Most law firm website conversations start with the wrong question. “How much does it cost?” matters, but less than “what will we own when it’s done?” and “will it work for everyone who visits?”. A site that the vendor owns, that loads slowly on a phone, or that a screen reader can’t navigate is expensive at any price. This guide is part of our build pillar and connects to law firm SEO, because the site is where most SEO work lives.
It covers what a site should cost you and why prices vary, the ownership checklist, Core Web Vitals, accessibility and the lawsuits behind it, the FTC’s overlay order, bar rules that apply to websites, and landing pages for ads.
What a law firm website costs, and why quotes differ
Quotes vary widely because they price different things. Before comparing numbers, put every quote on the same written scope:
- Pages and practice areas: how many, and who writes them.
- Languages: a natively written Spanish site is a second site, not a plugin.
- Content: whether attorney-reviewed pages are included, and how many per month after launch.
- Design and build: a template, a customized theme or a custom build.
- Hosting, security and updates: who patches it, how often, and who pays.
- Accessibility and speed testing: included and documented, or left to chance.
- What you own at the end: the checklist below.
Flat fees on that scope are easy to compare. Percentages of ad spend, open-ended hourly builds and “free” sites tied to a long contract are not. Our own website fees are published on the pricing page, and our guide to law firm marketing costs compares fee models across the industry.
The ownership checklist
The single most expensive website mistake is a site the firm doesn’t own. It shows up when you try to leave: the domain is registered to the agency, the site lives on its private platform, and the pages it wrote stay with it. ICANN’s transfer policy says registered name holders must be able to transfer their domains between registrars, and that registrars must provide the transfer code (the “AuthInfo” code) to the registered name holder, within five calendar days of a request where there’s no self-service option (ICANN). That right belongs to whoever is listed as the registrant. Make sure it’s the firm.
Free checklist
The website ownership checklist: twelve things your firm should control
| # | Item | What “owned” looks like | How to check in a minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Domain | Registrant is the firm, with a firm email | Log in to the registrar yourself; look at the registrant contact |
| 2 | Registrar account | In the firm’s name; two people at the firm can log in | Password manager entry, not an agency email |
| 3 | DNS | Managed in an account the firm controls | Change a test record, or see who has access |
| 4 | Hosting | Firm’s account, or a written right to a full export on request | The contract clause and a test export |
| 5 | Site files and database | A full backup the firm can restore elsewhere | Ask for one; open it |
| 6 | Content and images | Copyright assigned to the firm in writing; licensed images documented | The contract’s IP clause; the image license list |
| 7 | CMS admin | A firm administrator account | Log in |
| 8 | Theme, plugins or code | Licenses in the firm’s name, or open source | The license list |
| 9 | Analytics and Search Console | Property owned by a firm account; vendor as user | Settings, users and permissions |
| 10 | Tag manager and pixels | Firm-owned container; a list of every tag and why | The container’s admin page |
| 11 | Forms and call tracking | Submissions and numbers in firm-controlled tools; numbers portable | Where form data goes; who owns the numbers |
| 12 | Accessibility statement and test records | Published statement; test results kept | The page and the last test report |
If any line fails, fix it before anything else, and before you give notice to a vendor; our guide to leaving your marketing agency covers the handover. Our guide to choosing an agency puts ownership questions into the first conversation.
Speed: Core Web Vitals
Google publishes three Core Web Vitals and the targets for each (Google):
| Metric | What it measures | “Good” target |
|---|---|---|
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | How fast the main content appears | Within 2.5 seconds of the page starting to load |
| Interaction to Next Paint (INP) | How fast the page responds to a tap or click | Under 200 milliseconds |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | How much the layout jumps while loading | Below 0.1 |
Measure them at the 75th percentile of real page loads, split by mobile and desktop (web.dev). Lab tests are useful for fixing problems; field data from real visitors is what counts. Google says Core Web Vitals, with other page experience aspects, align with what its core ranking systems seek to reward (Google). They won’t rescue a page that doesn’t answer the question, but a slow page loses people who were ready to call.
Common causes of slow law firm pages: large hero videos and image sliders, chat widgets and pop-ups loading on every page, many tracking tags, and page builders that ship heavy code. Each one is a choice you can unmake.
Accessibility and the lawsuits behind it
Plaintiffs filed 3,117 website-accessibility lawsuits in federal court in 2025, a 27% increase from 2,452 in 2024. New York federal courts saw 1,021, Florida 961 and Illinois 585 (Seyfarth). The ADA’s own list of public accommodations includes the “office of an accountant or lawyer” (42 U.S.C. §12181(7)(F)).
