Someone searching for a lawyer at 11 at night is not browsing for fun. A landlord refuses to return a deposit. A business partner has stopped answering the phone. A company in Riyadh has just received a claim letter that nobody in the office fully understands.
They open three or four law firm websites on their phone and decide within a minute or two whom to contact. They are not judging design. They want to know: does this firm handle my problem, can I trust it, and can I reach out without committing to anything?
Here is what a law firm website needs to answer those questions, plus the professional rules that make legal sites different from other business sites.
Check the professional rules before you design anything
Legal services are not marketed like restaurants. In Egypt, the Advocacy Law and the bar syndicate's code of ethics govern how lawyers present themselves and seek work. Saudi Arabia has rules of professional conduct for lawyers, and the UAE and Oman regulate the profession too, sometimes differently per emirate or licensing authority.
We are a web studio, not a law firm, so we won't tell you what those rules say for your practice. We can tell you which parts of a website usually touch them:
- Claims of being "the best" or "number one" in a field
- Success rates or lists of won cases
- Client testimonials and reviews shown on the site
- Paid ads and sponsored social media posts
- Fee information, discounts and "free consultation" offers
- Titles, degrees and court admission levels
The pages a law firm website actually needs
A law firm site does not need to be big. It needs to be precise. Our guide to the pages every company website needs covers the basics; here is the legal version.
| Page | What it must do | The common weak version |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Say in one line who you help and where, with one clear way to get in touch | A slogan about justice over a photo of scales |
| Practice areas | One page per area, written around client situations | One page listing 25 specialties |
| Lawyer profiles | Real names, photos, qualifications, languages, admission level | "Our team of experts" with no names |
| About the firm | History, offices, how you work and communicate | A mission statement that fits any firm |
| Insights | Plain answers to common legal questions | News copied from other sites |
| Contact | Phone, WhatsApp, office map, hours, a safe enquiry form | A form that asks for the whole story |
| Privacy and disclaimer | How enquiry data is handled, and that the site is not legal advice | Missing entirely |
Practice area pages written from the client's side
"Commercial disputes" means something to you. To a factory owner in 10th of Ramadan City, the problem is "a supplier took the down payment and never delivered."
Good practice area pages start with situations the client recognises, then explain in plain words how the firm usually helps, which documents to bring and roughly how the process runs. Google rewards this too, because people search in their own words, not your internal categories.
Lawyer profiles that build trust
People hire a person, not a logo. For each lawyer, show a real photo, full name, qualifications, court admission where relevant, languages and the matters they handle. For Gulf firms serving expatriates, the languages line alone can decide who gets the call.
First contact: fast, simple and confidential
Most first enquiries in Egypt and the Gulf arrive on WhatsApp or by phone, not through a form. Make both one tap away on mobile, and show office hours so nobody expects an answer at 2 a.m.
If you use a form, keep it short: name, phone, preferred contact method, the general area (family, labour, commercial, real estate) and a brief note. Do not ask for the full facts of the case.
Confidentiality is part of the design
Enquiries may contain sensitive information anyway, so treat them that way:
- HTTPS across the whole site
- Enquiries stored in a protected admin area, not a shared inbox
- Access limited to the people who need it
- No enquiry details inside automated emails that get forwarded around
- A clear, agreed period for how long enquiry data is kept
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all have personal data protection laws, so ask your developer where data is stored. Our guide on website security covers the basics every business site needs.
Booking a consultation online
A booking tool can show each lawyer's free slots, take payment upfront and send reminders. Whether you offer free consultations, and how you describe paid ones, is a point to check against your rules first.
Client portal: when a firm outgrows WhatsApp
WhatsApp works until a client asks "what happened in my case last week?" and three lawyers search three phones.
A client portal is a private login area where each client sees only their own matters: hearing dates, updates, documents and invoices. It is a custom build that makes sense for firms with many open matters, corporate clients or retainer work. A small practice rarely needs one on day one.
Local SEO for lawyers
Most legal searches are local: "divorce lawyer in Alexandria", "labour lawyer Jeddah", "real estate lawyer New Cairo". Showing up for them depends on two things working together.
- The website. One page per practice area, each naming the cities or districts you serve, and the office address written identically everywhere.
- Google Business Profile. The right category, hours, phone, photos of the real office and a link to your site. Our guide to showing up on Google Maps walks through the setup.
Serving Arabic and English speakers? Build both languages with separate pages, not a translate button. Details in building an Arabic and English website properly.
Reviews are sensitive for lawyers too. Whether you may ask for them, and how you may show them, is another question for your professional rules.
Common mistakes on law firm websites
- Promising results. "We win" or "guaranteed compensation" is misleading, because no lawyer controls a court, and it may also breach professional rules.
- Stock photos of gavels and handshakes. They say nothing about your firm. Photos of your real lawyers do.
- A wall of legal jargon. Write for the client first, then have a lawyer check the accuracy.
- Articles nobody maintains. An article citing a rule that has since changed does more harm than none. Date and review them.
- Forms that go nowhere. Test that every enquiry reaches a named person who replies.
- Ignoring mobile. Most people look for a lawyer on their phone, often under stress. Large buttons and a fast site are not extras.
What a law firm website costs
Most law firm sites are company websites: 5 to 10 custom pages, often bilingual. That is indicatively 15,000 to 60,000 EGP, depending on practice areas, languages and who writes the content. Consultation booking or a client portal moves it into custom platform territory, from about 40,000 EGP. All figures are indicative and depend on scope.
Questions people ask
Is a law firm allowed to have a website in Egypt or the Gulf?
A website presenting the firm and its lawyers is common. What you may say on it, such as claims, fees or testimonials, is governed by professional rules that differ by country, so check them with your bar or regulator.
Should we publish our fees?
It depends on your rules and practice. Many firms explain how they charge (fixed fee, hourly, retainer) without figures, and agree the fee after the first meeting.
Do we need both Arabic and English?
If a real share of your clients are expatriates, foreign companies or Gulf businesses that work in English, yes. Otherwise launch in Arabic and add English when you need it.
How do we keep client data safe on the website?
HTTPS, a protected admin area instead of a shared inbox, limited access, no case details in forms, and an agreed retention period.
Before you start
Write down the three problems most clients arrive with, and the questions they ask in the first meeting. That list is the backbone of your practice area pages and first articles, and more useful to a web studio than any design reference.
When you have it, you can book a short meeting with us to turn it into a clear scope, or look at our work first.