Web Design · Solicitors
Law firm websites where the SRA rules are the design brief
Most professional websites choose what to publish. A law firm does not. Price and service information, the complaints route and your regulated status are published because the rules require it, and designing around that obligation rather than bolting it on afterwards produces a better site as well as a compliant one.
In short
Web Design for solicitors in the UK needs a different build from an off-the-shelf website, and this is how PipelineOS structures it. Publication comes first. The SRA Transparency Rules require price and service information for specified work — residential conveyancing, uncontested probate, immigration other than asylum, employment tribunal claims for unfair and wrongful dismissal, motoring offences, licensing applications and business debt recovery up to a set value. The section that carries the most weight is Price and service pages for the specified work: it is required, and done properly it also converts: a firm that states a conveyancing figure wins the comparison the visitor is already making. The most common way this goes wrong: publishing the transparency information once and never revisiting it, so the fees are three years old and the named fee earners left the firm.
How we build it
Publication comes first. The SRA Transparency Rules require price and service information for specified work — residential conveyancing, uncontested probate, immigration other than asylum, employment tribunal claims for unfair and wrongful dismissal, motoring offences, licensing applications and business debt recovery up to a set value. That means the total cost or an average or range, the basis of the charges, disbursements, VAT and likely timescales, together with who does the work and their qualifications. The complaints procedure is published too, including how and when a client may go to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA. Your SRA number and the digital badge belong on the site, not inside a PDF.
Practice areas then need different registers, and this is where most firm websites fail. Conveyancing is a transactional page competing on an instant quote: a calculator that produces a figure on screen, including disbursements and the stamp duty position, because the alternative is a form and that buyer has three quotes by lunchtime. Family, crime and clinical negligence are the opposite — quiet, plain, no stock photography of gavels or wigs, and written as though the reader is having a bad month, because they are.
Discretion is a design feature rather than a courtesy. A child arrangements or domestic abuse enquiry may be made from a shared device or a family tablet, so the form asks whether it is safe to telephone and safe to email, offers a preferred time, and the site avoids sending an obvious confirmation by default. Elsewhere: people pages with genuine qualifications and years of practice, because clients choose a solicitor rather than a firm, and a plain statement of what happens after an enquiry, since not being rung back is the sector’s reputation and your easiest thing to beat.
The pages that do the work
The pages that carry the work, and what each one has to do before it earns the enquiry.
| Page or section | What goes on it | Why it converts |
|---|---|---|
| Price and service pages for the specified work | Cost, average or range, basis of charges, disbursements, VAT, timescales, and the people doing the work with their qualifications | It is required, and done properly it also converts: a firm that states a conveyancing figure wins the comparison the visitor is already making. |
| Conveyancing quote calculator | Purchase or sale, price, freehold or leasehold, first-time buyer status, producing a figure on screen with disbursements and the stamp duty position | Conveyancing is bought on an immediate number. A form that promises a quote by email loses to whoever shows one straight away. |
| Discreet enquiry route | Safe to call and safe to email options, preferred contact time, no automatic confirmation, and a plain line about confidentiality | For family and abuse-related work the ordinary contact form is a risk to the client. Handling that carefully is both safer and more persuasive. |
| People pages and the complaints route | Named solicitors with qualifications, years in practice and specialisms, plus a findable complaints procedure including the Legal Ombudsman and SRA routes | Clients instruct a person. And a complaints page that is easy to find satisfies the rules while signalling a firm with nothing to hide. |
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Call 07443 392243WhatsAppScope and what drives it
A firm with four or five practice areas is normally £2,200–£4,000. The costs are the transparency pages, which need drafting with someone who knows the rules and reviewing at least annually, and the conveyancing calculator, which is a genuine piece of build work with rules for leasehold, searches, and the stamp duty bands. People pages multiply with the size of the firm and are usually the part that stalls, because everyone is busy and nobody wants their photograph taken.
The justification differs by department, and it is worth working out before you commission anything. A conveyancing matter is commonly £900–£2,000 in fees and comes in volume, so the calculator alone can pay for the site in a quarter. Private family or commercial work is worth a great deal more per matter and arrives far less often, so those pages are judged over a year rather than a month. The one thing that is never worth it is publishing prices once and leaving them: stale figures on a transparency page are a compliance problem and an embarrassment in a first call.
Four ways this goes wrong
- Publishing the transparency information once and never revisiting it, so the fees are three years old and the named fee earners left the firm.
- Burying the complaints procedure in a PDF or omitting the Legal Ombudsman and SRA routes, which is both a rules problem and a bad look.
- Using one contact form for every department, so a domestic abuse enquiry is handled exactly like a lease renewal and may trigger an email to a shared inbox at home.
- Stock photography of scales, gavels, columns and wigs instead of photographs of the actual solicitors, on a site where the client is choosing a person.
The two pages behind this one
This page is the intersection. For the wider picture:
Web Design in general
Everything about marketing for solicitors
Questions
What exactly has to be published under the transparency rules?
For the specified areas of work, cost information — a total, an average or a range — the basis of charges, disbursements, VAT treatment and likely timescales, plus who carries out the work and their qualifications and supervision. The complaints procedure must also be published, including the routes to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA, and the SRA digital badge should appear on the site.
Is a conveyancing calculator worth building?
For a firm doing volume residential work, it is usually the highest returning page on the site. The buyer is comparing three or four firms in a single sitting and wants a number now. A calculator that handles freehold and leasehold, includes searches and disbursements and shows the stamp duty position will convert several times better than a quote request form.
Why treat family enquiries differently on the website?
Because the enquiry itself can be unsafe. A person considering leaving a relationship may be using a shared laptop or a phone that somebody else checks, so an automatic confirmation email or a returned call at the wrong moment causes real harm. Offering safe contact preferences and a chosen time is a small design decision with a serious purpose, and clients notice it.
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