In business, change is a constant.
If you’re doing it right, there should never be a year when you reflect and have a hard time finding points of growth.
Sure, there are times when the “tried and true” way of doing things proves to be a winner. But on the whole, if you aren’t evolving, you aren’t growing. And in 2025, things were evolving fast… and yes, AI had a lot to do with that.
But this kind of pace also marks an opportunity to separate from the pack. And at Civille, 2025 has been a year of building what’s next – for ourselves, for our partners, and for the future of how law firms show up and succeed online.
The Next Generation of Law Firm SEO
For years, the mission for our core product has been simple: build the best law firm websites in the world: fast, beautiful, and strategically optimized to drive measurable results. But as search continues to evolve, we’ve moved beyond traditional SEO.
We’re leading firms into AI SEO (or GEO – Generative Engine Optimization): the art and science of helping firms not only rank but also get recommended.
In a world where Google’s AI Overviews and LLM-powered assistants are shaping client decisions, our focus is clear:
- Build smarter content that LLMs can easily understand, cite, and surface.
- Structure every site for context, not just keywords – making it easy for AI systems to identify authority and relevance.
- Deliver long-form depth and real expertise that helps law firms earn trust, not just traffic.
The result? Civille sites aren’t just visible, they’re discoverable in the next era of search.
From Websites to Software: Introducing Counsel AI
At ClioCon in Boston, we officially launched Counsel AI, our next step in making law firm growth even smarter.
Counsel AI is a lead generation and qualification assistant, powered by AI and trained on each firm’s unique content and intake process. It’s built to:
- Engage prospects immediately through natural, helpful conversation.
- Ask the right questions to qualify leads intelligently.
- Book consults or send data directly into your CRM or case management system, integrating seamlessly with Clio, Lawmatics, Smokeball, and more.
Unlike generic chat tools, Counsel AI is designed for law firms. It reflects your tone, your expertise, and your priorities – whether that’s intake efficiency, responsiveness, or conversion tracking.
In other words, Counsel AI helps firms get better leads, faster.
Counsel AI also allowed us to further unhook from Civille websites. Much like our SEO programs, Counsel AI can be added to non-Civille websites. While we’d always recommend our platform to set the foundation for success, we understand that certain circumstances can make that difficult or even impossible.
Growing from Startup to Leader
The truth is, this kind of transformation doesn’t happen overnight. Transitioning from a scrappy startup to a recognized leader in the legal tech space takes persistence, innovation, and, most importantly, people who care deeply about the work.
Through the brute force of content generation, email marketing, social media, tradeshows, and so much more – we’ve made Civille a known entity in the space (I realize not to everyone… yet). Getting recognized at tradeshows more often by someone who “saw our video” or “got our email” carries a certain sense of pride.
But none of it happens in isolation. Every site launch, every product release, every success story is shared with our clients, partners, and peers who push us to keep raising the bar.
Thankful for the Journey Ahead
This Thanksgiving, we’re thankful – for the law firms who trust us, for the technology partners who innovate alongside us, and for the entire Civille team that turns ideas into results.
Building what’s next isn’t easy. But with the right people, the right technology, and the right mindset, it’s something worth being grateful for.
From all of us at Civille, thank you for being part of this journey. Here’s to what’s next.
