Guide to Web Design for Law Firms and Attorneys

A law firm’s website that is well designed has the potential to attract new clients and establish your firm as an expert in your specialist area of law. A good design not only contains useful information, but it also reflects your values as a company and presents a professional image. Law firm web design is a crucial part of any attorney’s marketing strategies. In a fiercely competitive, saturated market, it is vital you stand out from the crowd.

A well-designed, professional website can help your firm to attain:

• Credibility
• Trust from potential clients
• An increase in the rate of conversion from traffic to contract agreements

In this article, we explain exactly how a good website can achieve these lofty ambitions. Additionally, we’ll cover all the features that should be a part of any lawyer web design. Read on for some pro tips to give your website that extra edge against your competition.

Who Will Find This Guide Useful

This guide is for solo practitioners and law firms alike will inspire web designs for marketing results. We will lay out the gold standard for websites. Your business will gain applicable knowledge for instruction on how to project your showcase of offerings. You will be set up for success by collaborating on a better-built output. Web design is an essential part even of a small law firm’s SEO strategy.

This interactive guide goes through the ins and outs of thinking through the best-built system to showcase your unique approach to practicing law. You may have an up and running site that is dull and non-profitable causing you to question the output and results. This riveting menu will dish up some spicy nuggets to chew on when contemplating your follow thru. From start to finish, connecting you through the process of movement in motion through the many pages of unlimited possibilities.

Follow along for law firm website design inspiration that will sell your expertise. Look no further than this all-inclusive guide with topics of interest to erect a masterpiece of literary art that viewers will utilize. Your masterpiece site will portray the message you want to send your clients of the prestigious capability to bring the best outcome to their dilemma. All the basics will be covered in this step-by-step guide.

Why Your Law Firm Need Website Design?

You never get a second chance at a first impression. Your unique stand-out website tells a story of your ability to advocate on your client’s behalf. Your website must be professional and easy to navigate. Look through this guide for answers for applicable law firm website requirements. Get the correct information to your customers in a plain easy to read format that shoots straight to the point without all the hassle of wordy translations that are difficult to comprehend.

Maybe you are looking to originate an innovative upgrade of your current design strategy. You have a logistic word hardship due to enigmas of the written law code that do not enable your viewers to comprehend your content. Devour this article to motivate clientele and increase conversion rates.

Go from mediocre to enticing with the boost of needed knowledge to get your story across of your unique journey to help others in their time of crisis or need. The personal touch person-to-person reassurance that your company has something no other company has, the grit to get to completion, and the know-how to get there faster than the competition. It is a win-win situation.

Hire or DIY

You have a working website, but it is not user-friendly. You need to have space and create a comfortable atmosphere to benefit client results due to available maneuverability. A call to redesign your existing layout is necessary to achieve the goals desired. It is all based on ease of service for your website members. Depending on your law office advertising budget, you may choose whether to hire someone or delegate the job to an in-house marketer. You can trust the experts that build and service law firm website designs that work day in and day out with years of expertise and know-how to build with excellence.

Legal Niche Oriented Agency vs General Agency

Agencies that will attend to your specific law-related needs will bring the biggest return for your sites’ growth. Let’s say for example you would like to highlight your abilities for a specific avenue of care. There are many to choose from including divorce to bankruptcy attorney website design professionals. These marketing agencies who have experience working with law statutes will provide the greatest returns. Also, a big plus of working with a legal niche-oriented agency is that they fully understand your vision. And often can help with everything, from creating a marketing plan for a law firm to retargeting marketing.

These niche growers increase awareness of your direct market impact both in the virtual world and social media world. They can funnel resources accordingly to your unique market of expertise. You can rely on their promotional efforts that have succeeded in your direct line of service. Collaborating with a niche professional gives you an edge. View this as you wouldn’t hire a college professor to teach biology to a preschool class. Or you would not hire a welder to do brain surgery. As a result, you can charge more for your services. You will spend less time looking for clients when you specialize. Rather than moving away from you, they come to you with niche influencers.

Preparation for lawyer website design

Before diving right into attorney website design, it’s important to plan out your law firm’s website. We’ll cover the preparation necessary for a smooth design process.

Website planning

By planning, you can ensure that no features or areas of your business are missed. Considering all the requirements of your firm’s website is the equivalent of creating blueprints before starting construction on a building.

Without a clear plan, you could end up leaving a lot to assumption, which results in miscommunication and potentially a poorly structured, incoherent website. Always create a plan with a clear direction to avoid missed deadlines and unnecessary restructuring.

