The Precedent A-List is a Canada-wide job board and career platform for lawyers. Forge partnered with Precedent Magazine to breathe new life into an outdated website that was becoming increasingly fragile after years without sufficient maintenance. Building a more modern and user-friendly experience began with identifying pain points, project goals and opportunities for improvement. Insights gained during early phases informed our strategy on how to improve UX, SEO, analytics, security, performance, scalability, accessibility, technical structure and competitive positioning to elevate brand application. A highly customized content management system streamlined processes for daily management tasks such as job postings, user segmentation and advertisement management.

A structured sitemap established clear information architecture and intuitive navigation, while wireframes provided an early foundation for defining layouts, user flow and content hierarchy. Based 
on traffic and SEO analysis, key user journeys were prioritized and new pathways were introduced to improve discovery across previously siloed content. Stakeholder feedback throughout each iteration helped refine the experience and ensure alignment, resulting in a shared sense of ownership in the final product.

Following an extensive audit of existing brand touchpoints, subtle visual refinements and an articulate design system were established without losing sight of their core audience of legal professionals accustomed to traditional website conventions. Leveraging the existing WordPress installation and database, functionality was preserved while improving performance and addressing key gaps in productivity, efficiency and transparency. Existing and new plugins were integrated as needed, and page creation was streamlined through the use of a custom, modular block system.

The frontend design employs a content-first, editorial layout approach that emphasizes readability, hierarchy and a traditional publishing sensibility, while the backend provides clear visibility of all important content and features such as posting history, transactions and user credit balances. A credit system was fully integrated into user accounts with secure Stripe-based credit handling and automated email notifications for purchased job listings and advertising.

We delivered a high-performance, future-ready website with advanced search filtering, fast load times and a fully responsive experience across desktop and mobile. Built with semantic HTML and WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards, the site is optimized for SEO, discoverability and long-term scalability. Comprehensive testing, analytics integration, team training and ongoing maintenance ensure the platform remains easy to manage, adaptable to future needs and supported well beyond launch.