A firm leaving FindLaw should start with one sentence from FindLaw’s own FAQ: “If your contract ends you have the rights to your site content.” Content is covered. The FAQ does not say the same about your domain name or the website itself, so those are the two things to get in writing before you give notice.
I run Sprout Sage Solutions and I work with law firms on websites, search and intake. Here is how I would handle a move away from FindLaw, or away from any platform where the vendor built and hosts the site.
FindLaw changed hands
FindLaw has been around a long time. Wikipedia’s history of the company notes it was founded in 1995, spent years under Thomson Reuters, and was sold to Internet Brands in October 2024. Ownership changes can mean new contract templates, new pricing at renewal and new account teams.
If your agreement was signed before the sale, ask which terms still apply to you. That is a reasonable question for any client of any acquired company.
Read what the FAQ actually promises
The full line in FindLaw’s marketing FAQ is that after the contract ends you have rights to your site content, and your account manager can have it sent to you to repurpose. Useful. Now compare it with what a firm actually needs to keep practicing online:
- The domain. Your firm name in the web address, and the email that may run on it.
- The pages as they rank today. Practice area pages and attorney bios, at their current addresses.
- Call tracking numbers. Old directory listings and ads may still show them.
- Intake history. Every form submission and chat transcript from past leads.
- Ad accounts and analytics. Years of data on which cases came from where.
Get a written answer on each one. I tell every managing partner the same thing before a switch: an answer from a sales call is not an answer.
The order that protects your cases
Law firm leads are expensive, so the goal of a move is simple. Not one missed call.
Secure the domain first. Then export content and pull your Search Console history so you have a baseline. Build the new site on the same addresses for your practice area and attorney pages, and map anything that must change one page to one page. Keep old tracking numbers forwarding to intake for at least three months. Switch the domain over on a quiet weekday morning, then check every redirect that afternoon.
A firm with forty practice area pages can usually do this in five or six weeks. A personal injury firm with a big content library takes longer, and the redirect map is where the time goes.
Advertising rules still apply
Whoever builds your next site has to know your state bar’s advertising rules. Many states restrict how past results and testimonials can be presented, and some require specific disclaimers. A vendor who treats a law firm site like any other small business site creates risk you will carry, not them. Ask to see live law firm sites they have built in your state.
What to expect from the replacement
Measure the new setup on signed cases, not traffic. A good law firm marketing partner should report consultations booked and cases signed by source each month, and should be able to tell you what an intake miss costs you.
Our law firm marketing page explains how I run that, and law firm website cost gives realistic build budgets. If you are weighing a hire against a vendor, agency versus in-house for law firms walks through the math.
When staying makes sense
If you own your domain, your cost per signed case is stable and intake is tracking every lead, a move may not pay for itself. Renegotiate the renewal first. Switch when you cannot get your own data, or when results slide and nobody gives you a number.
Questions firms ask
Will we lose our Avvo or Google reviews? Google reviews stay with your Google Business Profile. Directory profiles are separate accounts, so check who controls each one.
Can we keep our current design? Rarely as working code on a proprietary system. The content and structure can be rebuilt, and that is what carries the rankings anyway.
How do we avoid a gap in leads? Keep old numbers forwarding, launch the new site before the old contract ends, and test every form on launch day.
If you want me to review your current agreement and site before you decide, book a free 30-minute call.
