:

• Lewis Lines & Wilkes remains a familiar local practice.
• Clients can also benefit from the broader legal expertise of Mortimers Solicitors.

Rather than treating the team as a collection of profile pages, we used its presentation to communicate the relationship between the two brands.

Content Migration with Welsh Clients in Mind

The project involved more than copying content from one website to another.

Existing service descriptions, solicitor profiles and fee information were migrated from the Mortimers WordPress website and adapted for the Lewis Lines & Wilkes audience.

This was particularly important where legal terminology and processes differ between England and Wales.

For example, conveyancing information needed to refer appropriately to Land Transaction Tax, which applies to relevant property transactions in Wales, rather than simply reproducing references to Stamp Duty Land Tax.

The objective was to create a website that felt relevant to the people using it, not a generic version of another firm's content.

This combination of content migration and localisation helped retain consistency across the group while making the information appropriate for the Brynmawr practice.

Clear Legal Information and Regulatory Transparency

Legal services websites need to provide more than a description of the business.

Prospective clients need to understand the services available, the people providing them and the information relevant to instructing a solicitor.

The new website includes published fee information covering:

• Probate
• Conveyancing
• Employment matters

It also provides a dedicated complaints procedure and information relating to the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Ombudsman.

By incorporating these requirements into the website structure from the beginning, important information is easier for visitors to locate.

The result is a more transparent and informative experience that supports trust before a client makes contact.

A Lightweight Website Without Unnecessary Complexity

One of the most important technical decisions was what not to build.

The project did not require a complex content-management system, an extensive plugin ecosystem or a bespoke application backend.

It needed a fast, reliable website presenting structured information about the firm, its people and its services.

We therefore built the website as a static site rather than using WordPress.

This approach removes the need for routine plugin updates and reduces the maintenance associated with a traditional CMS installation.

It also allows pages to be delivered efficiently without unnecessary server-side processing.

For this project, a simpler architecture was the right choice.

That reflects our wider solutions architecture approach, where technology is selected around the organisation's requirements rather than introducing complexity for its own sake.

26 Pages Built Around the Client Journey

The new website includes 26 pages, covering legal services, solicitor profiles and essential company information.

The structure includes:

• Five service pages
• Twelve solicitor profiles
• About the firm
• Contact information
• Complaints information
• Supporting legal and fee content

Each area was designed to help visitors understand the firm and find the information relevant to their enquiry.

Service pages use tabbed layouts to organise detailed information without overwhelming the visitor.

Fee tables were also designed with mobile users in mind, making important pricing information easier to navigate on smaller screens.

Privacy by Design

We also considered how the website handles visitor privacy.

Rather than introducing tracking technology without a clear requirement, the site was built without tracking cookies.

The embedded Google Map is not loaded automatically.

Instead, visitors choose whether to display it, preventing the map from contacting Google's services before that interaction.

This avoids unnecessary third-party requests during the initial page load and supports a more privacy-conscious experience.

It also means the site does not need a cookie banner for non-essential tracking cookies, because those cookies are not used.

Search Visibility Built into the Structure

The previous single-page website provided very little content for search engines to understand.

The new site creates a clearer foundation for organic visibility by giving the firm's services, people and location their own structured content.

Technical SEO work included:

• Descriptive page titles
• Unique meta descriptions
• Legal-services structured data
• XML sitemap
• Clear page hierarchy
• Mobile-friendly layouts
• Crawlable service information

These elements help search engines discover and interpret the website's content.

They also provide a stronger starting point for future local search optimisation.

The website's launch establishes the technical foundations; ongoing search visibility and enquiry growth can be measured separately as the site develops.

Simple Content Management Without a CMS

Although the website does not use WordPress, it was still important to make routine updates manageable.

We structured the team and service information within a central data file.

This means adding or updating a solicitor or service can be handled through a single edit rather than manually changing the same information across multiple pages.

For a relatively stable professional-services website, this provides a practical balance between maintainability and technical simplicity.

Reliable Hosting and Deployment

The website is hosted on DigitalOcean and connected to a GitHub-based deployment workflow.

Changes to the codebase are tracked through version control and deployed automatically through the configured release process.

This gives the project a clear development history and a repeatable method for publishing updates.

It also provides a straightforward foundation for future enhancements without relying on manual file uploads or a collection of CMS plugins.

Results & Impact

The project transformed Lewis Lines & Wilkes' online presence from a minimal holding page into a complete professional-services website.

26 pages delivered
A structured website covering legal services, solicitor profiles, fees and essential company information.

12 solicitor profiles
Presenting both the established local practice and the wider Mortimers team.

5 service pages
Making the firm's legal services easier to explore and understand.

One connected brand experience
A website aligned with Mortimers Solicitors while retaining the Lewis Lines & Wilkes identity.

The new platform provides:

• A professional online presence reflecting the firm's heritage and wider group membership
• Clearer information about services and solicitors
• Accessible fee and regulatory information
• A mobile-friendly experience
• Improved technical SEO foundations
• A lightweight architecture with reduced maintenance requirements
• A privacy-conscious approach to third-party services
• Reliable, version-controlled deployment

The result is a website better equipped to represent the firm and support prospective clients looking for legal services in Brynmawr.

What This Demonstrates

The Lewis Lines & Wilkes project demonstrates The DM Lab's ability to:

• Align related brands through consistent website design
• Preserve local business identity during group integration
• Migrate and localise professional-services content
• Build lightweight websites without unnecessary CMS complexity
• Incorporate regulatory information into the user journey
• Deliver technical SEO foundations from launch
• Design with privacy and accessibility in mind
• Establish reliable hosting and deployment workflows

It also reinforces an important principle behind our development work.

The right solution is not always the most complicated one.

Sometimes the most effective digital transformation is replacing an inadequate website with something focused, fast and carefully structured.

Final Thought

Lewis Lines & Wilkes needed more than a new website.

It needed an online presence that respected decades of local trust while clearly communicating the benefits of becoming part of Mortimers Solicitors.

By combining a shared design language, locally relevant content and a lightweight technical approach, we created a website that connects the two organisations without losing what makes the Brynmawr practice distinctive.

This project shows how thoughtful website design and development can support business integration, protect brand identity and create a stronger foundation for digital growth.

At The DM Lab, we believe the best technology decisions begin with understanding the business - whether that means WordPress, a headless platform, a bespoke application or a straightforward static website.

Explore our WordPress and web development approach

Learn more about our solutions architecture services

Speak to The DM Lab

Visit the website: https://www.lewislinesandwilkes.co.uk/