The website for lawyers: what clients look for and what professional law allows

What clients look for on a law firm website

Most visitors do not arrive via the home page but via a search such as “Anwalt Arbeitsrecht Wien” (employment lawyer Vienna), “Scheidungsanwalt Kosten” (divorce lawyer costs) or via a link in the Google profile. They land on a subpage and want to know immediately whether they are in the right place. Unlike an online shop, there is rarely any browsing: the decision is often made after one or two pages.

• Responsibility: Do you advise in exactly my situation, as an employee or employer, as a tenant or landlord?
• Costs: What does the first meeting cost, and how is billing handled afterwards? Will legal expenses insurance cover anything?
• Process: What happens after the call, which documents do I need, how quickly do I get an appointment?
• Person: Who will I be sitting across from, with what experience and in which language?
• Availability: Phone, address, appointments online or in the evening as well?

A website that answers these five questions needs no big promises. It looks trustworthy precisely because it is concrete. That fits the professional law of both countries, which allows factual information and prohibits exaggerated advertising.

The pages a law firm website needs

For a sole practice with three areas of law, that comes to around ten pages. More is not needed, fewer is usually too few. The content every firm website needs regardless of profession is summarised in Content of a firm website; how to present practice areas is shown in Practice areas on the website.

Practice areas: concrete instead of a list

“Employment law, family law, tenancy law, criminal law, traffic law” as a list tells searchers little and Google even less. A separate page per area of law, on the other hand, can answer exactly the questions people come with. A recurring structure makes sense:

Only name areas in which you actually work regularly. Ten areas of law on the website of a sole practice do not look versatile but arbitrary. How to build these pages for search engines is explained in SEO for lawyers.

Explaining the initial consultation and costs openly

Fear of incalculable costs is one of the most common reasons people do not call a lawyer. A separate page on the initial consultation and fees removes this hurdle. You do not have to publish a price list, but you should explain how you bill.

Good wording is concrete and calm, for example: “Initial consultation of up to 45 minutes: 150 euros incl. VAT. After that we bill by the hour or at a flat rate, depending on the mandate. We are happy to check whether your legal expenses insurance covers the costs.” Avoid “free” in large letters and “from” prices with small print. What your own website will cost you is worked out by the cost calculator.

Trust signals that professional law allows

Trust comes from facts that visitors can verify. Both legal systems allow factual information about qualifications and activity: in Austria under § 47 RL-BA 2015 (the bar's professional guidelines), in Germany under § 43b BRAO and §§ 6 and 7 BORA. The limits are untruth, misleading claims and sensationalist presentation.

For reviews the same principle applies in both countries: if you display them, you state whether and how you check that they come from real clients (§ 2 Abs 6b UWG in Austria, § 5b Abs. 3 UWG in Germany). And in replies to reviews you never confirm that someone was your client. The details are in the guides to advertising law for lawyers in Austria and lawyers in Germany.

Team, process and contact

On law firm websites, the team page is often the most visited page after the home page. Show real photos, the correct professional title (Rechtsanwältin, Rechtsanwaltsanwärter as trainee lawyer in Austria, Rechtsanwaltsfachangestellte as paralegal in Germany), languages and focus areas. Publish photos and names of staff only with their consent. More on this in The team page.

A short section “How we work together” answers what happens after the first message: call back within one working day, initial meeting at the office, by phone or video, cost estimate, power of attorney. On the contact page, next to phone and directions, add a note on the form: please describe your matter only briefly and do not send confidential documents before the mandate is accepted. This protects confidentiality and helps with the conflict check. What a good contact page looks like and how online booking works for firms is covered in separate articles.

Legal notice and mandatory information for lawyers

Lawyers need more mandatory information than most businesses, and the requirements differ by country:

• Austria: Legal notice under § 5 ECG with the bar association, professional title including the state where it was conferred and access to the professional rules, plus the disclosure under § 25 MedienG and information on professional liability insurance under the Dienstleistungsgesetz (Services Act). All the details: Legal notice for lawyers in Austria.
• Germany: Information under § 5 DDG with the bar, statutory professional title and professional rules, under § 10 BORA and § 2 DL-InfoV the professional liability insurer with territorial scope, plus the statement under § 36 VSBG if you employ more than ten people. All the details: Legal notice for lawyers in Germany.

Common mistakes on law firm websites

The last point sounds trivial but is decisive: a large share of searchers come via smartphone, often in a stressful situation. A website that loads slowly there or whose phone number is embedded as an image loses exactly these enquiries. Tips are in the articles on the mobile website and loading time. How criminal defence lawyers set up an emergency number and pages for searches at night is shown in the guide website for criminal defence lawyers.