How a Law Firm Website Should Work: A Guide That Respects Professional Rules

A law firm website sits in a different balance than most business sites. On one side are the people searching for you online. On the other are the advertising restrictions and professional conduct rules that apply to lawyers. The good news: a measured, informative, well structured site serves both. This guide covers page structure, data protection, Google and the contact flow.

The frame first: information, not advertising

In Turkey, how a lawyer may promote the practice is limited by the Attorneys' Act and by the Union of Turkish Bar Associations rules on advertising. A website may exist to give professional information, while self praise, comparisons and promises aimed at bringing in work create problems. Phrases like "the best lawyer" or "hundreds of cases won" have no place on the site. The rules leave room for interpretation and are updated over time, so check the current regulations of your bar before you publish. This article covers the structural and technical side; the final call has to be made against the professional rules.

Which pages do you need?

The core of a law firm site is four or five pages:

• Practice areas: a separate page per area, such as family law, employment law or criminal law. Explain the matters you handle and the general shape of the process, and do not promise outcomes.
• The team: backgrounds, the faculty each lawyer graduated from, the bar they are registered with, languages spoken, publications. Use real photographs, not stock images.
• Articles: over time this becomes the most visited part of the site. More on it below.
• Contact: address, phone, a map and a short form.
• Data protection texts: the privacy notice and the cookie policy on separate pages, reachable from the footer.

Trust is built without boasting

The advertising restrictions do not stop you from building trust; they change the method. Instead of praise, publish concrete and verifiable information: your bar registration, education, memberships, publications. A plain, serious design is a trust signal on its own; a site full of glossy slogans is risky under the professional rules and off putting to a client. The strongest tool you have is the articles you write: a lawyer who explains a subject in clear language reads as someone who commands it, and no sentence of self praise does that.

KVKK and the privacy notice

If you collect names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses through a contact form, you are processing personal data, and under KVKK, Turkey's personal data protection law, that creates a duty to inform people. Put a link to the privacy notice right next to the form. If you use cookies, you need a cookie policy too. One more detail: do not ask for case details in the form. You would collect sensitive data you do not need, and the person would share specifics before becoming your client. A name, a phone number and a one line subject are enough; the rest is discussed on the phone or at the office.

How do people find you on Google?

Prospective clients usually search by practice area plus city: "divorce lawyer" with a city name, "employment lawyer" with a city name. The way to show up for those queries is a properly written page per practice area; one page with a squeezed in list falls short for Google and for the visitor. The second channel is articles. Someone searching for "severance pay conditions" can be the client who calls you tomorrow, and one or two articles a month turn into the channel that brings the most visitors over time. The technical side matters too: a site that loads fast, works on mobile and carries correct title tags is the baseline. To appear on maps, the name, address and phone number on your Google Business Profile have to match the ones on your site exactly.

Appointments and the contact flow

Keep the phone number visible on every page and tappable with one touch on mobile. Keep the form short; three fields are enough. A complicated booking system is not required; in this profession a fast reply beats automation. Make it a rule to respond to incoming forms the same day. Write the address, map and meeting hours clearly on the contact page.

Common mistakes

• Boastful language and promised outcomes. Risky under the professional rules and unconvincing at once.
• Publishing a fee list. Attorney fees are tied to the tariff and to the engagement agreement; consult your bar association before taking any step here.
• Pages full of stock photos and empty of content.
• A contact form with no privacy notice beside it.
• The domain and the hosting registered in someone else's name. The site is yours; so is the access.
• An articles section opened once and never updated. Writing a little, regularly, beats writing a lot and stopping.

To sum up: a law firm site does not shout, it explains. The right page structure, a clean data protection setup, regular articles and a fast contact flow are the frame. If you would rather not handle the technical side, a corporate website at Oktoks goes live within a week for $1,200 + VAT; you add articles yourself through the management panel, and the source code is yours. Prices are published openly on the pricing page; to start, fill in the quote form.