Key points at a glance
- Criminal cases often start at night and on a smartphone: the phone number must be dialable with one tap on every page.
- An emergency number is allowed in both countries as factual information, but only if someone really answers. Public services exist alongside it: in Austria the Rechtsanwaltlicher Bereitschaftsdienst (0800 376 386), in Germany the local lawyers' emergency services, which the police must point out under § 136 StPO.
- Separate pages for house searches, arrests, summonses as a suspect and the Strafbefehl (penal order) or Diversion catch exactly the searches made in a crisis.
- Explain fees openly: fee agreement, statutory fees, court-appointed defence or Verfahrenshilfe, and that in Germany even court-appointed defence is not free after a conviction.
- Discretion shows in the details: no description of the allegation in the form, no advertising pixels on emergency pages, never confirming a client relationship when replying to reviews.
This post is general information, not legal or tax advice for your individual case. Laws, professional guidelines and chamber fees change: check the details with your chamber, the relevant authority or your professional association before you make a decision.
Why people search for criminal defence differently
A family law firm is chosen over days or weeks, a tax adviser over months. Criminal defence, by contrast, is often searched for within a single hour, under the worst possible conditions: the person is upset, may have the police in the flat right now and types “Anwalt Notdienst Berlin” (lawyer emergency service) or “Strafverteidiger in der Nähe” (defence lawyer near me) into their phone with shaking hands. Sometimes it is not the person concerned who searches, but a partner, a father or an employer.
This creates different requirements from the general website for lawyers. Within seconds, the website has to answer three questions: Can I reach someone now? Is this someone who does exactly this kind of work? What do I say until then, and what not? Everything else, such as career, publications or the firm's philosophy, is read the next day, when the family considers whom to instruct with the defence.
- Acute searches (night, weekend): “Anwalt Notdienst” plus city, “Strafverteidiger Notfall” (defence lawyer emergency), “Hausdurchsuchung was tun” (house search what to do), “Festnahme Anwalt anrufen” (arrest call lawyer).
- Urgent searches (days): “Ladung Beschuldigtenvernehmung” (summons for questioning as a suspect), “Strafbefehl Einspruch Frist” (penal order objection deadline), “Strafverteidiger in der Nähe”, “Strafverteidiger Wien”.
- Considered searches (weeks): “Strafverteidiger Kosten” (defence lawyer fees), “Pflichtverteidiger oder Wahlverteidiger” (appointed or chosen counsel), “Anwalt Wirtschaftsstrafrecht” (white-collar crime lawyer), name searches after recommendations.
Many defence lawyers say: “People find me by my name.” That is true for referrals from colleagues and for white-collar crime. But the cases that come in at night arrive via search terms without names, and there the firm whose website works in a crisis wins.
The emergency number: visible, honest, reachable
A dedicated emergency number is the strongest element of a defence lawyer's website, and at the same time the most delicate. Under professional rules it is unproblematic in both countries as long as it is true: the advertising rules (§ 47 RL-BA 2015 in Austria, § 43b BRAO and § 6 BORA in Germany) allow factual information about your work, and availability is such information. It becomes misleading when it says “24/7” and the voicemail picks up at night. That costs not only the case but possibly a cease-and-desist letter or a complaint to the bar.
How to get it right
- A number that really rings at night: your work mobile, call forwarding on a rota with colleagues or an answering service that connects you immediately
- Say clearly what the number is for: “Emergency in case of arrest or search, also at night and at weekends”
- The number as text with a tel: link, on smartphones as a fixed button at the bottom of the screen
- One sentence on what applies until you call back: “Do not say anything about the allegations until we have spoken.”
- A second, normal number with office hours for regular enquiries
Better avoid
- “24/7” or “around the clock” if you only have voicemail at night
- Promises such as “with you in 30 minutes” or “we'll get you out”
- The emergency number only as an image or hidden in the footer
- Names that sound like an official service, such as “Verteidigernotruf Wien” for your own firm's number
- Letting the emergency line be used for fee questions and appointment requests
If you work alone, you cannot be available every night. More honest than an empty “24/7” is wording with times, such as “Emergencies: Monday to Saturday until 10 p.m., outside these hours call-back from 7 a.m.”, or cover arranged with friendly firms. What matters is that the website, voicemail greeting and email auto-reply say the same thing. For holidays and long court days, the out-of-office generator helps you word a message with cover and an emergency route.
| Austria | Germany | |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Rechtsanwaltlicher Bereitschaftsdienst für festgenommene Beschuldigte (stand-by service for arrested suspects, Verteidigernotruf) | Anwaltliche Notdienste or Strafverteidiger-Notdienste (lawyers' emergency services), mostly organised by local bar associations or defence lawyers' associations |
| Availability | nationwide, around the clock, free of charge on 0800 376 386 | varies by city; under § 136(1) StPO the police must point out existing emergency services |
| Cost for those affected | first call and first telephone advice free of charge, further services generally chargeable | depends on the service; the defence itself is then chosen or court-appointed |
| What it means for your website | taking part in the stand-by service may be mentioned factually; your own number must not be confused with the hotline | mention taking part in an emergency service factually; “anwalt notdienst” plus city is a frequent search term |
The pages people find at night
Instead of one “Criminal law” page with a list of offences, a defence lawyer's website needs pages by situation. People do not search for “narcotics criminal law” but for “police at the door what to do”. Each of these pages starts with the emergency number and the two or three rules of conduct that count right now.
