What the site has to do
Forget how the site looks in the partner meeting for a minute. A law firm website has one job: get the right person to call you, and help the wrong person work that out without calling.
The person on the other end is asking plain questions. Do you handle my problem, here? What will it cost? What happens if I call? Who would I actually talk to? A lot of firm sites don't answer them. In Clio's 2024 study of 500 firms, only 30% of shoppers could easily understand the process of hiring a firm from its website, and just 14% could find pricing.
That's good news if you're small, because small law firm website design doesn't take a big budget to beat that. The ABA's 2024 survey found 70% of solo firms have a website, and 76% of solos manage their own content. Say you run a two-attorney family law firm in Spokane (made up). A plain site that explains how an uncontested divorce works in your county and what you charge for one will do more for you than a beautiful site with a gavel on the home page and "aggressive representation" as its only message.
The pages a small firm needs
For most small firms that's about ten pages. Small law firm marketing has the order to do things in if you're also running everything else, and our law firm SEO playbook covers how these pages get found.
| Page | What it has to answer | What's often missing |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Who you help, where, and how to reach you, on the first screen | One plain sentence saying what you do, and a phone number |
| One page per matter type | How this kind of matter works, how long it tends to take, and the first step | Anything that couldn't be pasted onto another firm's site |
| Fees and process | How you charge and what happens after the first call. The Rule 7.2 comment allows you to publish prices for specific services | A range or a method. Florida adds that if you mention a fee, you must say whether costs are extra |
| Attorney bios | Who they'd work with, admissions, and the kinds of matters each person handles | A real photo, and bar admissions |
| Contact and offices | Address, hours, phone, and when they'll hear back. Details should match your Business Profile | A stated response time |
| Answers to common questions | The three or four things you get asked on every intake call | The date an attorney last checked it, on any page naming a deadline |
Design choices that change whether people call
Design for a phone first. Google uses the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking, so content you trim from the mobile version is content Google may not see. Put a tappable phone number at the top of every page, and keep the text big enough to read without pinching the screen.
Google's Core Web Vitals give you targets: the main content loads within 2.5 seconds, the page responds to a tap in under 200 milliseconds, and the layout doesn't jump around (a score under 0.1). Google also says good scores don't guarantee top rankings.
Be careful with popups and chat boxes. Google says intrusive dialogs can frustrate people and erode trust, and a chat bubble that covers the phone number on a small screen is working against you.
Online scheduling is worth a look if your practice can handle it. The ABA found 23% of solo firms and 18% of small firms offer it through their sites.
I'd skip sliders, skyline photos and scales of justice. They don't answer a single question from the list above, and they push the answers further down the page.
Your contact form is a legal question
The Rule 1.18 comment says a consultation is likely to have happened if your advertising, in any medium, specifically invites information about a possible representation without clear warnings that limit your obligations, and someone responds. A site that only describes your background and practice areas doesn't do that.
The same comment says a lawyer generally can't use or reveal what a prospective client shared, even if nobody goes ahead with the representation. That gets awkward fast if the person who filled in your form turns out to be the other side of a matter you already have.
So ask for little: a name, a way to reach them, the type of matter, and whatever your conflict check needs. Put a short warning right above the button saying that sending the form doesn't make you their lawyer and that they shouldn't send confidential details yet. Have your state bar's guidance or your ethics counsel check the wording.
Then ask where the submissions go. A form that copies every message to a marketing dashboard, or a chat widget run by a vendor, puts possibly sensitive information with someone outside the firm. The Rule 5.3 comment says you must make reasonable efforts to ensure outside services fit your professional obligations, and it lists the protection of client information among the things to weigh.
What the bar cares about on your pages
Your site is a communication about your services, so Rule 7.1 applies: nothing false or misleading, including by leaving something out. Under the Rule 7.3 comment, a website aimed at the general public isn't solicitation.
- Results. A wall of verdict numbers on the home page is a design decision with bar consequences. The Rule 7.1 comment says truthful results can mislead if they create an unjustified expectation.
- "Specialist" and "expert." The Rule 7.2 comment generally allows "specializes in" under the false-or-misleading standard, and Rule 7.2(c) bars implying you're certified unless an approved organization certified you and you name it. Florida says you must be able to objectively verify a claim of expertise.
