A law firm website that tells people, quickly, whether you can help
Someone looking for a lawyer usually has one urgent question: does this firm handle my kind of problem, here, and how do I start? A law firm website should answer that in plain words, show who'll do the work, explain how fees and the first meeting work, and offer an enquiry route that feels discreet. It must never promise outcomes. Here's how to plan it, and how Anticode fits as a law firm website builder.
Practice areas, written for the client, not the court
Prospective clients don't search for "contentious probate"; they search for "contesting a will". Name each practice area in the words a worried person would use, then explain in a few paragraphs which situations you take on, which you don't, and what the first steps usually look like. One page per area also gives search engines something specific to match.
- Who it's for: individuals, small businesses, landlords, employers, and so on.
- Typical matters: three to six concrete examples, such as "redundancy and settlement agreements" under employment.
- Where you practise: the jurisdictions and courts you're admitted to work in, and whether you take clients remotely.
- What happens first: a call, a written summary, documents to gather.
Profiles that show who will do the work
Clients hire people. Each lawyer's profile should give their role, the areas they handle, where and when they qualified or were admitted, any accreditations, languages spoken and a direct contact route. A real photo matters. Avoid lists of adjectives ("tenacious, dedicated, client-focused") and give a sentence about the kind of matter they spend most days on.
In Anticode, a people CMS collection with fields for name, role, admissions, areas and biography keeps profiles consistent and lets the practice manager update them from the dashboard. Practice areas can be a second collection, so each area page lists the lawyers who handle it.
Fees and the first meeting
Fee transparency builds trust, and in some countries and practice areas publishing price information is expected or required. At a minimum, explain how you charge (fixed fee, hourly, staged, conditional arrangements where allowed), what a first consultation costs or whether it's free, and what a typical matter's fee range looks like where you can give one. A Pricing page in plain English answers the question clients are most nervous to ask.
An enquiry route that feels confidential
The enquiry form is where a law firm website succeeds or fails. Keep it short: name, contact details, preferred contact method, the area of law, and a brief description. Tell people not to include sensitive details yet, and that sending the form doesn't create a client relationship. Say who reads it and how soon you'll reply. Anticode's standard contact form has name, email and a message; separate fields for contact method and area of law need a custom form tied to a site function (up to 30 plain-text fields).
Anticode saves submissions sealed at rest (AES-256-GCM), can email each one to the firm, and can pass it to HubSpot as a contact. Because the site collects personal data, it can't be published until the account owner and the person publishing have two-factor sign-in on, and an access log records recent reads, exports and deletes. For firms that offer a set initial consultation, the booking calendar can take one booking per slot for that call; it doesn't sync with your practice management diary, so use it only for a calendar one person controls.
Wording to avoid, and who's responsible
Legal services marketing is regulated in most places, and the rules differ by jurisdiction. Common trouble spots are claims about results, words like "specialist" or "expert" where they're restricted, quoting past outcomes, and testimonials. The firm is responsible for its own regulatory wording and any statements its regulator requires on the site. Anticode doesn't review content for compliance.
Design: quiet confidence
Generic generated law sites lean on gavels, columns and navy gradients. A clear, typographic page reads as more competent. Swiss (Inter Tight) gives a structured, information-first layout; Editorial (Geist) suits a firm that publishes guides; Luxury (Jost) can fit a private client practice. A black or blue action colour on the enquiry button keeps it calm.
What Anticode doesn't cover for a firm
- No client portal or document upload. Published sites have no client logins or file exchange; use your secure portal for documents.
- No conflict checks. Enquiries arrive as messages; your intake process still runs conflict and identity checks.
- No practice management integration. Connect HubSpot or a webhook, or handle enquiries from email.
- English pages only. A multilingual firm can't publish translated pages from Anticode today.
Questions people ask
Can a law firm website builder handle multiple offices?
Yes, as content: list each office with its address, hours and contact route on a Contact page, or as entries in a CMS collection. Connectors receive every submission from the site, so routing enquiries by office means a form field plus a webhook that sorts them, or whoever reads the inbox passing them on.
Is the enquiry form secure enough for legal enquiries?
Submissions are sealed at rest and publishing requires two-factor sign-in for the account owner and the person publishing, but ask for minimal detail at first and move sensitive material to your own secure channels.
Can I publish legal articles and updates?
Yes, as entries in a CMS collection, each with its own page. There are no comments, RSS or scheduled posts.