Designing a website map

A sitemap is a brilliantly simple and clear way to begin your plan. Sitemaps clearly demonstrate any goals you have for your website and are easy for web designers to understand. A great way to get started is to open a Google docs sheet and start writing down all the pages you envision for your website.

Consider the following:

• Areas of Practice
• “About Us”
• Testimonials
• Location and Contact
• Attorneys
• Blog
• Case Studies
• Anything else you think might be useful to your site’s visitors

Assigning content to the pages

With a sitemap designed, it should be easy to identify the content requirements for your site’s pages. Consider what content each page or page type needs, and decide if you need a copy, images, video, or any other medium to communicate your message effectively. You know what best appeals to your ideal client, so use your intuition to plan your content for maximum effectiveness.

Design mockup evaluation process

Once you have a sitemap in place and are happy with it, your web designer typically submits a mock-up of the website’s design for your evaluation. This is your opportunity to assess the design aesthetic of your website and consider how it presents your company to potential clients. Raise any concerns with your designer at this stage so they can offer you an explanation or present you with alternatives before settling on a final design.

At this stage, pay the most attention to the core elements and layout, since these are more difficult to change at the later stages of the attorney web design process. Look at the call-to-action elements on your site and consider whether they would appeal to your intended clientele. At this stage, make sure you are happy that the design, brand consistency, and aesthetic of your website and that all the elements line up to meet your marketing goals.

Key ingredients for a great law firm web design

Intuitive navigation

The critical consideration here is the time it takes for your potential clients to access key information. Ask yourself how long it would take them to find information about:

• Your lawyers
• Your services
• Your contact information (including your law firm social media)
• Your case studies
• Factors that reinforce your credibility and authority, such as Avvo and Nolo ratings, Google and Yelp reviews, and more

It should be easy to access any of these via as few clicks as possible on your navigation bar or website menu.

Pro Tip: Check other law firm websites to compare the ease of navigation your design offers to theirs. Don’t limit your comparison to other local firms – analyze a range of designs to recognize their strengths and weaknesses, incorporating the best ideas into your design.

Clean design with sufficient white space

A common problem we have observed on law firm websites is an overload of information.

It’s great to have comprehensive coverage over every aspect of your service, but don’t try to fit too much into your homepage and landing pages. This only serves to overwhelm your potential clients and risks losing their interest. An ideal antidote to this problem is “white space.”

White space, or negative space, is empty space on a web page that can help draw focus to page elements, such as copy or a call-to-action. It doesn’t need to be white – this may vary depending on your design – it just needs to be empty to reduce clutter and help create a visual hierarchy on the page.

By using design intelligently, it is possible to illustrate the importance of different page elements to your site visitors, improve comprehension, and hold their attention for longer. The goal of most pages is to gain your potential client’s interest and direct them towards a call-to-action, where you can establish contact.

Pro Tip: Avoid the common pitfalls of law firm website design and use white space liberally. Communicate this clearly, and a good web designer should accommodate your request. Well-spaced websites are also more aesthetically pleasing, which can make their portfolio look better. It’s a win-win scenario.

Compelling headline

There are many legal areas of expertise, so visitors to your site need to see exactly what you offer through your headline. In doing so, you are granting your site visitors the most important piece of information they require straight away. As soon as they visit your site, they should have an idea of if you are a good fit for their situation.  This should make them more inclined to keep reading and progress to a point of contact.

Consider the following characteristics for an ideal and appealing headline:

• Clarity – Make it easy for your potential client to know what’s on offer. Any ambiguity increases the risk of losing a visitor’s interest.
• Unique Value Proposition (UVP) – What does your firm offer that sets you aside from the competition? Make this clear, and your message could have a lasting impact on the mind of your potential client while they consider alternative options in the area.

Pro Tip: Directly mention the city or state in which you operate, in your title. This appeals more to potential clients, as most are looking to work with a local law firm.

Effective content

High-quality content that is persuasive and informative helps to convert your traffic into new business. It works everywhere, social media content, law firm newsletter content, and your blog’s content.

Get your point across and offer real value to your site visitors. Bear the following traits in mind when planning content:

• Quantity – Use words sparingly and always communicate clearly but concisely. Too much copy can put off an interested party and risks lowering your conversion rate. For example, offering a downloadable guideline titled “The Top 10 Signs You Have Been Harassed at Work,” probably won’t need a lot of copy. Just provide details of what the resource contains and a download link. On the other hand, a full “Home Buying Guide” might include tens of thousands of words. Clients typically understand the need for detail if your content is clear and information-rich.

