If I am not mistaken it really depends on what users are searching

if they are only searching lawyers names than just find a structure that looks pretty and has the lawyer name in it.

But if there is any traffic data that points that people search the city or phone number along with the lawyer name than it might be wise to have that in the url structure

also ever thought of using subdomains? havent seen that in a lawyer directory yet but some of the major article sites switched to subdomains

I think if you have very thin content and the source code is the bulk of the content lets say 80% source code 20% unique google may not look favorably on that....  Google has algorithms that put cookie cutter sites in a lower position than custom sites so it is important to have your code somewhat unique.

But only have 2 of the sites the same probably is not "the" problem it mainly to penalize people who buy these money making sites for $500 that look the same as 200 other sites except for the content

I would not suggest  reciprocating links to start get your google local listings in order and submit to every local placement site. Go for citations more than links at this point try to work on social media.  Don't be in a rush to build links it could hurt you.

Just about every site when you search google that offers backlinks for money you should avoid.......  Try local news sites and sites like Patch