Law firm website examples, scored against six checks
There is no list of best law firm websites worth trusting, including ours. What is worth having is a rubric. Six checks, each scored 0 to 2, run on any site in about ten minutes. The score tells you what to fix; it does not tell you who to admire.
Last updated: 5 August 2026
What makes a good law firm website?
One that answers the question that brought somebody, in the first screen, on a phone.
Everything else is downstream of that. A site can be handsome, fast and correctly built and still fail because the practice-area page opens with the firm's founding rather than the reader's situation. The rubric below makes that judgement repeatable instead of a matter of taste.
The reason to score rather than browse is that the summarizing layer above the result reads text, not layout. AI Overviews appear on 39 of 54 money searches in this market, and on 863 of the 1,235 keywords we measured on 3 August 2026. Six of six checks below are about text, structure and behavior. None is about how the site looks, and that is deliberate.
Which law firm has the best website?
We are not going to name one, and any page that does should be read carefully.
We have audited no law firm's website. Publishing a ranked list of named firms, or a critique of one, would be a public assessment we have not done the work to support — and this audience is the one that would ask what the work consisted of. So the rubric is applied below to categories of site, with no firm named and none rated.
That is a smaller answer than the search implies and the honest one. A named example tells you what one firm did with its budget; a rubric tells you what to do with yours.
What are the six checks, and what does each one reveal?
Six, each scored 0, 1 or 2, and each one answerable without a tool.
| # | Check | How to run it | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The lifted answer | Copy the first 50 words of a practice-area page. Read them alone | Whether the page can be quoted by a summary or a snippet |
| 2 | The situation ratio | In the first screen, count sentences about the reader against sentences about the firm | Who the page was written for |
| 3 | The named person | Find the fee earner attached to that practice area, by name | Whether a person or a team grid is on offer |
| 4 | The money question | Count clicks to any statement about what the work costs | Whether the most-asked question is answered at all |
| 5 | The newest date | Find the most recent date visible anywhere on the site | Whether anybody still edits it |
| 6 | The one-handed contact | On a phone, count taps to a contact route that is not a phone call | Whether the half who will not ring a stranger can reach the firm |
Check 4 has a number behind it: 15 of the 62 questions buyers ask on these searches are price questions, measured 3 August 2026 — the largest single group in the set. The United States has no rule requiring a firm to publish fees, so this is a commercial judgement rather than an obligation.
Check 1 is the one people argue with. The test is not whether the opening is well written; it is whether it still makes sense with the rest of the page removed, because that is the condition under which it will most often be read.
How do you score a site out of twelve?
Zero if the thing is absent, one if it is partial, two if a stranger would find it without help.
- 10 to 12. The site is not the constraint. Spend on being found rather than on rebuilding.
- 6 to 9. Specific pages are missing or specific answers are buried. This is a writing job, not a design job, and it is the cheapest band to improve.
- 3 to 5. The structure is fighting the content. Usually a template that cannot hold the page set, or a build that predates the practice areas it now has to sell.
- 0 to 2. Rebuild. Anything else is decoration on a page nobody can act on.
Run it on your own site first, then on the two firms that outrank you for your main term. The gap between the three scores is more informative than any single number, and it takes about half an hour for all three.
The admission: the rubric measures whether a site answers, not whether it wins work. A firm can score 12 and still lose instructions at the phone, and no score on this page or anywhere else predicts a ranking.
Which kind of site fails which check?
Six kinds of build, and each one fails in a way that follows from how it was made.
| Kind of site | Strong on | Fails | The cheapest fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built by the firm over a weekend | 2, 5 | 1, 6 | Rewrite the first 50 words of each practice-area page |
| Regional firm, ten to thirty pages, several years old | 3, 4 | 5, 1 | Date the pages and rewrite the openings |
| High-spend advertising site | 6, 4 | 2, 3 | Replace firm-centered copy with the reader's situation |
| Template-built | 6, 5 | 4, 3 | Add a costs page and a page per fee earner |
| Studio-designed brochure site | none reliably | 1, 4, 5 | Add text where images carry the meaning |
| Legacy site last edited years ago | 3 | 5, 6, 2 | Fix the contact route, then the dates |
These are patterns that follow from what each kind of build ships, not scores from a survey — we have not scored a sample of sites and are not presenting one. Read the table as a set of expectations to check against the site in front of you, and expect individual sites to break the pattern.
The row worth pausing on is the fifth. A site designed to be looked at carries its meaning in images, which leaves checks 1, 4 and 5 with nothing to read. It is also the most expensive kind of site to build.
Does a law firm need a website?
Yes, and the reason is narrower than it used to be.
Not for credibility, which referrals and directories can also supply. The website is the only asset the firm controls where the answer to a specific question can be published in the firm's own words, at an address the firm owns, in a form a summarizing layer can quote. Every other channel rents that ground.
The practical version: if a firm's answer to what it costs and what happens first exists only inside a phone call, it cannot be found, quoted or compared with the firm that published theirs.
What does it cost to fix what the rubric finds?
Practice Sprint $1,450, build tier $2,900. Fixed, published, no minimum term.
Of the 40 legal-marketing suppliers we read in full on 3 August 2026, twelve published a price at all, five showed only a range rather than a figure, eight claimed a guarantee of some kind, and one offered work with no minimum term. We decline the guarantee, because nobody controls Google's ranking.
We never charge per inquiry, per case or per matter. We charge for the work, by scope and time. Lawyer advertising in the United States runs through ABA Model Rule 7.2(b), adopted differently state by state.
Where we are not needed: a site scoring 6 to 9 usually needs writing rather than building, and a firm with somebody who can write should keep the money. Say so out loud before spending it.
What this is worth where you are
In Tampa, 6,600 people a month search for a personal injury attorney, and Google charges around $74.00 for one of those clicks. We hold the same figures for 52 cities, measured 3 August 2026.
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?
On what a build contains: website design attorney. If a template is the route: attorney website design templates.
By practice area: family law attorney website design. On the writing the rubric keeps pointing at: law firm website content writing. On the wider question: how do lawyers attract new clients?
Frequently asked questions
What are the six checks in the rubric?
The lifted answer, the situation ratio, the named person, the money question, the newest visible date, and the one-handed contact route. Each is scored 0, 1 or 2, and all six can be run without a tool.
Which law firm has the best website?
We will not name one. We have audited no firm's site, and publishing a ranked list or a critique of a named firm would be a public assessment we have not done the work to support. The rubric is applied to categories of build instead.
How long does the rubric take to run?
About ten minutes for one site, and roughly half an hour for your own plus the two firms outranking you for your main term. The gap between the three scores is more useful than any single number.
What does a score of 6 to 9 mean?
Specific pages are missing or specific answers are buried. It is a writing problem rather than a design problem, it is the cheapest band to improve, and a firm with somebody who can write should keep the money.
Why is the fee question one of the six?
Because 15 of the 62 questions buyers ask on these searches are price questions, measured 3 August 2026 — the largest single group. The United States has no rule requiring publication, so it is a commercial judgement rather than an obligation.
Does a law firm need a website at all?
Yes, but for a narrower reason than credibility. It is the only asset the firm controls where a specific answer can be published in the firm's own words, at an address it owns, in a form that can be quoted.
Does a high score predict rankings or work won?
No. The rubric measures whether a site answers. A firm can score twelve and still lose instructions at the phone, and no score here or anywhere else predicts a position in a search result.