Take a look at the winners of Lawyerist’s 2019 Best Law Firm Websites competition. See someone you know? Send them congratulations. Think we’re missing someone great? Head over to the main page, and nominate them for the next Best Law Firm Websites contest.

1. Counter Tax

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This magnificent website from Counter, the Canadian tax dispute and litigation powerhouse, is screaming fast, boasts loads of useful content (including some nifty and super-useful interactive tools), was designed for broad accessibility, and features a crisp call to action. Their logo and brand are on point, the value proposition is vivid, and they’re transparent(ish) about pricing. To top it off, we adore the “Meet the Team” page and its accessible, human bios.

We would never recommend that you copy anything, but you could hardly do better than to take cues from this website when you build your next one.

2. Custis Law, P.C.

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First of all, the sparks emanating from the weld he’s making? Next level. Subtle, eye-catching, and sophisticated, Custis doesn’t try to do too much with its animation, satisfied instead to “just” quickly draw your eye and flame your imagination. You find a clear call to action (“How Can I Help?”), a compelling headshot, some great differentiators, and helpful tiles to describe the kinds of problems the firm can help its clients solve.

The blog is brand-spanking new—with only two posts and some cliché stock photography—and runs the risk of future neglect. This site is the slowest to load among our winners and has some accessibility errors we would like to see sorted out. On the whole, though, this website is excellent.

3. Stevens Virgin

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What do you do with a headshot? Pretty much this. This team put strong images front-and-center to anchor a clean, bold design for a clean, bold value proposition. The hero image rotates through the firm’s roster of lawyers on every visit, and we love that they’re all showing a little personality in those sly smirks. Nothing is left disordered: fonts are well integrated, images are on-brand, and even the “More” in the top navigation hides some miscellany to keep visitors focused on the most important things.

Lost in the tidiness, perhaps, is a lack of a clear call to action and somewhat clandestine contact information. But those persnickety observations aside, this is a brilliant site.

4. BeerAttorney.com

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BeerAttorney.com is technically a microsite (or brand) of the also-delightful DrummLaw. That’s part of its appeal in our view. We often talk about building a site that puts your ideal client’s experience first, and this site leaves nothing in doubt on that front. Still, a microsite on its own is no special thing. This microsite is.

The bios are delicious. The clarity about the legal services they offer—particularly when viewed through the lens of a new brewery—is useful, cheeky, and well-written. Plus, they offer cool tools to highlight why they’re such a great fit: the “Pro Beerno” section, an e-commerce trademark filing website (“beertrademark.com”), subscription pricing, and a productized trademark watch service.

Even the blog is tasty, with on-brand images, clear titles, approachable copy, and useful content. As with all blogs, this one runs the risk of being relegated to the dustbin without some care and feeding. It launched with five posts but has been quiet since. Not a deal-breaker, but definitely something to keep an eye on.

5. Struble, P.A.

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This site from Struble, P.A., a consumer-side insurance firm in Florida, highlights some subtle and progressive design elements we love. The animation during loading is eye-catching and nicely implemented without bogging down the overall page speed. The large firm logo looks great, and we love the animation that fades it from prominence as you scroll.

The bios themselves leave some readability and intrigue to be desired, but they do incorporate some nifty vertical text, nice icons, useful colorization, and complimentary font choices throughout. This site also features crystal clear calls to action, helpful example cases, and compelling testimonials that aren’t overcooked.

If we were to nitpick, we’d say the copywriting is a bit uninspired and dense, favors the antiquated two-spaces-after-a-period gambit, and can cover topics of uncertain value to the firm’s likely readership. The blog is useful when updated, but is published only sporadically.

6. Bevilacqua PLLC

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This is a great all-around site, and we love how the color scheme from the firm’s logo features prominently throughout the design. We’re also suckers for a good trademarked tagline (“Accelerating results for entrepreneurs”), grand fonts highlighting the firm’s service offerings, and lazy-loading testimonials that sound genuinely complimentary.

The call to action could undoubtedly benefit from more prominence, but the site leaves no real doubt about how to contact the firm. We also like that they offer different options for how readers can learn more about the firm’s services and lawyers by way of newsletter, blog, or a nice downloadable brochure.

It looks like the firm’s blogging habit comes in fits and starts, but the content is spot-on when it is updated. They’ve also chosen to use white space to nice effect. We didn’t fall in love with the team biographies, which felt dense and impersonal, and the site has its share of accessibility errors that we’d love to see fixed.

