Law firm website: what it needs to win clients

A law firm’s website wins clients when it answers specific searches, shows who is behind it and filters enquiries before the first meeting. For that it needs one page per practice area, not a list of practice areas. Below you will find the page map, a block-by-block template for an inheritance page and a 15-point checklist.

A firm of 1 to 10 lawyers needs one page per practice area, not a list

People looking for a lawyer do not type “legal services”. They type “inheritance lawyer in Castellón” or “I’ve been dismissed while on sick leave”. A “Practice areas” page with 12 bullet points does not answer those searches. Nor does it answer what visitors want to know: whether you handle cases like theirs, what will happen, what it will cost and who will handle it.

Google asks for helpful, reliable, people-first content. And it gives more weight to trust on topics that could affect someone’s financial stability, such as an inheritance or a dismissal.

This is the map for a firm of 1 to 10 lawyers. The searches are examples of how people ask, not volume data.

3 rules for using the table:

• Only practice areas you can back up with credentials. An advertised specialisation has to be backed by qualifications, accredited courses or extended professional practice (art. 6.4 of the Code of Professional Conduct, the Código Deontológico).
• Start with what brings in the most fees. Better 3 complete practice areas than 12 half-done. To choose the order, use the matrix in SEO for lawyers. Situation pages are added later, one by one.
• No pages cloned for each city. Google considers it doorway abuse to have multiple pages targeting cities that funnel users to the same place. One page per real office.

This map is signed off before the design: it is the basis of web design built to win clients. If your current website already ranks, do not change its addresses without following the plan for a redesign without losing rankings. And what each legal text must say is in legal notice, privacy and cookies.

Template: the practice area page, block by block

A practice area page answers 5 questions, in this order: is this for me?, what will happen?, what will it cost?, who will handle it? and what do I do now? The template has 11 blocks in that order.

Let’s say a firm of 3 lawyers in Castellón wants to win inheritance clients. The texts marked Example are illustrative. Whatever is in square brackets is filled in by each firm, and every deadline is checked before publishing.

Block 1. First screen: practice area, city and what happens when you click

What you see without scrolling says what you do, where, and what happens when you press the button. No promises of results (art. 6.3.d of the Code), and no phrases nobody can check, such as “the utmost professionalism”.

Example

Title (H1): Inheritance lawyers in Castellón

Subtitle: We help you accept, divide or claim an inheritance, with or without a will. Before you sign anything, you will know what steps there are, which deadlines apply and what it will cost you.

Details on view: Members of the Castellón Bar Association (ICACS) · First consultation at the office or by video call · Reply within [number] working days

Buttons: “Tell us about your case”, which leads to the form, and “Call [phone number]”

The Bar Association goes at the top because the Code requires it in all advertising (art. 6.3) and because clients can check it. The title for Google follows the same formula: practice area, city and firm.

Block 2. Who it is for, and who it is not for

List the situations you handle in the client’s own words, each linked to its page. And say what you do not handle: it is the cheapest filter there is.

Example

We can help you if:

• A relative has died and you don’t know where to start.
• The heirs cannot agree on how to divide the estate.
• You believe your forced share (legítima) has not been respected.
• You fear the inheritance has more debts than assets.

We do not handle inheritances with assets outside Spain. If that is your case, we will tell you who to go to.

Block 3. The deadlines that apply

Deadlines are the first thing an heir needs. Present them as information, without dramatising: the Code prohibits attracting clients in ways that undermine people’s dignity (art. 7.3.b).

Example

• 15 working days after the death you can request the certificate of last wills (certificado de últimas voluntades). It tells you whether there is a will and before which notary.
• 6 months from the death to file the Inheritance Tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones) return. In the Valencian Community it is form 650 (modelo 650). You can request an extension of another 6 months, with interest, within the first 5 months.
• 6 months to declare the municipal capital gains tax on property (plusvalía municipal), extendable to 1 year if you apply for it.

Sources for the example: Ministry of Justice, Inheritance Tax Regulations (Reglamento del Impuesto sobre Sucesiones) (arts. 67 and 68), Generalitat Valenciana and Local Finance Law (Ley de Haciendas Locales) (art. 110.2.b). Link to them on your page too: it is part of what makes it reliable.

Block 4. How you work, step by step

Explain the process with verbs the client understands. If there is one route with agreement and another without, describe them separately.

