Law firms · website guide · checked October 2026
A law firm website needs a page for each practice area, named the way clients search; a page for each attorney; a cost page that answers "how much"; a fast way to a consultation that stays in reach on a phone; the bar's advertising notice; guides that answer the questions clients search first; and a page for each town you serve. What the homepage leads with depends on the kind of firm: results for injury, the 24-hour line for criminal defense, the package price for estate planning. Below: each page, the rule that applies, and how 7 kinds of firm do it.
What goes on each, the mistake to avoid, and the bar rule where one applies. Each links to a live example in one of the kits' demos. Which searches each page should target →
Who you help, how you charge and how to reach you, in the first screen on a phone: one line in the client's words, the call, and the fee model (no fee unless we win, a flat fee, a free first meeting). Then the practice areas as links to their own pages, the attorneys, proof and the towns you serve.
Avoid: A slideshow of the skyline and a slogan about aggressive advocacy. What the homepage leads with depends on the kind of firm; the seven sections below show how each one does it.
Titled the way clients search, with the practice's own noun (people search "estate planning attorney" but "personal injury lawyer"). Say who it's for, what happens and in what order, what it costs, the questions people ask, and which attorney handles it.
Avoid: One practice-areas page that lists everything. It ranks for none of it, because nobody searches for "practice areas".
A real photograph, bar admissions, education, the practice areas each attorney handles (linked both ways), and a sentence in the first person about how they work with clients. Clients hire a person; this is the page they read before they call.
Avoid: A team page of headshots with no pages behind them, or calling someone a "specialist" without saying who certified them.
The rule. Rule 7.2(c): a lawyer may not state or imply certification as a specialist unless certified by an approved or ABA-accredited organization, and the organization is named.2
Every practice has its cost question ("How much does a divorce cost?", "How much does a will or trust cost?"). Answer it on a page with that title: contingency, flat fees or hourly rates, what's included, what costs extra, and when you'll know the number.
Avoid: "Call for a quote." It doesn't rank for the question, and it's the first thing a worried client wants to know.
Whether the first meeting is free, how long it takes, in person, by phone or by video, what to bring, and what happens after. The form asks only what you need to check for conflicts and call back, and says plainly that sending it doesn't make the person a client.
Avoid: A long intake form that invites the whole story with no warning. The ABA's comment to Rule 1.18 says that can make the sender a prospective client, with the confidentiality duties that come with it.
The rule. Rule 1.18, Comment [2]: a consultation is likely to have occurred if a lawyer's advertising invites information about a potential matter "without clear and reasonably understandable warnings and cautionary statements that limit the lawyer's obligations".3
See the criminal kit's 24-hour consultation page in the live demo →
People search the question before they search the lawyer: how long a divorce takes, what happens after an arrest, whether they were fired legally. A short guide that answers it first, then leads to the practice page, is the page that brings them in.
Avoid: A blog of firm news. Write the answers your clients ask for on the phone each week, and put the short ones on an FAQ page.
Where the office is, the courthouse, how far you travel, and something true about practicing there. A page per town with real local detail ranks where a list of town names doesn't.
Avoid: Fifty copies of the same page with the town name swapped. Search engines treat them as thin, and readers can tell.
Results with the kind of case and the year, reviews matched to the practice they're about, and the disclaimer beside them, not in a footnote three pages away.
Avoid: A total in a banner with no context. The ABA's comment to Rule 7.1 says a true result can still mislead if it suggests the reader will get the same, and that a disclaimer may prevent that.
The rule. Rule 7.1, Comment [3]: truthful reports of results "may be misleading if presented so as to lead a reasonable person to form an unjustified expectation"; "an appropriate disclaimer or qualifying language may preclude" that finding.1
The attorney-advertising notice, the line that contacting the firm doesn't create an attorney-client relationship, and the name and contact of the lawyer responsible for the site, set once and identical on every page.
Avoid: Leaving it to a single disclaimer page nobody opens.
The rule. Rule 7.2(d): any communication under the rule must include the name and contact information of at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content.2
The pages above are the same for every firm. What the homepage leads with, how the firm charges and which questions the guides answer are not. Here is how each of the seven kits makes those choices, from its own pages.
Injury
General practice
Family law
Estate planning
Criminal defense
Business and real estate
Employment
Most state bars treat a firm's website as advertising. The rules below are the ABA's Model Rules, which most states' rules are based on; your state's version is the one that applies, and it can be stricter.
Report the kind of case and the year with each result, and put a disclaimer beside the figures that past results don't guarantee future ones. A true result can still mislead if it suggests the reader will get the same.1
Don't say or imply that a lawyer is certified as a specialist unless an approved or ABA-accredited organization certified them, and name it.2
Include the name and contact information of at least one lawyer or the firm responsible for the site's content. The footer is the natural place.2
A form that invites the details of a case, with no clear warning, can make the sender a prospective client, with confidentiality duties to them. Ask only what you need to check for conflicts, and say that sending the form doesn't make them a client.3
"The best", "the top-rated" and comparisons with other firms' fees can mislead if they can't be substantiated. Say what you do instead.1
This is a summary for building a website, not legal advice. Check your state bar's advertising rules, and its rules on testimonials and results, before you publish.
Three ways to get one, with the prices as each company publishes them. Checked October 2026.
General builders start at about $17 to $19 a month billed annually (Wix, Squarespace); legal web platforms such as Justia Elevate from $82.50 a month, billed annually. You write the practice pages, attorney pages and notices yourself, and the site lives on their platform.7
PaperStreet puts a template design "in the $1,000 to $5,000 range", with its own template tier from $3,000; The Modern Firm's simple websites start at $2,950; Civille quotes $1,000 to $5,000 up front plus $400 to $1,500 a month for hosting, maintenance and marketing.4, 5, 6
PaperStreet's custom designs start at $18,000; The Modern Firm's at $17,500; Civille puts a custom site from a legal agency at $5,000 to $15,000 up front, with $500 to $2,500 a month for SEO and hosting.4, 5, 6
The Pro plan is $99 a year for every kit, plus the hosting you choose. Each kit has 36–42 pages already written for its kind of practice, including at least 8 practice pages, attorney pages, a cost page and 5 town pages; you replace the names, fees and photographs.8
7 kits, one for each kind of practice, 36–42 pages each. Every page above is in every kit, with a results page in the kits whose practices publish results.
A homepage, a page for each practice area, a page for each attorney, a cost page, a consultation and contact page, guides and an FAQ, a page for each town you serve, and results or reviews where your bar allows them, with the advertising notice in the footer of every page.
One for each kind of matter clients search for separately: "car accident lawyer" and "truck accident lawyer" are different searches, so they're different pages. The kits on this site have at least 8 each; a firm that handles fewer kinds of matter needs fewer.
A real photograph, bar admissions, education, the practice areas the attorney handles (linked both ways), a sentence on how they work with clients, and how to reach them. Avoid "specialist" unless a recognised organization certified them, and name it.
It should have guides: short pages that answer the questions clients ask before they call, each leading to a practice page. A blog of firm news rarely brings anyone in.
Most do: the attorney-advertising notice, a line that contacting the firm doesn't create an attorney-client relationship, and a disclaimer beside any results. Many states also require the responsible lawyer's name and contact. Check your state bar's rules.
It depends on how much has to be written. Civille says a template site from an agency goes live in a few weeks; a custom design takes longer. With a kit, the pages and the practice copy are already written, and the time is replacing the names, fees, photographs and towns with yours.
Each read on its own page, October 2026.