7. Counsel for Creators

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This Los Angeles-based law firm is laser-focused on its target market, which we relish. They broadcast their purpose to the universe (“to reinvent the law firm experience for creative businesses of all sizes”), and offer a discrete list of services that they’ve carefully described in approachable detail. The firm obviously designed its services pages with its future clients in mind, and they incorporate online scheduling to great effect throughout the site. They use sharp fonts and images that play well together and appeal to the eye.

We love how they’ve sprinkled some fun throughout the site, and they’re unafraid to deploy creative media to stay on brand and approachable, including some “fun facts,” an ebook, and useful blog architecture to help users find what they’re actually looking for. We also love the “Creators’ Legal Program,” an affordable subscription-based set of resources, tools, and services.

8. Laureti & Associates, A.P.C.

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This site kind of snuck up on us. Clearly, there is a lot to like. It features clean fonts, a bold color scheme, and nice use of video in the header and elsewhere. We also love that it shows some personality and non-law interests, and we’ll be damned if Tony Laureti isn’t having a great time practicing law. He’s smiling, engaged, and energized. We want to meet Tony Laureti in person (Seriously. Tony, if you’re reading this, let’s talk!).

Our initial impression, though, was moderately less enthusiastic. The site seemingly falls into some old-school customs to which we ordinarily find ourselves allergic: Themis and her scales of justice, the lawyer’s “ego wall,” and a gratuitous shot of some business cards and a gold-plated name plaque. It also has more than its share of accessibility errors, slow-ish page load times, and possibly-over-the-top video demonstrating very earnest work, very fascinated clients, and very agreeable team members, all of which might just be a bit too saccharine for some. And we’re definitely not sure about the “associates” featured in the firm’s name (what with the apparent lack of associates and all).

If all of this sounds overly critical, we don’t mean it to be. This website takes the trappings of “old” law and reimagines them in a delightful way. The firm is explicitly mission-driven, uses video and other media to show Tony’s personality (and happy clients), and makes it easy for interested clients to contact the firm and get comfortable with why they should. The blog is useful (if a bit scattershot) and the Case Results, Reviews & Testimonials, and Legal Resources sections are useful and clear. As we said, this one snuck up on us. Well played.

9. Protass Law PLLC

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One nice thing about “dark mode” design is that it serves as a great canvas for strategic pops of color. Harlan Protass’s law firm deploys light blue bursts and bright yellow highlight to draw you into a site that might otherwise seem a bit bland. Instead, the firm quickly trains your eyes to focus on the most important bits (“Contact Harlan,” anyone?) and nicely balances the dark, white space, and copy.

This is a powerful site. It features rocket-fast load times, helpful and compelling differentiators, and impressive testimonials throughout. The case results page is really well done (which is particularly important for direct-to-consumer practice areas like criminal law), and the Press & Publications section is a nice blend of mostly-tasteful #humblebrag self-promotion and broader commentary. The self-promotion here seems fairly well balanced and isn’t mere puffery; Mr. Protass has published (or been featured) on Slate.com, HuffPost, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal (among others).

This website’s SEO is a bit weak, and we don’t love “hamburger” navigation when viewing sites on our desktop, but these aren’t deal-breakers, particularly because users know and understand hamburger navigation, leaving the overall user experience untarnished.

10. JLongtin Law

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We just love this simple Squarespace site from JLongtin Law, a criminal defense firm in Denver. (In the interest of full disclosure, Jennifer Longtin attended LabCon and is a Lawyerist Lab member). While it is unclear to us whether this is a do-it-yourself site or one created by a professional, we love that you could do it if you needed to.

Light on bells, whistles, or adornments, this site just oozes personality and warmth. The staff bios are short on personal embellishments (except for Ms. Cherpes’ totally relatable love for brunch, mountains, and seasons), but they are long on offering comfort, credibility, and expertise. The orange-meets-grayscale vibe is an alluring one, too.

The comprehensive services offerings include flat-fee pricing, the firm’s “CARe program”—which they have aimed at making headway on the sticky problem of the affordability of quality legal services—and highlights the firm’s dedication to representing the homeless, among other things. Like the rest of the site, the “Firm Events” section is simple, clear, and useful.

This site isn’t intended to “win” at everything. It is just a very basic, beautifully-designed, well-implemented, client-focused website from a turnkey website provider. If you’re looking for inspiration for your new website without worrying about breaking the bank, this is it.

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Last updated January 25th, 2023