Lawyer marketing agency: eight contract terms to check
Before signing, check 8 terms: minimum term, notice, who owns the build, who owns the content, who owns the accounts, what happens to work in progress, what counts as a change, and how the work is priced. The last one reaches the firm as well as the supplier.
Last updated: 5 August 2026
Which contract terms decide whether this goes badly?
Eight, and none is the fee — the term everybody negotiates and the least likely to cause the argument.
| Term | What to ask | What the answer reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum term | How long, and does it renew automatically | Where the supplier thinks the value sits |
| Notice | How much, in what form, and to whom | Whether leaving is a decision or a project |
| The build | Is the site assigned to us, or licensed | Whether you bought an asset or a rental |
| The content | Who owns pages written for us | Whether the words survive the relationship |
| The accounts | Who is the registrant, who holds the profiles | Whether the history leaves with the supplier |
| Work in progress | What happens to drafts on the last day | Whether the final month is billed or wasted |
| Change control | What is included, what is extra | Whether the quoted figure is the figure |
| Pricing basis | Scope and time, or volume | Whether the supplier knows section 56 |
Read the last row first. Everything above it is commercial; that one is not, and it is the term a supplier from another sector is most likely to get wrong in good faith.
Why must nothing be priced per enquiry?
Because LASPO 2012 section 56 binds the firm paying as well as the party being paid.
Section 56 prohibits referral fees in prescribed legal business, which includes personal injury. So a payment clause tied to the number of enquiries, cases or clients is not a question the firm can leave to the supplier's own arrangements. The firm is a party to it.
A supplier proposing it is usually not being reckless. Volume pricing is ordinary in most sectors and appears to shift risk, so a generalist may never have met the restriction — which is why the term belongs on a pre-signature checklist rather than in a later conversation.
We charge fixed fees by scope and time and never by enquiry, case or matter. The Price Transparency Pack is £890 over ten working days, the builds are £2,400, £4,200 and £6,900, and retainers are £600, £1,200 or £2,400 a month with no minimum term.
We are a marketing supplier and give no advice about professional obligations. Whether an arrangement suits a particular firm is a judgement for the firm and its COLP. What a supplier can do is refuse to propose the structure at all.
What is the minimum term, and what does the answer reveal?
Where the supplier believes the value sits, which is more useful than the number itself.
Of the 40 legal-marketing suppliers we read in full on 3 August 2026, 1 stated that work carried no minimum term. For the other 39 it has to be asked for, and whatever comes back describes their delivery shape: a supplier whose effort is concentrated in the first eight weeks needs a term to recover the rest, and one producing something identifiable every month does not.
Three follow-up questions worth asking in the same breath:
- Does the term renew automatically, and on what notice? Automatic renewal is the clause firms miss, because it converts a decision not taken into a decision made.
- What proportion of the work falls in the first 60 days? If most of it does, the term protects the supplier's recovery rather than the firm's outcome — a legitimate answer if said out loud.
- Is the term suspended if the firm cannot supply material? Approvals inside a busy practice slip, and a term that runs regardless bills for months in which nothing could be published.
A damaging admission. The absence of a term is a statement about who carries the risk, not a suggestion that a month is enough: three to four months pass before movement and six to nine before the work can be assessed fairly.
Who owns the site when the contract ends?
One of three answers, and only one means the firm bought something.
Assigned. The design, the code and the files transfer to the firm, and leave when the firm leaves.
Licensed. The site sits on the supplier's proprietary platform and the firm holds permission to use it. Stop paying and the site stops. Reasonable at a rental price; at a build price it is not a build.
Hosted. The site is the firm's in principle but lives somewhere it cannot reach, so the answer gets settled in an argument rather than a document.
The test is not the supplier's answer in a meeting but whether it appears in the contract. A supplier explaining ownership on a marketing page rather than in the signed document has told you nothing enforceable, which is why this page sets out the question and not our own clause. Ask us in writing, as you should ask everyone.
The same question decides which website supplier suits the firm at all: law firm website design company and law firm website design agency.
Who owns the content, the accounts and the domain?
Frequently the supplier, and usually because nobody asked.
Four checks, in ascending order of how painful they are to recover:
- The content. Pages about the firm's own work are commonly delivered under a licence rather than assigned. Ask for assignment on payment.
- The domain registrant. Look this up today. If the registrant is a supplier from three suppliers ago, that is a live problem regardless of the next contract.
- Search Console and analytics. The account matters less than the history in it: years of query data cannot be recreated, and a new property starts blind.
- The Google Business Profile. Ownership here also governs reviews, which the firm cannot replace and did not write.
We do not manage ad spend, so an advertising account is not among the things we would ever hold — worth naming because it carries the most valuable history of all, conversion records built over years that do not transfer with a password.
How much should a law firm spend on marketing?
The monthly fee multiplied by the minimum term, not the monthly fee.
A £1,200 monthly fee on a twelve-month minimum term is a £14,400 commitment, and that is the number to hold against alternatives — arithmetic on a stated fee, not a forecast.