• Style – Try to use words that are customer-centric, such as “you” and “your” while keeping “we” and “our” to a minimum. This emphasizes your focus on providing a solution to your client’s problem. It is also valuable to highlight any aspects of your firm that set you apart from the competition. These might be years of experience, large settlements, significant cases, rock star attorneys, or other similar notable features.
• Formatting – Use clear sub-headers and mix up your formatting with bullet points, bold and italic text, lists, and anything that might help a potential client digest information more easily. Most visitors only scan your content, so ensuring it stands out improves communication between you and your average reader.

Pro Tip: Avoid legal jargon. Lawyers often tend to use language that is easy for them to understand but confuses potential clients. Keeping the language simple allows you to appeal to a broader range of potential clients. More useful tips we gathered in our blogging for law firms detailed guide.

Strong call-to-action

A strong call-to-action (CTA) helps direct interested visitors toward a point of contact, which is the first step to converting traffic into new clients. Repeat your CTA throughout longer pages and make sure it stands out among the rest of your content. Don’t leave any room for confusion as to where your client needs to go.

Factor these elements into your CTA button or form for a strong proposition:

• Placement – Don’t put your client off by placing a CTA too early on your page. Allow clients to understand your proposition and offer them some helpful information to earn their favor. Use white space to help draw attention towards your CTA button, and place it right where they can best see its value. For example, if you have just explained the usefulness of a divorce attorney, following up with a CTA stating “call now to book a FREE consultation” directly below allows you to catch them when they are most interested.
• Size – Make your CTA button big enough so your client can see it. Don’t ruin your page aesthetic, but don’t undersell yourself either!
• Color – A great CTA button should “pop” out of the page, contrasting with the design to draw attention to itself.

Pro Tip: Regardless of the page they are on, clients should never feel forced to search far and wide for a way to contact you. Good legal website design provides a clear CTA whenever a site visitor might need it. If you run attorney PPC

Lead capture form

Lead capture forms are an alternative to the CTA button that allows you to establish contact without the need for a phone conversation or a back-and-forth email chain. Forms allow your potential clients to get in touch day or night, so you can avoid missing a single opportunity to convert a site visitor into a new client.

Well-designed forms should incorporate the following ideas to function effectively and collect information from visitors to your site:

• Ease of completion – so that potential clients can enter their details correctly, without frustration.
• Strategic placement, much like the CTA button. It is no longer necessary to place content “above the fold,” as mobile phones feature a different, taller perspective, and nowadays, almost all users are more inclined to scroll.

Pro Tip: Only ask your prospective client for essential information. Keep it easy for them to fill out the form quickly and maintain their trust by avoiding demands for copious personal details. Name, email, phone number and a brief case description are enough to get started and establish contact, and you can always obtain other necessary details further down the line. Remember that every additional field in your form can reduce conversion rates.

Fees

In your service description, you can indicate what you charge. Making it easy for the prospective consumer to understand the basic fee schedule. You don’t want to make your costs seem too complicated and difficult to understand. It should be presented as a basic easy layout plan. Incorporating ease into your law firm website design tips.

Achievements and publications

List your achievements clearly to make the most of your experience as a valuable marketing tool. This can help build your credibility in the eyes of site visitors, who need convincing. It shows that not only are you capable of taking their case; you’re also capable of winning it. Don’t be afraid to show off any achievements, awards, and key results to your potential clients.

Pro Tip: Don’t miss out on an opportunity to highlight any success. Word of mouth is great, but don’t rely on it to inform all your prospective clients of your achievement. Make sure it’s something your site visitors simply can’t miss. Unfortunately for one of our law clients, this is something they had to learn the hard way.

Trust indicators

Trust indicators are a way to build your credibility in the eyes of site visitors, so they don’t have to take your word for it. These are an essential part of any law firm website, where your potential clients are looking for a reliable option.

Here are some common trust indicators you can use on your landing pages:

• Statistical evidence – Hard facts don’t lie, which is why they carry more weight than words alone. Include impressive statistics in headlines or sub-headlines, or make them stand out prominently in copy, making sure to reference sources to back up your claims.
• Client testimonials – This is a powerful way to build trust in the eyes of site visitors. If possible, include a headshot, full name, company, and job title to improve the credibility of your testimonials.
• Avvo and Nolo ratings, Google and Yelp reviews – These are another way of demonstrating the credibility of your firm since many internet users already equate these sites with trustworthiness. External ratings and reviews are more credible, as they exist online independent of your own website.

Pro Tip: Encourage satisfied clients to post reviews on Google and Yelp using a personalized newsletter. You might be surprised at how many responses you receive. Follow up and thank your clients for the reviews they posted.