Example

1. First consultation. We review what you have and tell you which route makes sense.
2. Quote and letter of engagement. In writing, before we start.
3. Documents. We tell you what is missing and how to get it.
4. If the heirs agree, we prepare the division of the estate and you sign it before a notary.
5. If there is no agreement, we try to negotiate. Since April 2025, the law generally requires this before bringing a claim in civil matters.
6. If negotiation does not work, we ask the court to divide the estate.

Step 5 comes from art. 5 of Organic Law 1/2025 (Ley Orgánica 1/2025), which sets out exceptions. Check how it applies to each practice area.

Block 5. Fees: how they are calculated and what they do not include

You can publish prices. Fees are freely agreed (art. 26 of the General Statute of the Spanish Legal Profession, the Estatuto General de la Abogacía Española) and no rule in force prohibits advertising them. Whether or not you publish figures, the block follows 5 rules:

• VAT and expenses, on view. If you give a price, say whether it includes taxes (Information Society Services Law (LSSI), art. 10.1.f). For consumers, give the final price or how it is calculated, and warn about any expenses you cannot calculate (Consumer Protection Law (Ley de Consumidores), art. 20.1.c).
• Free means genuinely free. The Code prohibits offering services that appear to be free when they are not (art. 7.3.d).
• Fees and legal costs, before the engagement. You must give the approximate amount or how it is worked out, and what an order to pay legal costs (costas) would mean (art. 14.1 of the Code; art. 48.4 of the Statute).
• Letter of engagement. Anyone can ask for the engagement in writing, with a prior quote (Organic Law on the Right of Defence (Ley Orgánica del Derecho de Defensa), art. 15.1).
• Free legal aid. You must tell clients about their right to apply for free legal aid (justicia gratuita) if they are entitled to it (art. 12.B.2.c of the Code). One line on the website gets this across early.

Example

• First consultation: €[amount] including VAT. If you instruct us on the matter, it is deducted from the first invoice.
• Inheritance with agreement between the heirs: fixed price of €[amount] plus VAT. It includes the inventory of assets, the document dividing the estate and coordination with the notary.
• Inheritance without agreement: a quote by stages (negotiation, claim and trial), in writing and before we start.
• Not included: notary, Land Registry, taxes or valuations. We give you an estimate before we start.
• If there is a trial and the court rules against you, you could be ordered to pay the other side’s legal costs. We explain how much that could amount to before bringing a claim.
• If your income is limited, you may be entitled to free legal aid. Ask the Bar Association’s Legal Guidance Service (Servicio de Orientación Jurídica).

Block 6. What happens at the first consultation

Present the first consultation as a service: how long it lasts, where, who sees the client and what they come away with. Explain too that you will ask for the names of the other parties, to rule out a conflict of interest (art. 12.C of the Code).

Example

The first consultation lasts [duration], at the office or by video call. You will be seen by [name], the lawyer who would handle your inheritance. Beforehand, we will ask for the names of the other heirs to check that we are not already advising any of them.

You come away knowing which route makes sense, which deadlines affect you and which documents are missing. If you want to go ahead, we send you the quote in writing.

Block 7. Which documents to bring

A list of documents saves a second meeting. In the Valencian Community, you can start from the documents the Generalitat requires for form 650.

Example

Bring whatever you have. If something is missing, we will tell you how to request it.

• Your ID card (DNI) and the death certificate.
• The certificate of last wills and a copy of the will, if there is one.
• Title deeds or a land registry extract (nota simple) for the properties, and the latest property tax (IBI) bill.
• Account balances on the date of death and life insurance policies, if any.
• Loans, cards or other debts you know about.

Block 8. Who handles the matter

Clients have the right to know which lawyers are involved, which Bar Association they belong to and who leads their matter (art. 48.2 of the Statute). And use the word “specialist” only when you can back it up (art. 6.4 of the Code).

Example

Inheritance matters are handled by [full name], a lawyer registered with the ICACS under membership no. [number]. You can check this in the General Register of Lawyers (Censo General de Letrados). [Specific training that backs up the specialisation and how long she has worked on inheritance matters.]

Block 9. A typical case

A situation, not a case file: no name, town, dates or amounts, and with the outcome as a past fact, never as a promise. The method is in how to tell a case without breaching confidentiality.

Example

Three siblings inherit the family home and one of them lives in it. Two want to sell and the third does not. We explained the 3 possible options: one buys out the others, they all sell, or they go to court. After negotiating, one bought out their siblings’ shares.

Block 10. Frequently asked questions

The ones you are asked on the phone every week, with answers that make sense on their own. Google has not shown them as a rich result since 7 May 2026 (Search Central), but they still answer the questions that stop people from calling.

