The Tool Desk
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How to update an attorney database from multiple websites
Use a controlled workflow: define the fields and purpose, map each field to a suitable source, match people conservatively, preserve provenance, review conflicts, and only then write approved changes to firm systems. Keep internal research separate from content approved for public profiles.
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1. Define the record and its intended use
Decide which fields the firm actually needs, who may view or edit them, and whether the information will remain internal or appear publicly. A focused record might include:
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- Professional title, work contact details, and office location
- Bar jurisdictions, admission details, and current status
- Practice-area description and profile URLs
Separate verifiable facts, such as a bar admission, from editorial or marketing claims, such as a description of experience. Do not collect personal or sensitive details just because a site makes them visible. Keep client-confidential and matter information out of this workflow unless there is a justified purpose and safeguards suited to that information.
2. Choose a source for each field
There is no single best website for every fact. Prefer the relevant licensing authority or bar record for admission and jurisdiction. Use attorney- or firm-verified materials for approved biography and work contact details. Treat third-party directories as corroboration unless their authority and update practices are established. A directory’s rating or practice label is not automatically a firm-endorsed fact.
Before using a source, check whether the planned access and reuse are allowed by the applicable terms, permissions, and law. Public visibility alone does not establish permission to crawl a site or republish its profile. Rules and access conditions vary by jurisdiction and source; this guide is not a blanket legal conclusion about scraping, privacy, copyright, or database rights.
3. Preserve provenance and competing values
Store the source URL, retrieval date, field captured, and any source-specific license or terms decision alongside each proposed value. Keep the prior value and proposed replacement in an audit trail rather than silently overwriting an approved record. If sources disagree, retain both values and route the discrepancy for review.
Normalize harmless formatting differences, but match a person using multiple distinguishing fields where available—such as bar jurisdiction and number, firm, location, and professional contact details. Similar names alone are not enough to merge records. Send ambiguous matches to a reviewer and document the resolution.
4. Review volatile fields and public claims
Admissions, firm affiliations, phone numbers, and practice descriptions can change. Set review intervals based on how quickly a field may become stale and the consequences of an error; a lookup establishes what a source displayed at that time, not permanent accuracy.
Before publishing a profile, have an accountable person verify titles, admissions, awards, ratings, endorsements, and practice descriptions for accuracy and misleading implications. North Carolina State Bar 2018 Formal Ethics Opinion 1 addresses truthful, non-misleading directory and rating profiles, including objective and verifiable standards in the ratings context. Its guidance is jurisdiction-specific. A State Bar of California archived page concerns Proposed Formal Opinion Interim No. 12-0003; the proposal page alone does not establish that it was adopted or is current binding guidance.
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Can attorney information be pulled automatically into a CRM?
Sometimes, but distinguish a permitted, documented integration from an automated scraper. API availability does not itself authorize collecting information from unrelated websites, nor does it mean a vendor offers turnkey attorney-profile enrichment. Confirm the rights and terms for every input source and the capabilities of the system receiving the data.
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Use an API or connector only for the supported job
Clio provides developer documentation for building integrations and working with Clio data. Its App Directory describes a Clio–Lawmatics integration that syncs converted matters and associated custom fields, documents, notes, and relationships into Clio Manage. That is described as intake and matter synchronization, not a dedicated attorney-profile enrichment feature.
Lawmatics documents OAuth API access, record resources, custom fields, field selection, and pagination. Its API documentation lists a 50-request-per-minute per-firm limit; a separate Lawmatics help page on its REST API and webhooks lists 150 requests per minute. Because the official pages differ, confirm the applicable current limit with Lawmatics before implementation rather than building to either figure as a guarantee.
Check governance before connecting systems
- Confirm authorization, API terms, and permissions for the source and destination.
- Limit fields and updates to what the firm’s stated purpose requires.
- Use appropriate authentication and secret handling; restrict access to staff who need it.
- Define logging, duplicate handling, human review, error recovery, retention, and deletion.
- Review vendor safeguards and document the firm’s diligence.
Clio’s developer terms expressly address consent or authority, data minimization, and security for information obtained through its API. ABA Formal Opinion 483 concerns lawyers’ reasonable efforts around internet-connected technology, external data sources, and vendors in the broader context of electronic data breaches; it should not be treated as a rule specifically governing every directory-enrichment workflow. ABA vendor guidance recommends evaluating safeguards and documenting diligence.
Choose an enrichment approach by risk and operating needs
| Approach | Best fit | Questions to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Manual research and entry | Small batches, unusual conflicts, or sources requiring individual judgment | Can staff record source, retrieval date, and prior values consistently? Who approves conflicts and public claims? |
| Scripted integration | Repeated updates where sources and destination APIs permit the intended access and use | Does the API support required objects, fields, permissions, pagination, and error handling? How are rate limits, duplicates, and uncertain matches handled? |
| Commercial data service | A firm considering outsourced data supply or maintenance | What are the underlying sources and permitted uses? What safeguards, retention, correction, deletion, and provenance are provided? |
No approach is a universal winner. Compare source authorization, authority for each field, traceability, identity resolution, review burden, security and governance, integration fit, and who owns ongoing corrections. The cited materials provide no comparative accuracy, time-saving, or error-rate benchmarks, so do not assume automation is more accurate or quantify its benefit without evidence from the firm’s own appropriately designed evaluation.
Keep evidence of what a source showed
A source URL and retrieval date are the core provenance fields. A screenshot can additionally document how a profile appeared at capture time for an internal review or audit trail, but it does not verify that the profile is true, grant permission to reuse its contents, or replace storing structured values and their source.
Capture a reference image with a browser
For a one-off capture, open the profile in a browser, confirm the page and person are the intended ones, capture the relevant visible content, and store the image with the source URL, capture date, reviewer, and record identifier. Follow the site’s terms and the firm’s retention and access rules. A screenshot may omit content outside the viewport or behind an interaction; record that limitation rather than treating it as a complete page record.
Or skip the browser setup
For a permitted screenshot capture, ScreenshotNeo accepts a URL in one GET request and returns an image or PDF. The service can accept cookie or consent banners and remove supported consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets before capture; these steps can be turned off. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and response headers indicate the page verdict and billing status. Its MCP server offers take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf for AI agents and MCP clients. Screenshot capture remains documentation, not authorization or verification of the underlying attorney data.
Example cURL request (replace the URL with a source you are authorized to capture):
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpSee the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request options. The free plan includes 1,000 shots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots. Learn about ScreenshotNeo or sign up for 1,000 free screenshots a month with no card.
Quick Recap
Troubleshoot common enrichment failures
- Two profiles appear to describe the same name: do not merge on name alone. Compare additional identifiers and send an inconclusive match to human review.
- Sources disagree on admission or status: check the relevant licensing authority or bar record, record when it was checked, and preserve the conflicting claim until resolved.
- A directory label conflicts with the firm’s approved biography: treat it as an unapproved third-party description, not an automatic replacement; review before any public use.
- An automated job creates duplicates or overwrites approved data: pause writes, retain logs and prior values, review matching rules and field mappings, then resume only after testing the correction path.
- An API job is throttled or fails partway through: check the vendor’s current limit and error guidance, use controlled retries and pagination, and make processing safe to resume without duplicate or destructive writes.
- A vendor or source will not clarify reuse rights or deletion: do not import those fields until the firm has resolved the permission and governance questions.
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