High-quality visuals

Visual elements can help to spice up your law firm website design and hold the attention of visitors to your website. Some of the visuals you can include are:

• Pictures – Only use high-resolution, professionally created images. Any low-quality content reflects poorly on your firm, presenting a poor image. This applies to any visual content, including photos, videos, and logos. Use real photographs to humanize your law firm and let your potential clients see who might handle their case.
• Videos or slideshows – Any moving images are an effective way to grab attention. Consider the following important points:

1. Roughly 98% of consumers report they find videos helpful when making decisions to buy online.
2. About 58% of the consumers that find videos helpful also consider any brands that produce videos to be more trustworthy.
3. The average amount of time a visitor spends on a web page that contains a video is much longer (6 minutes) than it is for a web page with just images and text (43 seconds).
4. A slideshow inserted into a header can rotate between your different areas of expertise and take clients directly to the appropriate page.

Pro Tip: Compress all visual content properly to reduce page loading times. Longer loading times massively increases the bounce rate for web pages. You can use any of these tools for video compression and these tools for image compression.

Use Stock Images with Caution

Remember this policy because it may constitute material misrepresentations of your firm. For example, if you use a default website theme with stock images in sliders, where some office is pictured. If violates ethical advertising rules that can hurt your reputation. The same when you hiring someone to do design and they assure you that it’s ok, we have a license for images, you may use it. When it’s general images, for example, construction picture in your blog post about construction – it’s ok, but when you have a smiling well-suited man on your homepage – it’s can be considered as a representation.

Additional valuable elements

List of attorneys with their bio, achievements, and LinkedIn or other social media links

Individual pages for all your attorneys with recent headshots are ideal inclusions in any lawyer web design project. Your attorneys are your greatest assets, so highlight them and their experience, as it can only serve to boost your reputation. List their experience, areas of expertise, contact information, and any relevant social media links.

Pro Tip: Humanize your attorneys by including additional associations, charity work, or other positive activities they engage in. Potential clients react better when they believe their lawyers to be upstanding, established members of their community.

Case studies

A good case study serves to highlight your expertise and convince prospective clients of your experience and competence in a given area of law. Take a look at law firm website examples and their case studies pages.

Create rich and informative case studies with the following aims:

• Build trust – Using a client’s account of your company’s performance is much better than relying on your own word, where you have an obvious bias.
• Market your success – Case studies rarely become outdated so, once written, they are a continuing source of traffic and positive image for your firm.

Pro Tip: Provide a high level of detail for case studies. Although it may not always be possible to reveal specifics, offer enough information for the study to be interesting and relevant.

Law Firm Webdesign FAQ

FAQs satisfy your information-hungry visitors’ need for direct answers to their questions. It is a direct and user-friendly way to cater to the needs of a range of different prospective clients.

Not only are FAQs useful, many readers expect them on any site they visit. Expect these types of users to actively look for an FAQ while using your website. If you can’t provide one, you risk losing their interest.

An FAQ for a law firm needs to reassure site visitors, easing their concerns while also clearly mapping out the steps they need to take. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential clients and try to answer any questions that come to mind, referring also to common queries you receive via phone or email.

Pro Tip: FAQ pages are helpful for customer satisfaction, but they also improve your SEO. Providing direct answers to specific questions can help boost your ranking in search results pages.

Blog

Around 72% of marketers agree that the most effective SEO tactic is relevant content creation. Although not quite a consensus, it’s vital you consider content creation as part of your attorney website design marketing strategy. Include a place for your attorneys to produce regular content, such as a blog, to boost your SEO rankings and provide valuable information to your clients.

Pro Tip: Be specific about targeting the most valuable keywords for your area of expertise. If your firm specializes in personal injury law, produce content that covers the subject in depth for your blog. Check our recent article to get more blogging tips for lawyers.

Technical elements

Speed, speed, speed

Slow sites suffer most according to Kissmetrics, which estimated that up to 47% of users expect a site page to load in 2 seconds or less. Large, uncompressed visuals and overloaded pages are the likely candidates for slowing down your load times.

Keep visitors on your site by dividing up pages, compressing images and video properly, and using a reliable web host.

Pro Tip: Use Google PageSpeed Insights for a reliable picture of where your site stands. Check for slow-loading pages and speak to your professional web designer about optimizing them for faster loading.

Responsive design

Is your site mobile responsive? If your answer is yes, does that apply to all major devices and browsers?

