Most law firm website projects go wrong in the contract rather than in the design. The scope is agreed verbally, the copy is assumed to arrive from somewhere, nobody says who owns the hosting account, and the compliance requirements are discovered after launch by a partner reading the state bar rules. None of that is a design problem. This page treats the build as a procurement exercise: what belongs in the scope, how to test a designer before signing, which technical qualities Google actually documents, and the sign-off checklist a firm should run before a site goes live.
Scope the build before you compare prices
Two quotes for a firm website are rarely quotes for the same thing. Write the scope yourself first: how many practice area pages, how many attorney biographies, who writes the words, whether photography is included, whether existing content is migrated and who checks the redirects, what the contact and intake path is, and what integration with a case management system is required. Then ask every candidate to price against that list. The two lines that most often move a price by a large multiple are copywriting and content migration, and both are the ones most likely to be left as an assumption in a proposal. Get them named explicitly or the fixed price is not fixed.
Content is the part that decides whether it works
A firm site earns its keep on practice area pages that answer what a worried person actually wants to know before they call. Google's published guidance on helpful content asks whether the material provides original information, reporting, research or analysis, whether it is the sort of page you would bookmark or recommend, and whether it presents information in a way that makes you want to trust it, with clear sourcing and evidence of the expertise involved. It also asks whether it is self-evident who authored the content and whether any use of automation is disclosed. For a law firm that translates into attributed pages written or reviewed by the lawyer who does the work, with credentials visible, rather than a library of unsigned generic articles bought by the page.
The technical qualities Google documents
Google is careful about what it claims here and a buyer should be too. There is no single page experience signal; core ranking systems look at a variety of signals that align with overall page experience, and Core Web Vitals are used by those systems. Google also says good results in its reports do not guarantee that pages will rank at the top, and that Search seeks to show the most relevant content even where page experience is sub-par. What that leaves is a short specification worth writing into the contract: served over HTTPS, displays well on mobile devices, no intrusive interstitials, and no excessive ad or pop-up density. Ask for those as delivery conditions rather than as an upsell after launch.
The compliance furniture the site has to carry
Attorney advertising rules vary by state and your own bar's rules control, so this is general information rather than legal advice. As an illustration of the shape, the Texas rules require that an advertisement of legal services publish the name of a lawyer responsible for the content and identify that lawyer's primary practice location. They restrict claims of special competence to lawyers certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization or an accredited organisation, require contingent fee advertising to make clear whether the client will be obligated to pay other expenses such as litigation costs, and prohibit communications substantially likely to create unjustified expectations about the results a lawyer can achieve. A designer will not know your state's version. Put a partner's review into the launch checklist and give them the rules to read against.
The sign-off checklist before launch
Run these before the site goes live, not after. Does every page load over HTTPS and read well on a phone. Does the responsible lawyer and practice location appear as your state requires. Do disclaimers and any required advertising notices appear where the rules put them. Has a partner read the results and testimonial copy against the conduct rules. Are old URLs redirected so existing search visibility survives the migration. Do forms actually deliver, tested from an outside address, and is the intake path monitored. Do you hold the domain registrar login, the hosting account and the analytics property in the firm's own name. Is there a written answer to who applies updates and what an ordinary content change costs. A firm that cannot answer the last two owns a website in name only.
Questions people ask about website design for law firm
What should a law firm website project include in scope?
Named practice area pages and biographies, who writes the copy, content migration and redirects, photography, the intake path and any case management integration. Copywriting and migration are the two lines that most often turn a fixed price into a variable one.
Who should own the domain and hosting?
The firm, in the firm's own name, with the registrar and hosting logins held by a partner. Agencies commonly hold these for convenience, which becomes a serious problem the day the relationship ends. Put ownership in the contract before work begins.
Does a law firm site have compliance requirements a designer will not know?
Generally yes. State conduct rules govern lawyer advertising and their requirements vary; the Texas rules, for example, require an advertisement to name the responsible lawyer and their primary practice location. Have a partner review against your own bar's rules before launch; this is not legal advice.
Will a redesign hurt our existing search visibility?
It can if URLs change without redirects, which is the most common avoidable loss in a firm redesign. Require a mapped redirect plan for every existing page as a delivery condition, and check it before the old site is switched off.