Example

Do I have to accept an inheritance that has debts?

No. Accepting is voluntary: you can renounce it or accept it with benefit of inventory (a beneficio de inventario). That way you are only liable for the debts up to the value of the inherited assets (arts. 988, 998 and 1023 of the Civil Code (Código Civil)).

Block 11. The next step

A single action: the form, with the practice area already selected. And the phone number, repeated for people who prefer to call.

Example

Want to know if we can help you? Answer 6 questions and we will reply within [number] working days. If your case is not for us, we will tell you that too.

Trust within the Code: facts the client can check

People choosing a lawyer for a serious matter look for proof, not adjectives. These 3 fit within the professional conduct rules.

Bar Association and number, in text. The LSSI requires you to show on your website your Bar Association, membership number, qualification and the applicable professional rules (art. 10.1.d), as well as your tax ID (NIF). The Code asks you to identify yourself on the website with your name, Bar Association and number (art. 21.3.a) and prohibits the Bar Association’s crest (art. 6.3.f). Put it in the footer of every page and link to the General Register of Lawyers. In May 2026, the General Council of the Spanish Legal Profession (Abogacía Española) recommended that the public always check Bar membership there.

A team with names and faces. Stock photos do not answer the client’s question: who will handle my case. Each lawyer, with a real photo, Bar Association, number, training and the matters they lead. Google’s guide asks whether it is self-evident to visitors who created the content: sign each blog guide with its author.

Cases and reviews, without breaching confidentiality. Cases, as typical situations. Quoting a client requires their written authorisation (art. 6.3.e of the Code), and their consent does not release you from professional secrecy (art. 5.10). If you show reviews on your website, explain whether you guarantee that they come from real clients and how you process them (Consumer Protection Law, art. 20.4). The details are in lawyer advertising: what the Code allows.

Filtering enquiries is not losing clients

A “name, email and message” form treats the heir with a deadline looming the same as someone looking for free advice. A form that qualifies asks a few closed questions and gives each answer an outcome.

On the website we designed for a Second Chance Law (Ley de Segunda Oportunidad) lawyer in Castellón, a test does this. It asks for contact details first, so it can also follow up with people who do not finish it. Then it asks 6 closed questions: creditors, amount by band, type of debt, cause, recent loans and home. It ends in 3 answers: the case fits, with a single creditor that law does not apply, or an individual assessment is needed.

The website warns that the result is only a guide. One of the causes you can tick is illness, and the test asks for explicit consent to process any health information provided. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protects it as a special category (art. 9).

What to ask on an inheritance page

Example

1. What do you need? Accept and divide, disagreement between heirs, claim the forced share, inheritance with debts, something else.
2. Is there a will? Yes, no, I don’t know.
3. When did the death occur? Less than 3 months ago, between 3 and 6 months ago, more than 6 months ago.
4. Where are the assets? In the Valencian Community, in another region of Spain, outside Spain.
5. How did you hear about us? Searching on Google, on Google Maps, someone recommended you, I already knew you, other.
6. Contact: name, phone or email and how you would prefer us to contact you.

Question 3 flags urgency because of the 6-month deadline. Question 4 filters out what you do not handle. Question 5 tells you which channel brings in clients.

At first contact, do not ask for the full story, documents, ID card, exact figures or any health or criminal data you do not need. The GDPR requires data that is “adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary” (art. 5.1.c). And on the final screen, guidance, never a promise (art. 6.3.d of the Code).

Each answer leads to one of these 3 outcomes:

• It fits: a calendar to book the first consultation or a call within a specific time frame.
• We don’t handle this: an honest answer and a useful alternative, such as another type of lawyer, the Bar Association’s legal guidance service or a consumer association.
• We need to look at it: a notice that a lawyer will review it and within what time frame.

Why filtering does not cost you clients

Filtering is nothing new. You already have to inform clients about the viability of their matter and discourage them from groundless litigation (art. 48.3 of the Statute). The form brings forward the part that does not require studying the case.

What is more, every first consultation about a matter you will not take on is one hour less for one you will. People who do not fit leave with an answer, not an unanswered email, and may come back with another matter. And the answer to “How did you hear about us?”, cross-checked against signed engagements, tells you which channels bring in clients. To put a figure on it, use the customer value calculator.

