A law firm’s client does not compare websites calmly - they choose under stress, in a few minutes, and that changes everything. Someone has been served with a claim, found out about debts left by their late father, or is preparing for a divorce. They open three tabs, skim them and call one. They do not read everything, do not compare in a table, do not come back a week later. They decide on instinct: does this person know exactly my kind of case, and do I know what happens if I call. And if they do not know - they do not go back to the search results, they call the second firm on the list, already open in the next tab.
That is why a law firm website is not an ordinary business site in a different colour scheme. The structure, content and form all have to serve that one moment of choice. How to build a site like that from the process side I described under business websites; here I focus on what is specific to a law firm.
How a lawyer’s website differs from an ordinary business site
In most industries the client buys a service. Here they hand someone their life situation - often the worst one in years. So what counts is trust, not an offer: nobody picks a firm for the prettiest home page, they pick it because after two minutes of reading they feel this person understands their case and knows what they are doing.
On top of that the decision comes fast. In B2B someone reads, bookmarks, comes back a week later - I described that rhythm in the piece on B2B company websites. A law firm does not have that luxury. If the first screen does not show the specialisation and a phone number, the client moves to the next open tab.
What really makes someone call
The most important thing is clearly named specialisations. “Comprehensive legal services” means nothing. The client is looking for the specific: divorce and division of assets, inheritance cases, employment law, compensation claims. Visible straight away, they give the reader three seconds to recognise themselves; hidden in a drop-down menu, they usually end in an exit.
The second is a face and a name. A photo of the lawyer, first name, surname, a few sentences about their professional path - it sounds banal and it is the strongest trust lever on the site. Some clients will check the lawyer against the roll of advocates or legal advisers kept by the relevant chamber, so the surname and the form of practice given on the site have to match that entry - a mismatch reads like a warning.
The third is reach - the information most often left out, and the client’s first filter: do you take cases from all over Poland or only locally. If from everywhere, write also whether you run them remotely, how documents and powers of attorney are handed over in that case and when the client has to appear in person. It is worth adding which courts you appear in most often and whether you take court-appointed cases. A client who found a specialist in their procedure at the other end of the country will only call if the site settles up front that distance is not a problem - otherwise they will assume it is.
The fourth is a description of the first step and the money in it. A client who has never been to a law firm is afraid not of the rate but of the unknown: what to say on the phone, whether to bring documents, whether the conversation commits them to anything. If the first consultation is paid, say so outright - together with whether its cost is later set against the case. That takes the most awkward question out of the call.
The fifth is visible contact: a phone number in the header, tappable, plus a short form. Not an address hidden in the footer and not a form with ten fields.
What helps: write out plainly how working together goes step by step - an initial conversation, agreeing the scope and billing terms in writing, then running the case. The barrier before the phone call is almost never the price, it is fear of the unknown.
Professional rules, meaning what you must not promise
This is where the most out-of-date advice gets repeated. The blanket ban on advertising is gone: the Polish Bar Council abolished it in the Code of Advocates’ Ethics by resolution of 26 May 2023, and among legal advisers an analogous change to the Code of Ethics has applied since 1 January 2023. So the question is not whether you may promote yourself - you may. The question is what you must not promise.
Instead of a single ban there are catalogues of restrictions, and they set the frame for your content. No message that could create an unjustified expectation as to the outcome of legal assistance - so “we win 9 cases out of 10” and guarantees of results are out. No comparative advertising or disparagement of other lawyers, so superlatives like “the best firm in town” are off the table. No misleading message. And no breach of professional secrecy.
That last boundary determines how to describe your track record: describing specific cases is limited by professional secrecy, so material like that requires the client’s consent or full anonymisation - and judging whether anonymisation is sufficient belongs to the lawyer, not to whoever is editing the website.
And the most important point: the details of these rules are worth checking in the current code of the relevant chamber before the text goes live. I will build a structure that fits within those frames, but the final assessment of the content is yours.
A matter-of-fact tone here is not aesthetics, it is protection: a promise of results written on a site can come back years later - an unhappy client may raise it as part of what was agreed between you.
