A good law firm website does three things quickly. It shows a worried person that you are credible, it explains in plain language how you can help with their problem, and it makes the next step (a call, a form, a booking) obvious on every page. It also has to stay inside the advertising rules for Australian solicitors and work for visitors who use screen readers or keyboards. This guide covers each of those in turn, then what a custom build costs and how to brief a designer.
TL;DR
- Simple, fast and clear beats elaborate. The Law Society of NSW says smaller firms gain more from efficient, simple help for clients than from complex, high-end design.
- Build one page per practice area, written in plain language, each with a clear next step.
- Every claim on the site is advertising. Rule 36 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules bans false, misleading or deceptive content, and "accredited specialist" can only be used if you are accredited.
- Accessibility is a legal and practical matter under the Disability Discrimination Act. Aim for WCAG 2.1 Level AA or better and test with a keyboard and a screen reader.
- A hand-built site from Webline Studio starts at $199 one-off, with care plans from $9 per month.
Table of Contents
- What a law firm website is actually for
- The pages every law firm website needs
- Navigation and calls to action
- Advertising rules your website must respect
- Accessible law firm websites
- Mobile, speed and keeping content current
- Template, agency or custom: how to choose
- Our view: simple, hand-built and maintained
- What a Webline Studio build costs
- A brief to give any web designer
- FAQ
- Sources
What a law firm website is actually for
People rarely browse a legal website for pleasure. They arrive stressed, usually after a search on their phone, with a specific problem: a separation, a will, a workplace dispute, a fine, a property contract. They are comparing a handful of firms in a few minutes.
That shapes everything. The Law Society of NSW, in its primer on building trust, makes the point that for smaller firms the goal is turning visitors into clients by creating a first impression of reliability, and that simple, efficient help matters more than complex design. For a sole practitioner or a boutique firm, that is good news: you do not need an animated showpiece. You need a site that loads fast, reads clearly and answers the questions a stranger has.
The three questions every visitor silently asks:
- Do you handle my kind of matter?
- Can I trust you?
- What do I do now?
If the homepage answers all three above the fold on a phone, you are ahead of many firms.
The pages every law firm website needs
Homepage
Lead with who you help and with what, in one sentence a non-lawyer understands. "Family law for separating parents in Western Sydney" works. "Dedicated to excellence in legal solutions" tells the reader nothing.
Below that, put:
- A short list of your main practice areas, each linking to its own page.
- Your phone number, tappable on mobile, and a short enquiry form.
- Your location and service area, with office hours.
- A few trust signals you can honestly support: years in practice, admissions, memberships, and client feedback you have permission to use and that complies with your professional rules.
Practice area pages
This is where most enquiries are won or lost. A page that only lists "Wills, Estates, Probate" gives the visitor nothing to act on. Strong practice pages usually cover:
- Who the service is for and the typical situations that bring people to you.
- How the process works, step by step, in plain English.
- What outcomes are realistic, without promising results.
- How fees work, even if only the structure (fixed fee, hourly, staged) rather than a price.
- Frequently asked questions in the words clients actually use.
- One clear next step: call, book a consultation, or send a message.
Write each page for one matter type. A page for "Family law" that also tries to cover parenting orders, property settlement and divorce will rank and convert worse than separate pages that go into each.
About and team pages
People hire people. Use real photos, short bios that say what each lawyer handles, admissions and relevant memberships. Keep claims factual. Avoid superlatives you cannot back up.
Contact page
Put the address, a map, phone, email and a form on one page, and repeat the phone number in the header across the site. Say what happens after someone submits the form and how fast you reply. Keep the form short: name, phone or email, a one-line description of the matter. Every extra field loses enquiries.
Insights or articles
A small, maintained library of useful, accurate articles helps people find you and shows how you think. Date them and review them when the law changes. An outdated article about a rule that has since changed does more harm than no article.
Navigation and calls to action
Keep the main menu to five or six items: Practice areas, About, Team, Insights, Contact. Use the words clients use, not internal labels.
A few rules that hold up well:
- One primary action per page. Usually "Call us" or "Book a consultation". Secondary options can sit beneath it.
- Sticky contact on mobile. A tap-to-call button that stays visible as people scroll.
- No dead ends. Every page ends with a next step, not just a footer.
- Plain headings. A visitor skimming on a phone should understand each page from its headings alone.
