A Website for Law and Accounting Firms: What to Include and What to Avoid

Nobody hires a professional firm on impulse. Someone recommends your name, and the first thing the person does is search for you. That search is the first interview, and it happens without you in the room: what they find decides whether the call happens.

This guide covers what a prospective client checks before contacting a lawyer, an accountant or a consultant, what they need to find on the firm's website, and what to avoid, especially in a field where advertising has its own rules.

Summary

• A prospective client wants to confirm three things: that you handle their kind of problem, that you have credentials, and that the first step is easy.
• Services should be written the way people search for them, not the way the profession names them.
• Answering common questions before the first meeting filters out poor fits and speeds up good ones.
• Professional advertising has rules that depend on the profession and the jurisdiction.
• A website with several sections is usually enough; a large site nobody updates works against you.

What a prospective client checks before calling you

Someone who received a referral is already inclined to trust you. What they look for on the website isn't to be persuaded, but to confirm the referral makes sense for their case:

1. That you handle their kind of problem. A dismissal, an estate, a small company's books, registering as self-employed.
2. That you have credentials. Training, licence, years of practice, areas of specialisation.
3. How you work. Whether the first consultation is paid, whether you work remotely, how long a typical matter takes.
4. How to take the first step. No forms nobody answers, no emails that take days.

What a firm's website should include

Who you are and what backs you

It's the first thing people check, and it's rarely written down in one place. Training, licence, experience and, if the firm has several professionals, who handles what. A real photo of the team builds more trust than a stock image of scales or a handshake.

Services in the client's words

The profession has its vocabulary, and people looking for help use another. Nobody searches for "probate litigation": they search for "what to do with my father's estate". Nobody searches for "tax compliance services": they search for "accountant for my small business". Writing services the way people search for them decides whether they recognise themselves in the list, and helps you show up for those searches. It's what Google's own SEO guide recommends: think about the words someone would use to search.

The questions that always come, answered in advance

What a first consultation costs, what documents to bring, whether you work outside your city, how long a process takes. Answering them on the site saves hours of messages, and whoever does get in touch arrives better informed.

Contact where the conversation already is

A WhatsApp button with a pre-written first message, or a link to book a first meeting, works better than a long form. If the firm prefers email, say how quickly it replies.

Where the firm is

Address, map and opening hours. Even when many consultations happen remotely, knowing there is a real office adds trust.

What to avoid

• Promising outcomes. "We win every case" or "we'll get your money back" can conflict with professional rules, besides being hard to stand behind.
• Identifying clients or cases. Professional secrecy and confidentiality outweigh any testimonial. The usual approach is to describe the kind of problem solved without identifying anyone.
• Copy written for colleagues. A paragraph full of jargon shows expertise, but doesn't help someone trying to work out whether you can help them.
• A huge site nobody maintains. A news section whose last entry is three years old does more harm than good.
• Generic stock images. Scales, gavels and calculators appear on thousands of sites and say nothing about your firm.

Professional advertising has rules

In many professions, advertising is regulated by the bar, the professional body or the licensing authority. The rules change with the profession and the jurisdiction: what you can say about fees, whether you can mention cases, how titles and specialisations are presented. Before publishing, review your professional body's rules.

A concrete example is the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, in the United States. They prohibit a lawyer from making a false or misleading communication about their services, warn that even a real result can mislead if it creates an unjustified expectation of the same outcome in other cases, and prohibit revealing information about a client's representation without informed consent, save for specific exceptions.

The website shouldn't force any of those decisions. It should be able to implement them the way you set them: with or without published fees, with or without cases, in the language your profession accepts.

How many sections does a firm need?

A firm needs room to separate services, credentials and common questions. That rarely fits on a single screen, but it doesn't call for a twenty-page site that someone then has to manage.

At Senda Lógica, that case is the Landing Page: several sections, content written so prospective clients recognise themselves, and contact one tap away, with its price and scope published.

Growing later

• Articles on what you know. The field competes on authority, not on a catalogue. Writing about your clients' real questions is the most direct way to show up in searches that don't reach the firm today.
• Meeting scheduling, so the first consultation books itself against the firm's real availability.
• Sections per practice area, once an area grows enough to deserve its own explanation.

FAQ

Do I need a website if clients already come through referrals?

The referral opens the door, but the search decides whether they walk in. Whoever receives your name almost always looks you up before getting in touch, and the website is what they find at that moment.

Should I publish my fees?

It depends on your profession and your strategy. Some firms publish the price of a first consultation to filter enquiries; others prefer to discuss it. Some professions have rules on how fees are communicated, so check them first.

Can I publish client cases?

It depends on your profession and your professional body. The usual approach is to describe the kind of problem solved without identifying anyone, and never to publish anything that compromises professional secrecy.

Is a website useful for an independent consultant?

Yes. What changes is the scale, not the structure: who you are, what you solve, how you work and how to reach you are the same questions a large firm answers.

To wrap up

A firm's website doesn't replace the referral: it confirms it. Its job is to make sure whoever receives your name finds, within minutes, a reason to get in touch and an easy way to do it.

If you'd like to see how we build that kind of site, we explain it in websites for professional firms.

Sources

1. Google Search Central — SEO Starter Guide: The Basics https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide
2. American Bar Association — Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 7.1 and its comment https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_7_1_communication_concerning_a_lawyer_s_services/
3. American Bar Association — Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.6 https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_1_6_confidentiality_of_information/