As use patterns increasingly shift towards mobile (already surpassing desktop traffic), any sites that aren’t mobile-friendly lose out. Double-check your site works on all major devices, so you don’t leave potential clients squinting at their phones before moving on to another firm’s website.

Mobile responsive sites must contain almost as much information as desktop sites. Cut out unnecessary images or videos to improve loading times on mobile networks while making sure text is easy to read and properly aligned.

Pro Tip: Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool can help you determine your site’s mobile-friendly credentials.

5 Law Firm Web Design Examples

When you don’t have an idea of what elements are crucial for your website, it’s a good idea to do some research. You can explore your competitors, but also take a look at successful law firm websites. We gathered a few as an example for you.

Moshes Law

It’s a good example of website design that really converts. You can read more in our web design case study on how we helped the firm to increase its online presence and get more leads. When you look at the first screen, you see a lot of lead-gen elements. All menu points look trustworthy, especially with “Sucess Stories” and “Testimonials” pages. Also, this web design has a team picture on the first screen. That’s works great for conversion because people help people.

Rimon Law

This website wows! A visual stunner! An arterial view of Manhattan at sunset spinning with the confidence of outstanding performance that stands out above the rest. Showcases different countries that have utilized this client with easy-to-read expertise tabs. Personalized platform exhibiting the knowledge base and pursuit of successful cases. The combination of client-friendly and universal compatibility on all platforms makes this a master deliverer in this law firm website header design.

Golightly Vannah

A fine portrayal of large bullet points spotlighting their greatest wins while incorporating the message that “They do not get paid until you first get paid.” The expertise is an added benefit to the free consultation that gets the customer in the door. The photography creation of family law gets the point across of dependability and reliability. The mention of contingency provides trust. This shows a guide to web design for law firms that speaks volumes in pictures set in a courthouse.

Lane and Brown

This website brings into account the unique take on law for their city. Citing elder abuse and criminal defense as their main stakes. This family law attorney website design incorporates their background information of genuine sincerity with steadfast confidence to finish the task at hand with the utmost approach. The large displays and smiling faces provide warmth around the rough edges of the law. It has an easy-to-read large print view with captions and a discernible approach of efficiency. Simplistic with a hands-on approach.

Sethi Law Group

A stimulating masterpiece taking you right to the foot of Lady Liberty with a spiraling aerial view of the green hills surrounding every side. You feel like you are sailing past this historic figure without a care in the world. This immigration law firm takes advocacy very seriously. This immigration attorney website design seeks to thrill with interactive tabs making this a fast-loading and secure site. This company tackles both business and Canadian immigration issues with a face you can trust of loyalty and believability.

One common myth about legal web design

One common myth persists relating to online law firm design: that a good-looking website also performs well in search results. This error neglects the importance of lawyer SEO, which is important for the following reasons:

• An optimized website earns more traffic: Superficially, the goal of SEO is to rank higher in search results. However, the deeper goal is to attract more real traffic and convert it into a business. SEO is crucial in bringing more users to your website. You can learn more about new website SEO on our blog.
• It helps your target audience find your site SEO helps put your law firm before the eyes of your target audience, right when they are looking for information. Two-thirds of consumers first use a search engine when looking for more information about a law service company. To participate in that process for more users, your business needs to rank highly in search results for relevant keywords to your areas of expertise.

Good SEO can help you reach your marketing goals and additionally, present more information to your potential clients while they research available options.

It is high time to take action

With everything in mind, and all the pieces of your law firm website design puzzle put together, let’s have a quick recap of the key ingredients for success:

• Intuitive navigation
• Clean design with sufficient white space
• Compelling headline
• Effective content
• Strong call-to-action
• Lead capture form
• Achievements and publications
• Trust indicators
• High-quality visuals

You probably already know how competitive the market is for law firms. Standing out among the crowd online hinges on having an attractive law firm website design.

First impressions stick, which is why you should always consider professional assistance when planning and designing a website. Lasting Trend can help with the entire process and offer a free website evaluation.

Appearance isn’t everything, but it shouldn’t be discarded. We have legal web design examples where simple aesthetic improvements have increased lead generation by up to 63%, with revenue seeing a 27% gain.

When you take part in the process of designing your website from the very start, working with a professional design team to build a website from scratch, you’re more likely to get a result that truly reflects your company’s values. It’s no good having a website that nobody sees, so you need a web design solution that incorporates SEO for improved visibility online.

You know the value to your clients of contacting a professional when they need legal assistance, so why should you treat your web design needs any differently?

Lasting Trend knows and understands the law industry. Contact us for an appointment for professional web design that delivers measurable results for your legal practice.

‍