Law Firm Website Redesign: Keep What Works, Fix What Does Not

When a redesign makes sense

Appearance is an obvious reason to redesign, but the stronger reasons are practical. The site is hard to read on a phone. Profiles are out of date because nobody can edit them. Practice areas have changed and the menu no longer matches the work. Pages contain claims that would not survive a careful read against Rule 36. Or the site was built on a platform nobody in the firm can maintain.

If the only problem is a dated look, a lighter refresh of templates and photography can cost far less than a rebuild. We will tell you which one fits.

Step one: an audit of the current site

Before any design work we look at what you already have:

• Pages that earn visits. Google Search Console shows which pages appear in search and for which queries. Those pages keep their address, or get a permanent redirect to their replacement.
• Content quality. We read every practice area page and profile for accuracy, currency and claims that need evidence.
• Technical health. Broken links, missing titles, slow pages, mixed HTTP and HTTPS addresses, and forms that send details without encryption.
• Accessibility. A sample of pages checked against WCAG 2.2 Level AA ^[1], including contrast, headings, form labels and keyboard use.
• Enquiry paths. How a reader gets from a practice area page to a phone call or a form, and how many steps it takes.

You receive the audit as a short report with a recommended scope, so you can decide what to change before committing to a full project.

Step two: content that is accurate and current

A redesign is the right moment to fix copy. Profiles get checked against current admission details and memberships. The words "accredited specialist" stay only where a lawyer holds current accreditation from the relevant professional association, because Rule 36.2 restricts that wording ^[2]. Superlatives without evidence come out. Practice areas the firm no longer handles are retired, with a redirect to the most relevant page so old links still help the reader.

Step three: design and build

The new design follows the same process as a new website: templates for practice areas, profiles and offices, written in plain English and tested for contrast and keyboard use as they are drawn. If your firm has brand guidelines we work within them; if it does not, we can set a simple type and colour system you can use elsewhere.

Step four: moving across without losing visibility

This is the step where a redesign can lose the most if it is rushed. Before launch we prepare a redirect map that pairs every old address with its new one. We keep titles and headings close to the originals for pages that rank well, unless they need correcting. After launch we submit the new sitemap, watch Search Console for crawl errors and fix any address that was missed.

Search positions can move for a while after a relaunch as Google recrawls the site. A complete redirect map protects the value of links other sites have made to yours and helps Google match old pages to new ones.

Step five: checks before and after launch

• Every redirect tested
• Forms tested end to end, including the confirmation email
• Contrast and keyboard checks on the final templates
• Core Web Vitals measured on mobile, aiming for the "good" thresholds web.dev publishes ^[3]
• Google Business Profile links updated to the new addresses

How long it takes

We plan for six to ten weeks, depending on how much content changes. A redesign that keeps most of the copy can move faster than one where every page is rewritten.