Set it against what the same visibility costs to buy outright. In Liverpool, 1,760 people a month search for a residential conveyancing solicitor at around £15.41 a click, so 100 clicks is about £1,541. Measured 3 August 2026 across 20 UK cities.
| City | Practice area | Searches/mo | Cost per click |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | Residential conveyancing | 1,760 | £15.41 |
| Liverpool | Family and divorce | 1,200 | £38.60 |
| Coventry | Residential conveyancing | 520 | £18.07 |
That is not an argument for buying clicks instead. It is a unit that makes a committed total arguable, which a monthly instalment is designed not to be.
Do law firms have a marketing team?
Most do not, and the contract assumes otherwise.
Agency agreements oblige the firm as well as the supplier: supply material, approve drafts within a stated number of working days, provide access to systems. Those clauses are reasonable and they are the ones a firm breaches first, because in most practices marketing is part of somebody's existing job and that job has a court list attached.
So name the person who holds the contract and a deputy, because approvals stall when one fee earner is away, and check what happens when the firm is late — usually the fee continues and the timetable does not.
What happens on the day you give notice?
Ideally nothing surprising, which is only true if the exit was written down while everyone was still pleased.
| On exit | What should happen | What to check the contract says |
|---|---|---|
| Site files and code | Transferred in a usable form | That transfer is an obligation, not a courtesy |
| Content | Assigned, already paid for | That no licence lapses on termination |
| Domain | Registrant changed to the firm | Who is registrant today, not who pays the bill |
| Search Console, analytics | Firm-owned property, access retained | That history is not deleted with the account |
| Google Business Profile | Primary ownership held by the firm | That the firm is owner, not manager |
| Work in progress | Delivered or credited | Which of the two, in writing |
| Final month | Billed pro rata or in full | Whether notice is served on a calendar month |
In every row the good answer costs nothing to agree in advance and a great deal to concede later.
Which of these suppliers publishes a price?
Two of the four below, from the 40 read on 3 August 2026.
| Supplier | Published a price |
|---|---|
| jmw.co.uk | Yes |
| novicell.com | No |
| mltdigital.co.uk | No |
| onthemap.com | Yes |
⚠ We record whether a price appeared, not what it was, and nothing here records any supplier's contract terms. We read published pages, not agreements.
Across all 40:
| Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Published any price | 12 / 40 | 30% |
| Published only a range rather than a figure | 5 / 40 | 13% |
| Claimed a guarantee of some kind | 8 / 40 | 20% |
| Stated no minimum term | 1 / 40 | 3% |
15 of the 62 questions buyers ask on these searches are price questions. A supplier who will not publish a figure is unlikely to volunteer the eight terms above either, which makes the first request for a draft agreement a test in itself.
Before you shortlist anyone
We read 40 legal-marketing suppliers in full in August 2026 — including two on this page. Twelve published a price. One offered work with no minimum term.
The free report gives you the full count, named, so you can repeat it rather than take ours. It also shows how many people search for your practice areas in your town, and what those clicks cost to buy at Google's own prices.
Get the report — five questions, about two minutes →
No call required. Our own prices are on that page.
Where should I read next?
On whether sector specialism is worth its premium: marketing agency for legal firms. On reading a supplier's own website: legal marketing agency. On search specifically: law firm seo agency.
If the requirement is the site itself, where the ownership question bites hardest: law firm website design company and law firm website design agency.
Frequently asked questions
What should a law firm check before signing an agency contract?
Eight: minimum term, notice, ownership of the build, the content and the accounts, work in progress, change control, and the pricing basis. The fee is the term most negotiated and the least likely to cause the argument.
Can a marketing agency be paid per enquiry or per case?
No, and the reason reaches the firm: LASPO 2012 section 56 prohibits referral fees in prescribed legal business including personal injury, and binds the party paying as well as the party being paid. We charge by scope and time, never by enquiry or matter.
What does a long minimum term tell you about a supplier?
That the effort is concentrated early and the term recovers the rest, which is legitimate if stated plainly. Of 40 suppliers read on 3 August 2026, one stated that work carried no minimum term, so for the rest it has to be asked for before signature.
Do we own the website when the contract ends?
Only if the contract assigns it. A site on a supplier's proprietary platform is licensed rather than owned and stops when payment stops, which is reasonable at a rental price and is not a build at a build price.
Which accounts should the firm hold in its own name?
The domain registration, Search Console and analytics, and the Google Business Profile as owner rather than manager. The account matters less than the history inside it, because years of query and conversion records cannot be recreated after a handover.
How much is a marketing contract actually committing us to?
The monthly fee multiplied by the minimum term, so £1,200 a month on a twelve-month term is a £14,400 commitment. For comparison, 100 Liverpool conveyancing clicks cost about £1,541 at the £15.41 measured on 3 August 2026.
Who inside the firm should hold the contract?
A named person and a named deputy, because agency agreements oblige the firm to supply material and approve drafts within a set number of working days, and a busy practice breaches those first while the fee continues.