Law firm website design that brings in consultations

Someone looking for a lawyer is usually having a bad week. They were arrested, served, hurt or handed a will to sort out. They open three or four firm websites on a phone, and they decide in seconds whether to keep reading.

So the first screen has to answer three things. What kind of law you practice. Where you practice it. How to reach you, with a phone number they can tap. Then the page has to answer the question they’re afraid to ask out loud: what a first consultation costs, and what happens in it.

Most law firm sites I look at put a skyline photo and a motto on that first screen. The practice areas sit on one page as a list. The attorneys are a group photo. None of that tells a scared person whether you handle their kind of case, and the next firm in the results is one tap away.

A divorce client and a DUI client want different things from your site, so each practice area you want more of gets its own page. A good practice-area page says who it’s for, explains the process in plain words, lists what the client should bring or gather, and says what the next step is. It’s written for a person who has never hired a lawyer, not for another lawyer.

Attorney bios do more work than most firms expect. People hire a person, not a firm name. A bio page for each attorney shows a real photo, bar admissions, the courts they appear in, the practice areas they handle and something human. A referred client who looks you up should find that page first.

The intake path stays short. A phone number on every page. A form that asks for a name, a phone number, the practice area and a good time to call, and says when you’ll reply. If the visitor can’t tell whether to call or write, they do neither.

Your website is a communication about your services, so the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct apply to it. Rules 7.1 through 7.3 cover communications, advertising and solicitation. Three points shape how I build a firm’s site:

• Rule 7.1 bars communications that are false or misleading, that are likely to create an unjustified expectation about results, or that compare you to other lawyers unless the comparison can be factually substantiated.
• Rule 7.2(b) says a copy or recording of an advertisement or communication must be kept for two years after its last use, with a record of when and where it was used.
• Rule 7.2(d) says that when a firm advertises under a phone number, web address or trade name, the name and contact information of at least one responsible lawyer must appear on the ad, or prominently on the firm’s homepage when space doesn’t allow it.

So the homepage names a responsible attorney. Comparisons like “the best” or “the most aggressive” come out unless you can back them up. Keep a dated copy of each page at launch for your records, since the rules ask you to keep copies of your ads. I’m not a lawyer and this isn’t legal advice. You read every page before it goes live and make the final call.

Can my law firm website show case results and client testimonials?

Be careful here. The official comment to Michigan’s Rule 7.1 says the ban on statements that create an unjustified expectation “would ordinarily preclude” advertising results for clients, such as the amount of a damage award or a record of favorable verdicts, and would ordinarily preclude client endorsements. The reason given is that a past result can suggest others will get the same one regardless of their facts.

That doesn’t leave the site empty. A practice-area page can explain how a case like theirs usually unfolds, what you look at first and how you work with clients. That’s often more persuasive than a number, because it’s about the reader’s case, not someone else’s. If you want results or client quotes on the site anyway, that’s your call to make against the rules, and I’ll build the page however you decide.

What should a law firm intake form ask, and what should it leave out?

Less than you’d think. Name, phone, email, the practice area and a short “anything we should know” box. Above the form, a plain line saying that sending it doesn’t make the person a client and that they shouldn’t include confidential details yet. Many firms use that line, and it keeps a first message from becoming a problem before you’ve run a conflict check.

Submissions go to the inbox and phone of whoever answers intake, so a Saturday night form isn’t read on Tuesday. If you use practice management or intake software with its own form or scheduling link, that goes on the site instead, so leads land where your staff already works.

How many pages does a small firm's website need?

A homepage, a page for each practice area you want cases in, a bio for each attorney, a contact page with your office address and parking, and an FAQ page with the questions callers ask your front desk. For a solo practice with three practice areas, that’s around ten pages, and that’s a real site, not a starter.

Add pages for the courts or counties you appear in only if you actually work there regularly. Add a Spanish version only if someone at the firm can handle a Spanish-speaking client. A page that brings in calls you can’t take hurts more than it helps.

Will I have to write the practice-area pages myself?

No. Most firms have me write them, from a call where you walk me through how a typical matter goes and the questions clients ask. I write for how people search and how they read on a phone. You review every page for accuracy and for the rules, because only you can say whether a sentence is right and allowed. Expect a few rounds of edits on the first practice-area page and fewer after that, once the voice is settled.