| Page | Typical search | What should be at the top |
|---|---|---|
| House search | “Hausdurchsuchung was tun”, “Durchsuchung Anwalt” | Emergency number; stay calm, say nothing about the allegations, ask to see the search order or warrant, ask for the record and a list of items taken |
| Arrest and pre-trial detention | “Festnahme Anwalt anrufen”, “U-Haft was tun Angehörige” (detention what can relatives do) | Right to a defence lawyer; what relatives can do; reference to emergency services |
| Summons as a suspect | “Ladung Beschuldigtenvernehmung”, “Vorladung Polizei was tun” | You do not have to say anything about the allegations; first inspect the file, then give a statement; have the appointment cancelled |
| Strafbefehl (DE) or Diversion (AT) | “Strafbefehl Einspruch Frist”, “Diversion Angebot annehmen” | In Germany a two-week objection period from service (§ 410 StPO); in Austria information on Diversion (diversion from prosecution) and its consequences |
| Areas of focus | “Anwalt Wirtschaftsstrafrecht”, “Anwalt Verkehrsstrafrecht” | A separate page per focus with typical allegations, process, contact person |
| Fees | “Strafverteidiger Kosten”, “Pflichtverteidiger Kosten” | Billing, court-appointed defence or Verfahrenshilfe, legal expenses insurance (see below) |
Keep these pages short and scannable: a heading with the situation, a block “What you should do now”, a block “What you should not do”, the number, and only then explanations of the procedure. A good example of the first sentence: “The police are searching your flat right now? Call us: 030 123 456 78. Until we have spoken: say nothing about the allegations, sign nothing except confirmation that you have received the record.” Phrase this as general information, not as legal advice in an individual case.
Technically, what applies to every firm applies here, only more strictly: fast loading even on a weak connection, large buttons, no pop-ups covering the number, no cookie banners filling half the screen. The details are in the post on the mobile website. If your clients often speak Turkish, Arabic, English or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, at least the emergency page is worth having in those languages; how to do this properly is described in the guide to the multilingual website.
Discretion: contact form, tracking and reviews
Confidentiality applies from the first contact (§ 9 RAO in Austria, § 43a(2) BRAO in Germany). In criminal law there is the added fact that even visiting your website is sensitive: anyone reading the “sexual offences” or “pre-trial detention” page at night reveals a lot about themselves. Data on criminal offences and proceedings enjoy special protection under data protection law (Art. 10 GDPR). The website should therefore be built to know as little as possible about its visitors.
Discretion on a defence lawyer's website
- The contact form asks only for name, phone, availability and “Roughly what is it about?” (choice such as search, summons, detention, other), no description of the allegation
- A note in the form: “Please describe the facts only in our conversation. Do not send any documents before we accept the case.”
- Form data encrypted and sent directly to the firm, not via form services outside the EU
- No advertising pixels (Meta, TikTok, Google Ads remarketing) on emergency and offence pages
- Analytics with minimal data and without cookies where possible
- A call-back note: “We call from a withheld number” or the number you call from, so nobody in the household is surprised
- No case stories with recognisable details, not even anonymised, if the offence is locally known
How to design the form, call-backs and availability on the contact page is shown in the guide to the contact page for firms; why tracking on sensitive pages sits badly with confidentiality is explained in the post on the cookie banner.
Reviews are a topic of their own in criminal law. Clients rarely leave a public review under their name, and if they do, you must never confirm in your reply that the person was your client or what it was about. That also applies to negative reviews. A neutral reply might read: “Thank you for your feedback. For reasons of confidentiality, we do not comment on individual enquiries or cases.” In criminal law, trust comes less from stars than from the person, experience and availability anyway.
Fees, court-appointed defence and Verfahrenshilfe
“Strafverteidiger Kosten” (defence lawyer fees) is one of the most frequent search terms, and the uncertainty is great: many believe a court-appointed lawyer is free, others fear five-figure bills for a single phone call. A dedicated fees page does not have to state prices, but it should honestly explain how you bill.