Advertising rules your website must respect
Your website is advertising. In Australia, solicitors are bound by the conduct rules in their state or territory, which follow the national model.
The Law Society of NSW's guidance on advertising legal services sets out two points that matter for web copy:
- Rule 36.1 requires a solicitor or principal to ensure advertising, marketing or promotion is not false, misleading or deceptive, not offensive, and not prohibited by law.
- Rule 36.2 says a solicitor must not give a false, misleading or deceptive impression of specialist expertise, and must not use "accredited specialist" or a derivative unless accredited by the relevant professional association.
The Law Council's commentary on the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules confirms that Rule 36 covers all law firm advertising and marketing, and it is the place to read how the rule is interpreted.
In practice, review the following before launch:
- Headlines such as "the best" or "Australia's leading", which are hard to substantiate.
- Words like "specialist" and "expert" on practice pages, bios and page titles.
- Outcome claims and case results.
- Testimonials and reviews, including how you collect and display them.
Your website designer builds the layout and the copy structure. The final wording of legal claims remains your responsibility, so have the principal sign off every page. Check your own state or territory regulator for the rules that apply to you, as the details can differ.
Accessible law firm websites
Legal clients include people with vision, hearing, motor and cognitive disabilities, and people who are older or stressed and reading on a small screen. An accessible site serves all of them, and it is also a compliance issue.
What the law expects
The Australian Human Rights Commission's advisory notes on the Disability Discrimination Act explain that the Act requires equal access to web information and services where they are reasonably provided. Those notes are archived and recommend WCAG 1.0 Level AA as a minimum. The standard has moved on since. As a current benchmark, ASIC states that its own website aims to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA, which is a sensible target for a firm to adopt, and Digital NSW tests against WCAG 2.2.
The Commission's more recent guidelines on equal access to digital goods and services give concrete examples. Missing alternative text or poorly titled links, for instance, can make a website inaccessible to people who use screen readers.
What this means for your pages
- Headings in order. One H1, then H2 and H3 in a logical sequence, so screen reader users can jump through the page.
- Descriptive links. "Read our guide to parenting orders" rather than "click here".
- Alt text on meaningful images. Staff photos, diagrams and icons that carry information need a text description.
- Colour contrast. Text must be readable against its background, including on buttons and over photos.
- Forms that work with a keyboard. Visible labels, clear error messages, and a logical tab order.
- Captions and transcripts for any video or audio you publish.
- Documents. If you offer PDFs such as client information sheets, make them readable by assistive technology too.
How to check your site
Digital NSW's accessibility testing guidance is a practical checklist. It recommends checking descriptive page titles, headings and links, navigating with the keyboard alone, reviewing alternative text and captions or transcripts, testing colour contrast, trying assistive technologies, and testing across browsers and devices.
A simple routine before launch and after each major change:
- Put the mouse aside and tab through the homepage, a practice page and the contact form. Can you reach everything and see where you are?
- Turn on a screen reader and listen to the homepage. Do the headings and links make sense out of context?
- Zoom the page to 200 per cent. Does anything overlap or disappear?
- Open the site on a phone and a tablet.
Mobile, speed and keeping content current
Most people looking for a lawyer for the first time do it on a phone, often at night or between other tasks. That makes three things matter together: a layout that adapts to small screens, pages that load quickly, and content that is accurate today.
Practical points:
- Design for the phone first. Large tap targets, a visible phone number, short forms, readable text without zooming.
- Keep pages light. Compress photos, avoid autoplay video and heavy sliders, and limit third-party scripts such as chat widgets that slow every page.
- Choose reliable hosting and keep software updated. A slow or insecure site undermines the reliability you are trying to project. Law firms hold sensitive enquiries, so security updates are not optional.
- Review content on a schedule. Check practice pages, fee information, team pages and article dates at least twice a year, and straight after significant law changes or staff changes.
The common failure is not a bad launch. It is a good site that nobody touches for three years, with a departed lawyer still listed and a contact form that quietly stopped sending emails. Ongoing care deserves a line in the budget from day one.
