Website design for attorneys: the pages you receive
A click on a personal injury search in Atlanta costs around $149.13. A site that takes six seconds to load and buries the fee question loses that click and every one after it. Our build tier is $2,900, fixed, and the firm owns everything at handover.
Last updated: 4 August 2026
What does an attorney's website actually have to do?
Three things, and only the third is design.
Load before the reader gives up. A visitor arriving from a search has an alternative one tap away. Every second of delay is a share of them gone, and the ones lost are the ones who were furthest from committing — which is most of them.
Answer the question that brought them. What does this cost, how long does it take, what happens first, will I speak to a lawyer or a case handler. 15 of the 62 questions buyers ask on these searches are price questions, measured across 40 suppliers on 3 August 2026, and a firm's own site is where a prospective client expects that answered.
Look like a firm worth instructing. This matters and it matters last. A beautiful site that loads slowly and dodges the fee question loses to a plain one that does neither.
Most legal web design is sold on the third and delivered without the first two.
What pages does the firm actually receive?
Named, at handover, rather than "a website".
| Page type | Count | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Home | 1 | Orientation, not a brochure |
| Practice area | One per area wanted | The searches that produce instructions |
| Fees or costs | 1 | The question most firms duck |
| People | One per fee earner | A named person outranks an unnamed team |
| Location | One per office | Only where the firm genuinely operates |
| Contact | 1 | With a method that is not only a phone number |
| Inquiry handling | 1 | What happens after somebody makes contact |
A firm wanting two practice areas with three fee earners in one office receives roughly ten pages. That is a real number, and it is the one to hold a supplier to.
A damaging admission: a new site does not rank on its own. It removes the reasons a firm cannot rank — speed, structure, missing pages — and the ranking work is separate. Anyone selling a site as a ranking solution is selling two things and delivering one.
Why does speed decide whether an expensive click is wasted?
Because the cost of the visit is fixed before the page loads, and the page decides whether any of it was worth spending.
In Atlanta, 12,100 people a month search for personal injury representation, and Google charges around $149.13 for one of those clicks — the third highest of the twenty US cities we priced, measured 3 August 2026. A firm buying a hundred of those clicks has spent roughly $14,913 before anybody has read a word.
The same arithmetic applies to organic visits, except the cost was paid months earlier in build and content. Either way the visit is bought. A slow page spends it and gets nothing.
This is why the build comes before the ranking work rather than after it.
What makes a legal website convert?
Four things, in descending order of how often they are missing.
- A fee answer. Even a range with the variables named beats silence. Silence sends people back to the results.
- A named person. "Our experienced team" is not a person. A photograph, a name and a direct line converts better than any amount of copy about commitment to excellence.
- A contact method that is not a phone call. A form, an email address, a message. Many people with a legal problem will not ring a stranger about it, particularly on a first contact.
- Evidence the firm has done this before, at whatever level of detail confidentiality permits.
None of those is a design decision. All four are content decisions that design either supports or obstructs.
What does it cost and how long does it take?
The build tier is $2,900 and the Practice Sprint is $1,450. Both are fixed, published, and there is no minimum term.
Of the 40 suppliers we read in full on 3 August 2026: twelve published a price at all, five of those published only a range, eight claimed a guarantee, and one offered work with no minimum term.
| Across 40 suppliers | Count |
|---|---|
| Published any price | 12 |
| Published only a "from" figure | 5 |
| Claimed a guarantee | 8 |
| No minimum term | 1 |
On timing: structure and page map in week one, design approved in weeks two to three, build across weeks three to six, content and handover by week eight for a ten-page site. Longer if the fee pages need partner sign-off, which they usually do and should.
Who owns the site at the end?
The firm. Code, content, domain, hosting account and analytics, all in the firm's name.
This is worth checking with any supplier, because the alternative arrangement is common and rarely stated plainly. A site the firm cannot take elsewhere is a subscription with a design attached, and the moment to discover that is not the moment the relationship ends.
Ask the question in writing before signing: if we leave, what do we take with us? A supplier who cannot answer in one sentence has given you the answer.
What this is worth where you are
In Atlanta, 12,100 people a month search for personal injury, and Google charges around $149.13 for one of those clicks. We hold the same figures for 52 cities.
The free report gives you yours, plus which pages are missing from your site, and what 40 suppliers charge.
No call required. Our own prices are on that page.
Where should I read next?
If the question is what the pages should say rather than which pages exist, law firm website content writing covers the copy, and law firm website examples covers what good looks like in this sector.
By practice area, where the page structure differs: family law attorney website design and immigration attorney website design.
If a template is under consideration rather than a build, attorney website design templates covers where that works and where it does not.
Frequently asked questions
What pages does a law firm website need?
Home, one page per practice area the firm wants more of, a fees page, one page per fee earner, one per office, contact, and a page explaining what happens after somebody makes contact. Two practice areas with three fee earners in one office is roughly ten pages.
How much does attorney website design cost?
Our build tier is $2,900 and the Practice Sprint is $1,450, both fixed and published with no minimum term. Of 40 suppliers we read on 3 August 2026, twelve published any price and five of those gave only a range.
Will a new website make the firm rank?
No, not on its own. It removes the obstacles to ranking — speed, structure, missing pages — but the ranking work is separate. A supplier selling a site as a ranking solution is selling two things and delivering one.
Why does site speed matter so much for law firms?
Because the visit is already paid for before the page loads. An Atlanta personal injury click cost around $149.13 on 3 August 2026, so a hundred clicks is roughly $14,913 spent before anybody reads a word. A slow page spends that and returns nothing.
What makes a legal website actually convert?
A fee answer even if it is a range, a named person rather than a team, a contact method that is not only a phone call, and evidence of comparable prior work. All four are content decisions rather than design decisions.
Who owns the website when it is finished?
The firm. Code, content, domain, hosting and analytics, all in the firm's name. Ask any supplier in writing what you take with you if you leave; an answer that takes more than a sentence is the answer.
How long does the build take?
Roughly eight weeks for a ten-page site: structure in week one, design approved by week three, build to week six, content and handover by week eight. Longer where fee pages need partner sign-off, which they usually do.