01What a client looks for when they land on the page
Someone searching for a lawyer is usually in the middle of a problem: a dismissal, a disputed inheritance, a contract that went wrong, a divorce. They are not browsing. They want fast answers to a few plain questions. Does this firm handle my kind of matter? Who would I be talking to? What happens if I call? A home page that opens with the firm's history answers none of them. Open with the practice areas written the way a client would say them, the names of the lawyers, the city and office address, and one clear way to ask for a consultation.
- Practice areas in a client's words: divorce, inheritance, employment disputes, commercial contracts
- The lawyers who take cases, by name, with a photo
- The city, the office address and the hours when someone answers
- One visible way to ask for a first consultation
02The lawyers, by name, and only what they can prove
A client is choosing a person, so give each lawyer who takes cases a short profile: name, photo, the areas they handle, the languages they work in and the qualifications they can document. Say only what the lawyer can prove. Skip the stock photo of a gavel and scales. A real photo of the person who will pick up the phone does more, because it tells the visitor there is a human being on the other side. The same names, address and phone number should appear everywhere the firm is listed, not only on the site.
- A short profile per lawyer: name, photo, areas handled, languages
- Only titles and qualifications the lawyer can document
- A real photograph, not stock imagery
- The same name, address and phone on the site, the Google profile and the letterhead
03The first consultation, and a contact form that asks for little
A visitor who has never met a lawyer does not know what a first consultation involves, and not knowing keeps many people from calling. Write a short page: how to book it, how long it usually takes, what to bring, who attends, and that the lawyer will explain how fees are agreed before any engagement, if your bar accepts that wording. The Code of Ethics of the Romanian lawyer (UNBR Decision 268 of 17 June 2017) says in art. 11(5) that the duty of professional secrecy arises from preliminary telephone, electronic or postal communications. So the form should ask for a name, a phone number, a preferred time and the area of law, and invite no account of the case. Decide who reads that inbox before the site goes live.
- A first-consultation page: how to book, how long it takes, what to bring, who attends
- A form with name, phone, preferred time and area of law, and no free-text box for the story
- Decide who can read incoming enquiries: the Code makes the lawyer answerable for secrecy among staff and collaborators (art. 11(8))
- A WhatsApp button only if you have decided that channel suits a first contact
04What the bar's rules take off the page
The rules shape the site more than any design choice. The Code of Ethics (art. 20(6)) says a lawyer's communications cannot contain the fees charged to clients, a guarantee of the result, results obtained, client identities, the number of cases, turnover or a success percentage. So: no price list, no counter of cases won, no named testimonials. What the page can show is still plenty: the lawyer's name and the bar they belong to, the practice areas in plain words, how a first consultation works and how to reach the office. That is what a visitor needs anyway. Check the current texts with your bar.
- Fees, guarantees, results obtained, client identities, case counts, turnover and success percentages stay off the site (Code, art. 20(6))
- What the page can show: the lawyer's name and the bar they belong to
- Practice areas described in plain words, and how a first consultation works
- How to reach the office: address, phone and the hours when someone answers
05Where PROOF48 is the wrong choice for a law firm
We have not built a law firm's website, and we do not judge whether a sentence meets your bar's rules: a lawyer of the firm must read and approve every line before it goes live. The 48-hour offer covers a business website of up to about five pages, which is enough for a home page, the lawyers, one or two practice areas, the first consultation and contact. A page for each of ten practice areas, a client portal or document upload area (a web app, from 5,000 EUR) or a site in more than two languages gets its own scope and timeline. And if every word must be cleared before anyone sees a preview, 48 hours is the wrong frame, because the pace belongs to the reviewer.
- No law firm among our eight published builds
- About five pages fit the 48 hours; ten practice-area pages, a client portal or more than two languages are scoped separately
- A lawyer of the firm approves every legal sentence; we write no legal advice
- If clearance must come before any preview, the 48 hours do not apply
Nearest in difficulty: copy a regulator could read
None of our eight written-up builds is a law firm. The nearest in difficulty is Korean Cosmetics, a Korean derma-cosmetics line brought to Romania, where the brief asked for copy that could survive a regulator reading it. Every product claim was rewritten across all 12 languages for EU cosmetics regulation, and one product was pulled from sale for exceeding an EU ingredient limit. A law firm's site needs the same last step, with a lawyer reading each sentence against the bar's rules. For page structure, the closer build is SCP Shine & Style, a salon in Sector 3, Bucharest, with a page per service and blog posts signed by the owner.
See the build: Korean CosmeticsQuestions, answered
Can a lawyer's website show client testimonials or case results?
Not results obtained or client identities: art. 20(6) of the Code of Ethics, as UNBR approved it in 2017, keeps both out of a lawyer's communications, along with the number of cases, turnover and a success percentage. Whether any other kind of testimonial is acceptable is a question for your bar. Ask before you publish.
Should the contact form ask what the case is about?
Ask for the area of law from a short list and leave out a free-text box for the story. The Code says professional secrecy applies from the first preliminary communications (art. 11(5)), so invite the visitor to talk with the lawyer, not to write the facts into a web form.
Can PROOF48 write the legal content?
We can clean up copy or write placeholder copy, as the 48-hour offer includes. A lawyer of the firm must read and approve every sentence, because the advertising rules apply to the firm and the lawyer answers for what is published.
What does it cost, and when do I pay?
500 to 2,500 EUR for a website, confirmed before we build. There is no deposit: you pay after the preview, and the code, domain, hosting account and content are yours.
Where PROOF48 fits
A lawyer's website earns trust by naming the lawyers, describing the practice areas the firm really handles, explaining the first consultation and collecting as little as possible in the contact form, all inside what the bar's rules allow a lawyer to publish. PROOF48 builds up to about five pages in 48 hours for 500 to 2,500 EUR, paid after the preview, and leaves every legal sentence to the lawyer who signs it.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.