The Justice Department’s guidance says the ADA’s requirements apply to the goods and services of businesses open to the public, including those offered on the web. Businesses have flexibility in how they comply, and existing technical standards, such as WCAG, provide helpful guidance (ADA.gov). The guidance dates from March 2022 and doesn’t cover the separate 2024 rule for state and local governments.
Build to WCAG 2.2 Level AA. WCAG 2.2 adds nine success criteria to 2.1, including Focus Not Obscured, Target Size (Minimum) and Accessible Authentication at Level AA, and removes the old Parsing criterion (W3C). In practice, for a law firm site:
- Real headings and structure on every page, so screen readers can navigate.
- Labels on every form field, clear error messages, and no time limits on intake forms.
- Contrast of at least 4.5:1 for body text.
- Keyboard access to everything, with a visible focus outline that isn’t hidden behind sticky headers.
- Captions and transcripts for video, including the attorney introduction videos many firms use.
- Alt text that says something, and no text baked into images.
- An accessibility statement that names the standard, the last review date, known gaps and how to report a barrier. Ours is at /accessibility/.
Test with automated tools and with people: keyboard only, a screen reader, 200% zoom and a narrow phone screen.
Why overlays don’t fix it
Accessibility overlays are scripts that promise to make a site compliant by adding a toolbar or rewriting pages on the fly. In April 2025, the FTC approved a final order requiring the overlay vendor accessiBe to pay $1 million. The FTC’s complaint alleged that accessiBe’s claims that its tool could make any website WCAG-compliant were false, misleading or unsubstantiated, and that it formatted third-party reviews and articles to look independent without disclosing its connections. The order bars it from claiming its automated products can make any site compliant without evidence (FTC).
The practical lesson: a widget is not a substitute for building the site correctly. We don’t use overlays on our own site or on client sites.
Bar rules that apply to your site
In many states, a law firm website counts as lawyer advertising and follows the same rules as any ad: no misleading claims, required statements where your state demands them, and care with results and testimonials. Some states add record-keeping. Alabama, for example, has a lawyer keep a copy of each communication, websites included, for 6 years, and its comment bars retargeting or cookie tracking of visitors without notice and consent (Supreme Court of Alabama). New York’s 90-day website snapshots ended when its amended rules took effect on June 1, 2026. Our lawyer advertising rules guide covers the state-by-state differences, and our state library has each state’s rules.
Two build choices make compliance easier: a content system that keeps a dated history of every page, and an approval step so an attorney signs off each new page before it goes live.
Pages for SEO, pages for ads
The site and the ad landing pages do different jobs:
- Site pages answer questions for search and AI assistants. Write one strong page per real question and per place you actually serve; hundreds of near-identical city pages are what Google calls doorway and scaled content abuse (Google).
- Ad landing pages do one thing: help someone who clicked an ad call or book. One message, one form, a phone number that’s tracked, fast on a phone, and the same required statements as the ad. Keep them out of the main navigation, and set them to noindex if they duplicate site pages.
- Spanish and other languages get separate URLs linked with hreflang, with no automatic redirects based on guessed language (Google). See our Spanish-language legal marketing guide.
Both kinds of pages should pass the same signal to your CRM: the landing page, the source and the click ID, so a signed case can be traced back. Our Google Ads guide and guide to sending signed cases back to Google Ads show how.
Forms, calls and the first reply
A website’s last job is to hand a visitor to intake without losing them. Small build choices decide it:
- A short form: name, a safe way to reach the person, the practice area and one sentence. Ask for details later, after the conflict check.
- A phone number that works as a link on phones, tracked so calls can be traced to the page and source, with a recording notice where calls are recorded.
- An honest promise on the form: when someone will reply, during and after business hours, and in which languages.
- No chat widget you can’t staff. A chat box that nobody answers is worse than none, and it adds weight to every page.
- Form data that lands in the firm’s systems, with the landing page and click ID attached, not in an inbox the vendor controls.
Our law firm intake guide covers what happens after the form is sent: speed to lead, after-hours coverage and the leak list.
What this means for your firm
- Run the ownership checklist this week. Fix the domain first if it’s not in the firm’s name.
- Put quotes on one written scope and compare flat fees, including what you own at the end.
- Check your Core Web Vitals in Search Console’s field data, on mobile, and remove what slows the site down.
- Build to WCAG 2.2 AA, test with people, publish an accessibility statement, and remove any overlay.
- Keep dated copies of the site if your state requires it, and have an attorney approve new pages.
- Separate ad landing pages from site pages, and track both to signed cases.
Probative is AI-first SEO and ads for law firms. Our website service builds sites the firm owns outright, meeting WCAG 2.1 AA at delivery and built to WCAG 2.2 AA, with no overlays; fees are on the pricing page.
Marketing information, not legal advice. Accessibility law and lawyer advertising rules vary by state and change; check with your own counsel and your bar.