| Topic | Austria | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Fees for chosen counsel | freely agreed (§ 16(1) RAO), usually by the hour or a flat fee; the Allgemeine Honorar-Kriterien (AHK, general fee criteria) serve as a guide | statutory fees under Part 4 of the RVG schedule or a fee agreement in text form (§ 3a RVG), in practice often by the hour |
| Defence not chosen by the client | Verfahrenshilfe defence counsel (legal aid) if the law requires a defence lawyer or the interests of justice require it and the means are lacking (§ 61 StPO); appointed by the bar | Pflichtverteidiger (court-appointed counsel) in cases of mandatory defence (§ 140 StPO); suspects can name a lawyer themselves (§ 142(5) StPO) |
| Who pays in the end? | those affected bear the costs of Verfahrenshilfe defence not at all or only in part (§ 61(2) StPO); after a conviction, however, procedural costs such as the Pauschalkostenbeitrag (flat-rate cost contribution, § 381 StPO) apply, plus a flat-rate contribution towards the Verfahrenshilfe defence if this does not endanger the person's basic living costs (§ 393(1a) StPO) | after a conviction, those convicted generally bear the costs of the proceedings, including the fees of court-appointed counsel (§ 465 StPO) |
| What it means for your website | explain that Verfahrenshilfe defence is a real defence and what clients can do themselves | explain that clients can name you as court-appointed counsel; this brings cases that would otherwise be allocated from the list |
The last point matters for German firms: if no lawyer is named, under § 142(6) StPO the court chooses from the BRAK's overall register, preferably Fachanwälte für Strafrecht (certified criminal law specialists) and lawyers who have told the bar they are interested in court appointments. Writing on your website “You can also name us as your court-appointed counsel” turns a search for “Pflichtverteidiger Berlin” into a direct enquiry. In Austria, Verfahrenshilfe counsel are appointed by the bar; there, the website matters above all for chosen counsel.
Good wording for the fees page: “The first call in an emergency costs you nothing. For the defence, we usually agree an hourly fee or a flat fee per stage of the proceedings, in writing and before we act. We are happy to check whether your legal expenses insurance covers costs; in criminal law, cover is often limited, for instance for intentional offences.” Only state specific amounts if they are correct, and then including VAT.
What professional rules allow in criminal defence
Advertising by defence lawyers follows the same rules as for all lawyers, with a few typical pitfalls. The general rules are explained in the guides to advertising law for lawyers in Austria and lawyers in Germany.
How to get it right
- In Germany, “Fachanwalt für Strafrecht” if the title has been awarded under the FAO
- “Criminal defence” or “criminal law” as an area of focus if you really work mainly in this field
- Membership of defence lawyers' associations, taking part in the emergency service, teaching, publications
- Languages in which you defend and courts where you regularly appear
- General guidance on conduct during searches, arrests and questioning
Better avoid
- “Fachanwalt” in Austria, where the title does not exist, or in Germany without it being awarded
- Acquittal rates or “98 % of cases dropped”
- Comments on ongoing proceedings on the website or social media without the client's consent
- Names, photos or media reports about clients without express consent
- Targeting suspects named in current press reports
Media reports on spectacular cases are tempting, especially for a personal brand. They belong on the website only if the clients have expressly agreed and the report is public. Safer are articles on procedural questions that reveal no case, such as “What the police may do during a search”.
Name, Google profile and search
In criminal law, the person is the brand. Clients do not instruct “the firm” but the defence lawyer who sits beside them during questioning. The home page therefore shows a real photo, the name, the city and the focus in one sentence, such as: “Criminal defence in Vienna: investigations, detention, white-collar crime. In an emergency, also at night.”
- Page titles with the place: “Strafverteidiger in Hamburg | Name” or “Hausdurchsuchung: was tun? | Strafverteidigung Name, Wien”.
- Google Business Profile with the category criminal defence lawyer, real photos, office hours and emergency availability in the description.
- Directories of the bar and the defence lawyers' associations kept up to date, with a link to the website.
- White-collar crime needs its own, calmer page: companies search during the day, compare and read career and publications.
How your emergency page looks in Google
Use the free Google preview to check whether the title and description of your “house search” page are shown in full on a smartphone and include the place and emergency number.
Checklist for a defence lawyer's website
Check before going live
- Emergency number on every page, as text with a tel: link, always visible on smartphones
- Availability matches across website, voicemail greeting, email auto-reply and Google profile
- Separate pages for house search, arrest, summons and Strafbefehl or Diversion
- Fees page with billing model, court-appointed defence or Verfahrenshilfe and legal expenses insurance
- Contact form without a field for the allegation, encrypted, with a note on documents
- No advertising pixels on emergency and offence pages
- Titles and designations correct: no “Fachanwalt” in Austria, in Germany only once awarded
- Imprint with bar, professional title and professional liability insurance under the law of your country
Your defence lawyer website as a free preview
We build firm websites with an emergency number on every page, situation pages and a data-minimising contact form for Austria or Germany. See a preview with your details.
A no-obligation preview of how your firm website could look with us.
Sources
- StPO (DE) § 136 – first questioning, reference to lawyers' emergency services
- StPO (DE) § 142 – appointment of court-appointed counsel
- BRAO § 43b (advertising)
- BRAK – Professional Code (BORA), as of 01.12.2025
- oesterreich.gv.at – arrest and stand-by service for arrested suspects
- ÖRAK – RL-BA 2015
- RIS – Lawyers' Act (RAO)
- StPO (DE) § 410 – objection to a penal order
- StPO (DE) § 140 – mandatory defence
- StPO (DE) § 465 – costs borne by the convicted person
- RVG § 3a – fee agreement
- BRAO § 43a – basic duties (confidentiality)
- GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679), Art. 10
- RIS – StPO (AT) § 61 – Verfahrenshilfe defence counsel
- RIS – StPO (AT) § 393 – costs of the defence
