What a law firm website needs
Someone looking for a lawyer usually has a problem they would prefer not to have. Law firm website design is about meeting that person calmly: showing what the firm handles, who they would speak to, and how to take the first step, within the advertising rules of the profession.
What brings a visitor to a law firm site?
A specific situation, and often some anxiety. A dispute with a partner, a contract to review, a family matter, a company to set up. They are not browsing. They want to know whether you deal with their kind of matter, whether the firm looks serious, and what will happen if they get in touch. The site should answer those three in that order.
How should practice areas be written?
From the side of the desk where the client sits. Many visitors do not know the name of the law that covers their problem, but they know the problem. Under each practice area, list the situations you handle in everyday words, then the formal term. Describe what the firm does at each step. Explaining the law in general is fine. Telling a reader what to do in their own case is advice, and a web page is the wrong place for it.
What should a lawyer profile contain?
The name, the areas the lawyer works in, the licence to practise and the body that issued it, education, languages, and a direct way to reach the office. A proper photograph, in the same style for everyone. Clients hire a person as much as a firm, and a named lawyer with a clear field reassures more than a paragraph about excellence. Keep titles and descriptions to what the profession allows you to use.
Can the firm show cases and client names?
Be very careful here. Client confidentiality comes first, and in many places the rules of the bar restrict how lawyers may advertise: naming clients, citing outcomes, comparing the firm with others or implying a result. I cannot tell you what your rules allow. Check them with your bar association or licensing authority before publishing, and where in doubt, describe the types of work you do without identifying anyone.
Are articles worth having?
They can be the strongest part of the site. A short piece that explains a new regulation or a common procedure in plain language shows how the firm thinks, and it answers the question a person actually types into a search engine. The articles must be written or reviewed by your lawyers, dated, kept current, and marked as general information that is not legal advice.
What is the right contact path?
A short, careful one. A phone line, an email address and a consultation request form asking only for a name, contact details and the general type of matter. Add a line asking visitors not to send confidential documents or details through the form, and state how and when the firm replies. The exact wording of that notice, and of any disclaimer, is for the firm to decide.
How I handle it
The text of a law firm site belongs to the lawyers, and the structure is my part. I design the practice area pages, the profiles and the consultation path in Figma first, and nothing is built until you approve the design, which leaves you free to review every word against your professional rules. You receive the dashboard, so articles and profiles are published by the firm itself. Support goes on for 180 days from the day the site goes live. Tell me about the firm and the fields it practises in.
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