What content on a law firm site actually works
Short articles answering real client questions work best. You write them once and they work for years: they convince the reader they have reached someone who knows the subject, and they give the search engine content for a specific query.
The strongest format is one that does not transfer to any other industry: an article about one procedure written around a statutory deadline. “How long do I have to disclaim an inheritance”, “the deadline to object to an order for payment”. This is the only trade where content has urgency built in - nobody looks for that answer out of curiosity, only when the clock is already running. Someone typing that question at ten in the evening is one sentence away from a call the next morning - provided that at the end of the text they find a number and the information that there is still time. So an article like that should explain when the deadline starts running and what interrupts it, and close with a clear “what to do today”.
Beyond articles it is worth having an FAQ next to every specialisation and a description of how you bill. You can give rates or just the way they are calculated - that is not prohibited. If you prefer not to publish figures, at least describe the model: per case, per stage or hourly, and when the terms get agreed. The client wants to know they will not be caught out.
Professional secrecy and data in the form
A law firm’s form is designed the opposite way to most industries, where the point is to extract as much context as possible. Here professional secrecy already covers the enquiry itself from someone who is only considering entrusting a case - and email is not a channel where that secrecy can be maintained. So the form should actively discourage describing the case in the body of the message. A line saying “please do not describe details here - we will agree a secure channel in the first conversation” does more than a paragraph about GDPR underneath.
There is, however, one thing worth asking about that no other contact form has: the opposing party. A firm has to be able to check it is not already acting for the other side before entering a conversation - a conflict of interest discovered after two weeks is a bigger problem than a lost enquiry. So a field about the opposing party makes more sense than “describe your case”. Add a short note about who processes the data and why, plus decent technical foundations.
Technical hygiene that is easy to forget
Two things that weigh more in a law firm than elsewhere:
- Downloadable documents that work on a phone - a power of attorney template, a list of documents needed in an inheritance case. The client opens them on a mobile and has to read them without zooming into a scan set sideways. A file that cannot be opened on a phone is as good as no file.
- Contact that works on the move - phone and address given so they work when someone opens the site on the way to a hearing: a number tappable with a thumb, an address that opens navigation, opening hours without scrolling.
What to avoid
- A template that looks like thirty other firms - if three compared sites share the same layout, none of them sticks.
- Stock photos of a gavel, scales and paragraph symbols - that signals “off-the-shelf site”, not gravitas; the same goes for a bought photo of a “lawyer”.
- Promises of effectiveness in any form - including ones dressed in careful phrasing like “we usually manage to recover”.
- No information about who runs the firm - a site with no name and no face triggers exactly the opposite reflex to the one intended.
Where to start if the site already exists
You do not have to rebuild everything. The order that gives the most for the least effort: list the specialisations outright on the home page, add a photo and description of the person running the firm, describe the first step and your reach, simplify the form and pull the phone number to the front. Leave content for last - it works over the long run, but it will not fix a site where it is not clear who does what.
If you want to know what is costing you calls on your site, send me a link. I will do a free review and come back with a list of things to fix in order of importance. Roughly: a full law firm website project with me is usually 5,000-10,000 PLN net fixed-bid, and ongoing technical care starts from 1,000 PLN net per month.
Frequently asked questions
Can I publish my rates on the site? Yes - giving rates or just the way they are calculated falls within commercial information and is not prohibited. If you prefer not to publish figures, at least describe the billing model: per case, per stage or hourly, and when terms get agreed. The current wording of the rules is worth confirming in the relevant chamber’s code.
Is a blog on a law firm website worth it? Yes, as long as it is short answers to real client questions rather than reprints of statutes. The pieces that work best cover one procedure written around a deadline - the reader hits them exactly when they have to act fast.
Do I need a separate page for each specialisation? With two or three areas, clear sections are enough. If there are more and they are far apart, separate subpages work better - the client lands directly on content about their own case.
How much does a law firm website cost? I settle projects fixed-bid, usually in the 5,000-10,000 PLN net range, and I give the specific figure after a conversation about scope - in writing, before the start. More on what drives the price in the piece on website costs.
Would rather not watch over it every month yourself? I take sites and stores under ongoing care - backups, updates, monitoring, and priority when something breaks. Tell me what you run and I will send back scope and price.