Custom portal for profile and event management

The client

The Property Bar Association is the professional body for Barristers in England & Wales who practice in the field of property law. They offer a program of educational lectures and seminars for established practitioners throughout the legal year and have a regular training series aimed specifically at young practitioners.

The problem

The administration team at the Property Bar was overwhelmed with requests to update barristers’ profiles on the website. The Property Bar was also looking to replace their old website with a new site with a user-friendly CMS that would allow them to easily manage bar memberships. They also wanted to be able to easily manage subscriptions and publish events easily through the system. They also required a real-time searchable database of members and their chambers, which allows site users to refine their searches by experience and other factors.

The solution

ProLegalTech developed a custom portal to enable barristers to edit their own profile which would then be sent to the Property Bar Association administration team to approve.

Profile management portal

Property Bar had a special requirement, which was to allow their members the ability to update their own profiles online without having access to the CMS. The system would use a defined template, manageable by marketing staff, for content. Members could also select specialisms, chambers, and profile images. It was required that this system work on all devices and would not require any training to use. For example, profile images should be auto-scaled and cropped and the content should be edited using familiar controls in a WYSIWYG style interface. The system also needed to allow members to first preview their content before publishing it to the website.

Key members of the Property Bar Association had become aware of PilotBean’s expertise and services in relation to building Barristers’ websites and marketing tools via our successful delivery of the Hardwicke website, email marketing platform, and event management system. In 2013 PilotBean was selected to deliver a new website and content management system alongside our event management platform and online profile editing systems.

Event management portal

In 2015, The Property Bar marketing team required further assistance from PilotBean. They were looking for a system to take event payments online and to have this integrated into the existing event RSVP system. Additionally, a distinct searchable directory for academic members and several management workflow changes were built on time and within budget. The completed tasks ensured the back office was working efficiently with current practices and infrastructure.