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One court system, several buildings

The First Judicial District describes itself as two courts, the Court of Common Pleas and the Municipal Court, that make up the Philadelphia County court system. Common Pleas has a Trial Division with civil and criminal sections, a Family Division with Domestic Relations and Juvenile branches, and an Orphans' Division. Municipal Court has civil, criminal, and traffic divisions.

Those divisions sit in different places. The Civil Trial Division lists Room 266, City Hall. Family Court is at 1501 Arch Street, where the Domestic Relations Branch handles paternity, support, custody, visitation, and divorce. The Stout Center for Criminal Justice is at 1301 Filbert Street. A page that tells a reader "go to the courthouse" leaves out the detail that matters most.

Getting estate and adoption facts right

The Register of Wills, in Room 180 of City Hall, probates wills, issues letters of administration, and serves as the ex officio Clerk of the Orphans' Court, whose clerk's office is in Room 415. That pairing is how Pennsylvania handles estates, and a Philadelphia estate page should name both offices.

Adoptions are where Philadelphia departs from the rest of the state. In most Pennsylvania counties, the orphans' court division hears adoptions. Under 20 Pa.C.S. 713, Philadelphia County adoptions go through the Family Court division of the court of common pleas instead. A page that copies a statewide adoption explainer gets Philadelphia wrong.

What differs from the rest of the state

Philadelphia firms compete with many other firms for the same few answer slots, so specific pages stand out. If your firm also serves New Jersey readers, each page should say which state's law it explains and where your attorneys are licensed. Compare the Pittsburgh market, where the challenge is a county of 130 municipalities and the adoption rule follows the statewide pattern.

Whether each neighborhood or suburb deserves its own page is a separate question, covered in whether city pages still work for lawyers.

What we build for Philadelphia firms

• Practice-area pages that name the right First Judicial District division and building
• Estate and adoption pages that follow the Register of Wills and Family Court rules specific to Philadelphia
• Answer posts for the questions Philadelphia clients ask before they call

The family law guide and the estate planning guide show the page sets those practices tend to need.

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