- Testimonials and review widgets. Florida allows testimonials only on several conditions, including that you didn't write them, the person received nothing of value, and you have informed consent if it relates to a client's matter. Ask whether your state treats a review feed on your own site as a testimonial.
- Slogans. California's Rule 7.1 comment treats an express guarantee of a result as false or misleading, and Florida bars statements read as a prediction or guaranty of success.
- Your name. Rule 7.2(d) requires the name and contact information of at least one responsible lawyer or firm.
State rules can be very different, and they change. Florida's handbook says its advertising rules generally govern your website's content, though you don't have to file the site for review. And a New York State Bar Association article reports that amendments effective June 1, 2026 removed New York's "Attorney Advertising" label and its required prior-results warning, though its author suggests some lawyers may still want that disclaimer. Don't copy another firm's footer and assume it's right for you.
Accessibility belongs in the brief
The ADA's definition of a public accommodation includes the "office of an accountant or lawyer." The Justice Department's guidance says its consistent position is that the law's requirements reach what public accommodations offer on the web. It also says there's no regulation setting detailed standards for this, that businesses have flexibility in how they comply, and that existing standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines offer helpful guidance.
In practice, that gives you a list to hand a designer. The guidance names sufficient color contrast, alt text on images, captions on videos, labels and clear errors on forms, text that can be zoomed, real headings, and keyboard access. Ask for those in writing, along with how they'll be tested.
You can test the last one yourself in about a minute. Put your mouse aside and try to fill in your own contact form using only the keyboard.
What it costs
| Route | Rough cost | Fits | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website builder, and you do the work | WordPress.com's Business plan is US$25 a month billed yearly, as of November 2026. | A solo with time and a couple of practice areas | Your own hours. Writing is the real work on any route |
| Templated legal site from a vendor | $1,000 to $5,000 upfront, plus monthly fees | A small firm that wants it done in weeks | What you keep if you stop paying |
| Custom build from a legal-focused designer | $5,000 to $15,000 upfront, plus monthly fees | Several practice areas or offices, or specific needs | A scope that lists the pages, the writing and who owns what |
The vendor figures come from a 2026 guide by Civille, a company that sells law firm websites, so treat them as one seller's view. Monthly fees in that guide often bundle hosting and SEO, so compare like with like when you get quotes.
My view: if you're a solo and you'll actually write the pages, a builder is fine. If you won't get around to writing, pay someone. A half-finished site you've been meaning to fix since spring costs you more than the fee would have.
Redesigning without losing ground
If your current site brings in calls, the redesign is the riskiest moment it'll have. Google says the earlier you bring in search help on a redesign, the better. Whoever does it, these steps build on its guide to moving a site with URL changes:
- Before anyone touches anything, list your current pages, starting with the ones that get the most traffic.
- Map each old address to its closest new page. Avoid dumping them all on the home page.
- Set up permanent redirects so people and Google get sent to the new address.
- Test the new site, including forms and phone links, before it goes live.
- Launch, then check Search Console, your Business Profile link and your directory listings.
Google warns that you may see ranking fluctuations after a significant change, and suggests moving during a seasonal dip if your traffic has one.
Ask these before you sign
- Is the domain registered in the firm's name?
- If we stop paying, do we keep the site and its content, and in what form?
- Who writes the pages, and who at the firm approves them?
- Where do form submissions go, and who can read them?
- What's in the monthly fee, and can each part be cancelled separately?
If you're also deciding who should handle search once the site's live, legal SEO services covers what that work should include.
Where Sojig fits, and where it doesn't
Sojig is our product, and it doesn't design websites. If you don't have a working site yet, start with a designer or a builder.
It's for afterward. It drafts pages for searches your site misses and drafts technical fixes each week for you to approve. Your choice of platform affects how that works: approved changes publish directly on WordPress and Shopify, save on Webflow, and arrive as pull requests on GitHub, while Wix, Squarespace and Framer get step-by-step instructions instead. If you'd rather have one team handle design and marketing together, a firm that does both will suit you better.