On mobile, the website has to load fast and let people call with one tap

Google indexes and ranks the mobile version of your website (mobile-first indexing). And it measures the experience with 3 metrics, the Core Web Vitals:

• LCP: the main content should appear in under 2.5 seconds.
• INP: the page should respond to a tap in under 200 milliseconds.
• CLS: the page should barely move while loading, below 0.1.

Google’s ranking systems use these metrics. But Google makes clear that it always seeks to show the most relevant content, even if the page experience is poor. Speed completes a good practice area page. It does not replace it.

In practice:

• The phone number, in the header and as a link that dials when tapped.
• The form, with options to tap instead of text fields.
• No background videos or carousels on the first screen.
• The Google map, loading when it is tapped and not when the page opens.
• Measure the page for your main practice area in PageSpeed Insights, not just the home page.

Your Google Business Profile and your website have to say the same thing

For searches such as “inheritance lawyer in Castellón”, Google may show local results from Maps. It ranks them by relevance, distance and prominence. Profile and website reinforce each other when they say the same thing:

• Name, address and phone number identical on the website, on the profile and in the Bar Association’s register.
• Each service on the profile has its practice area page on the website.
• Each office has its own profile, and the profile links to that office’s page.

The full audit, with 20 points and model messages for asking for reviews, is in how to optimise a law firm’s Google Business Profile.

Something similar happens with AI. For AI Overviews, Google has no additional technical requirements: it is enough to be indexed and eligible to be shown with a snippet. ChatGPT and Perplexity search the web before answering. A page that says what you do, where and for whom is what they can cite. How to check: Does ChatGPT recommend your business?.

Structured data: use LegalService, not Attorney

Structured data is code that visitors do not see and that explains to Google what each piece of information on the page is. Google asks for the most specific LocalBusiness subtype possible, with each location defined separately.

For a law firm, that type is LegalService. There is also Attorney, but schema.org considers it deprecated: it regards LegalService as more inclusive and less ambiguous.

3 warnings so you do not expect too much:

• Google does not guarantee that features based on structured data will appear in the results.
• Your own reviews will not get you stars. If a business controls the reviews about itself, its pages are not eligible for star ratings.
• For Google’s AI features no special structured data is needed.

What the markup does do is describe your name, address, phone number, opening hours and team without ambiguity. This is a minimal example for whoever manages your website:

{
	"@context": "https://schema.org",
	"@type": "LegalService",
	"name": "[Firm name]",
	"url": "https://www.[domain].es/",
	"telephone": "+34 [phone]",
	"address": {
		"@type": "PostalAddress",
		"streetAddress": "[Street and number]",
		"addressLocality": "Castelló de la Plana",
		"postalCode": "[Postcode]",
		"addressCountry": "ES"
	},
	"openingHoursSpecification": [
		{
			"@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification",
			"dayOfWeek": ["Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday"],
			"opens": "09:00",
			"closes": "14:00"
		}
	],
	"employee": [
		{
			"@type": "Person",
			"name": "[Full name]",
			"jobTitle": "Lawyer"
		}
	]
}

Write your name, address and city exactly as on your Google Business Profile, down to whether you use “Castelló de la Plana” or “Castellón de la Plana”.

Common mistakes on a law firm’s website

1. A single “Practice areas” page. It answers no search and no specific question.
2. Writing for other lawyers. The client searches for “splitting the house between siblings”, not the technical name of the legal action.
3. Promises of results. “Guaranteed success” or “cancel 100% of your debts” breach art. 6.3.d of the Code.
4. Cases with a town, date or amount. They can identify the client even without a name.
5. A page for every town in the area. To Google, they are doorway pages.
6. Expecting miracles from markup. Attorney is deprecated, your own reviews do not get stars and Google no longer shows FAQ rich results.
7. The domain and accounts in the agency’s name. If you change provider, you could lose them. Make sure they are in the firm’s name from day one.

Checklist: 15 points to review your firm’s website

What to do on Monday

1. Open your website on your phone and look for your main practice area. If it does not have its own page, that is the first one to write, using the template.
2. Go through the checklist. Fix points 1, 3, 4, 8 and 10 first: they are the ones that can have consequences under the professional conduct rules.
3. Write the fees and first consultation blocks, even if you do not publish prices.
4. Replace the form with 5 or 6 closed questions, plus contact details, and decide what each answer leads to.
5. Add “How did you hear about us?” and record the answer for every engagement you sign.
6. Review your Google Business Profile with the 20-point audit.

If you would rather do this with someone, at NOR studio we start from this map and this template. We explain how in websites and search visibility for law firms.