A redesign is the single most common way a law firm loses search visibility it spent years accumulating. The design work is rarely the problem: the damage is done by URL changes, lost pages, missing redirects and rewritten copy that quietly deletes the substance the old pages ranked on. The second most common failure is subtler, which is spending a large sum on a site that looks contemporary while leaving intake, speed and accessibility exactly as they were. This page covers what a redesign should actually include, the migration steps that protect existing performance, and the compliance items that apply specifically to law firm marketing.
Decide what problem the redesign is solving
Before scoping anything, write down which of four problems you are fixing, because they have different price tags. A visual refresh changes the look and leaves the structure alone, and is the cheapest. A platform migration moves the site to a new content system, usually to escape a proprietary platform the previous vendor controlled. A structural rebuild changes the information architecture, practice area organisation and URL structure, which is the version with real search risk attached. A content rebuild rewrites the substance, which is the version most likely to improve results and the one most often cut from the budget first. Firms routinely buy the first and expect the outcome of the fourth. If your practice area pages are thin, a new template around thin pages is a new template around thin pages, and the enquiry volume will not move.
The migration steps that protect existing rankings
Google publishes detailed documentation on site moves with URL changes, and following it is the difference between a redesign that holds performance and one that resets it. The essentials: inventory every existing URL before anything is built, identify which of them attract traffic or links, map each old URL to its closest new equivalent, and implement permanent redirects rather than dropping visitors on the home page. Keep the substantive content of pages that already perform, rather than replacing detailed practice area copy with a paragraph and a photograph. Update internal links to point at final destinations, submit the new sitemap, and monitor Search Console for crawl errors for several weeks after launch. Ask any candidate to describe this process unprompted. A web firm that does not mention redirects during the sales conversation is planning to discover them afterwards, at your cost.
Accessibility and advertising rules apply to the new site
Two compliance layers ride along with any law firm site. The first is accessibility: the Department of Justice has published guidance on web accessibility and the ADA, and a firm's public website is exactly the kind of asset it addresses. Contrast, keyboard navigation, form labels, alternative text and video captions are cheap to specify at design time and expensive to retrofit. Ask that accessibility be written into the scope with a named standard rather than added as an afterthought. The second layer is professional conduct. Attorney advertising is governed by state rules covering communications about a lawyer's services, testimonials, claims about results, required disclaimers and jurisdictional statements, and the state bar rules are the authority, not the web firm. Assign a lawyer in the practice to review every page of new copy before launch, because responsibility for the advertisement stays with the firm.
What the money should buy
A defensible redesign scope has six items: the design, the build, the migration plan with redirects, the content work, the intake mechanics and the measurement setup. Intake is the one most often skipped and the one with the clearest return: how quickly a prospective client can call or submit, what happens to that submission, who is notified, and how fast someone responds. Measurement means conversion tracking that distinguishes calls, form submissions and chat, configured before launch so the before-and-after comparison is real. Ask who writes the practice area copy, because substantive legal writing by someone who understands the practice is the durable asset here, and it is priced very differently from template copy. Establish that the domain, the site files, the content and the analytics all belong to the firm, and that the platform is one another vendor could take over.
Questions people ask about lawyer website redesign
Will a redesign hurt our search rankings?
It can, and it usually does when URLs change without a mapped redirect plan or when substantive page content is replaced with shorter copy. Google's site move documentation sets out the process; ask your vendor to walk you through their version of it before signing.
Should we keep our old practice area content?
Keep the substance of anything that attracts traffic or links, and improve it rather than replacing it. Preserving detailed content while modernising the presentation is the safest path, and rewriting everything at the same time as changing URLs makes any drop impossible to diagnose.
Who owns the website when the project ends?
The firm should own the domain, the hosting account, the site files, the content and the analytics, stated in the contract. Be cautious of proprietary platforms that cannot be exported, because the rebuild cost reappears the moment you want to change vendors.
How long should a law firm redesign take?
Design and build are rarely the constraint. Content review and approval by lawyers is what sets the timeline, so agree a review schedule with named reviewers at kickoff and treat any date that assumes instant approvals as fiction.