Among the most challenging but potentially lucrative verticals is “Legal.” Long dominated by legal listings leaders such as Martindale Hubbell and Reuters Thomson, legal has opened up a little with the rise of social media and social media driven review sites such as Avvo.

Taking another approach is Chicago-based Total Attorneys. The company, founded in 2002, focuses on helping small law firms and solo practitioners grow and manage their practices. Today, the company announced a growth capital investment by BIA Digital Partners II LLP, which is a sister company to BIA/Kelsey, the publisher of this blog. The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

According to a release, Total Attorneys has built its business based on two marketplace shifts: the migration of attorney marketing from traditional media to online performance-based media and consumer interest in seeking information and transacting business over the Internet.

The release additionally notes that “a flood of new, tech-savvy lawyers has entered the legal marketplace looking to build long-term, fulfilling careers as counselors and practitioners rather than living by the billable hour or focusing on making partner in a large law firm … these attorneys are aware of the growing demand for online legal services and seek solutions to help them deliver unbundled legal services online and enable them to create web-based offices that streamline practice management.”