A law firm website has an unusually narrow job. Someone with a serious problem, often under time pressure, arrives from a search or a referral, spends less than a minute deciding whether your firm is credible and reachable, and then either contacts you or goes back to the results page. Everything else the site does is secondary to that minute. Yet most firm sites are built as brochures for the partners rather than as instruments for the frightened person on a phone. This guide covers what actually belongs on a law firm site, the ethics and accessibility constraints that shape it, what a build costs, and how to vet a designer.
What the site has to do in the first minute
Three things, in order. It must show that you handle this specific matter, not law in general: a practice-area page written about the reader's problem beats a homepage listing fourteen services. It must make you credible fast, through attorney biographies with real detail, case results or client outcomes stated within the rules of your jurisdiction, and reviews or testimonials where they are permitted. And it must make contact effortless: a tappable phone number that is visible without scrolling, a short form, and a clear statement of what happens after someone submits it. The most common design failure in this sector is beauty without a path. A site can be elegantly typeset, load a large hero image, and still bury the phone number below three screens of firm history. Test yours on a phone, on a mobile connection, standing outside, and see how long it takes to place a call.
Ethics rules constrain the copy, not just the disclaimer
Attorney advertising is regulated by the rules of professional conduct in each state, and the rules govern the whole site rather than a footer. The model framework prohibits false or misleading communications about a lawyer or the lawyer's services, and states impose their own specifics on top: how testimonials and case results may be presented, whether required disclaimers must accompany them, how prior results are qualified, what claims of specialisation or expertise are permitted, and who is responsible for content produced by a marketing vendor. Some states require particular labelling on advertising communications and retention of copies. Read your own state's rule and your bar's guidance before signing off any copy, and put the requirement in the designer's brief rather than discovering it at launch. Responsibility for a non-compliant page rests with the firm, not the agency that wrote it.
Accessibility is a design requirement here, not an extra
Law firm sites are visited by people with disabilities at least as often as any other public-facing business, and firms are among the businesses most often challenged when a site is unusable with assistive technology. The Department of Justice has published guidance on web accessibility for state and local government and for businesses open to the public, pointing to the widely used Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as the practical standard. The implications for design are concrete: sufficient colour contrast, text that resizes, every image given meaningful alternative text, forms with properly associated labels, video captions, and the whole site operable by keyboard alone. Overlay widgets that promise instant compliance are contested and do not substitute for building the pages properly. Put accessibility in the specification and ask the designer how they will test it, including with a screen reader.
What a build costs and how to vet the designer
Price is driven by the number of practice areas and attorney pages, whether content is written for you or supplied by you, whether the design is bespoke or a configured template, and what integrations are needed for intake, chat, calendars and case management. Content writing is often the single largest line and the one buyers under-budget. When vetting, ask for firm sites they built that are still live, then open those on a phone and time how long finding the phone number takes. Ask who writes the practice-area copy and whether an attorney reviews it. Ask whether you own the design files, the content and the domain outright at the end. And ask what they know about accessibility and state advertising rules; a designer who has never encountered either has not built for this sector. Firms comparing specialist providers should weigh published pricing and verifiable examples above portfolio aesthetics.
Questions people ask about website design law firms
Should we use a legal-specific website vendor or a general designer?
Legal specialists usually understand intake, practice-area structure and advertising rules, which saves time. The trade is sameness, since many of their sites share a template, and sometimes restrictive contracts. A strong general designer can produce a better site if you brief the ethics and accessibility requirements properly and hire a legal writer.
Do we own the site if the vendor built it?
Only if the contract says so. Ask specifically about the domain, hosting, design files, content copyright and whether the site runs on proprietary software you cannot take elsewhere. Many firms discover at renewal that leaving means rebuilding, which is a commercial arrangement rather than a technical constraint.
How many practice-area pages do we need?
One properly written page for each matter type you genuinely want, aimed at how a client would describe the problem rather than how a lawyer classifies it. Depth beats breadth: two excellent pages for the work you want most will outperform fifteen thin ones covering everything the firm has ever handled.
Can we publish case results?
It depends on your jurisdiction, and the rules are specific about how prior results are presented and what disclaimers must accompany them. Check your state's rule of professional conduct on advertising and any bar guidance before publishing, and keep records of what was published and when where your state requires it.