Template, agency or custom: how to choose
Firms generally have three routes: a template or do-it-yourself builder, a large agency, or a smaller studio that builds custom. Weigh them on what matters to your practice:
| Criteria | Template or DIY builder | Large agency retainer | Small custom studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | Lowest | Highest | Moderate |
| Fit to your brand and practice areas | Limited by the template | Strong | Strong |
| Your time commitment | High | Moderate | Moderate |
| Ongoing maintenance | You manage it | Usually bundled | Varies by studio |
| Flexibility to leave | Depends on the platform | Often a contract | Depends on terms |
Whichever route you take, ask for the same things: mobile-first layouts, clean headings, accessibility built in, fast hosting, and clear terms on who owns the site and how you can leave.
Perspective
Our view: simple, hand-built and maintained
Law firms often assume a credible website means a big budget and a long project. We see it the other way round. The sites that win enquiries are clear, quick and easy to use, and that is a craft problem, not a spending problem.
We build every site from scratch for the business in front of us, with no templates. For a law firm that means the layout follows your practice areas, your wording and your brand, so visitors see a firm and not a generic theme. Our small in-house team handles design, copywriting, mobile-friendly layouts and SEO setup, and we aim to deliver in five business days.
We also think the launch is only the start. Hosting, performance monitoring, content updates, error fixes and security updates are what keep a site trustworthy a year later, which is why we offer monthly care plans without lock-in contracts and back the work with a satisfaction guarantee.
Legal wording is yours to approve. We make it easy to get that right by keeping pages simple, so every claim is visible and easy to review against your professional rules.
Tyler
What a Webline Studio build costs
We publish our prices. At the time of writing (November 2026), our pricing page lists:
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Base Build | $199 one-off |
| Upgraded Build | $399 one-off |
| Premium Build | $449 one-off |
| Custom Logo | $300 one-off |
| Base Care | $9 per month |
| Upgraded Care | $24 per month |
| Premium Care | $29 per month |
Builds are hand-crafted for your firm and include copywriting, mobile-friendly design and SEO setup. Care plans cover hosting, monitoring, updates and security. If your firm needs a fresh identity as well, the logo is a separate one-off order.
If you want a fast, custom site for your practice, look at the Webline Studio build and care options and choose the tier that fits the number of practice areas you need to present.
Not sure where to start? Talk to Webline Studio about your firm, your practice areas and a launch timeline.
A brief to give any web designer
Whoever you hire, a clear brief saves rounds of revisions. Include:
- Practice areas, ranked. Which matters do you most want more of?
- Your ideal client. Individuals, small businesses, or both, and in which suburbs or regions.
- Approved wording. Bios, admissions and any accreditation, checked against your conduct rules.
- Primary action. Phone call, booking or form.
- Accessibility target. State the WCAG level you want and ask how it will be tested.
- After launch. Who handles hosting, updates, security fixes and content changes, and what happens if you want to leave.
- Existing assets. Logo, photography, templates for client information sheets.
FAQ
How much does law firm website design cost in Australia?
Prices vary widely by studio and scope. A custom, hand-built site from Webline Studio starts at $199 one-off for the Base Build, with Upgraded at $399 and Premium at $449. Monthly care plans run from $9 to $29. Check the pricing page for what each tier includes.
Does my law firm website have to be accessible?
The Disability Discrimination Act requires equal access to web information and services where they are reasonably provided, according to the Australian Human Rights Commission. Aiming for WCAG 2.1 Level AA is a widely used benchmark, and ASIC states it works to that level on its own site. Testing with a keyboard and screen reader before launch is the practical place to start.
Can I call myself a specialist on my website?
Only within the rules. Under Rule 36.2, a solicitor must not use "accredited specialist" or a derivative unless accredited by the relevant professional association, and must not create a misleading impression of specialist expertise. Have a principal review every use of "specialist" and "expert" before publishing, and check your state or territory regulator's guidance.
What pages should a small law firm website have?
Start with a homepage, one page for each main practice area, an about and team page, a contact page and a small set of useful articles. Each practice page should explain the process in plain language and finish with a clear next step. Add more pages only when you can keep them accurate.
How often should a law firm update its website?
Review practice pages, fees information and team details at least twice a year, and update straight away after law or staff changes. Security and software updates should run continuously. A care plan that handles hosting, monitoring and updates keeps this off your desk.
Sources
- Building trust, Law Society of NSW
- Advertising legal services, Law Society of NSW
- Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules commentary, Law Council of Australia
- World Wide Web Access: Disability Discrimination Act advisory notes, Australian Human Rights Commission
- Guidelines for equal access to digital goods and services, Australian Human Rights Commission
- Accessibility, ASIC
- Accessibility testing, Digital NSW