Law & Legal Services industry

For law firms a website is not a showcase but a test of trust. Visitors usually arrive at a difficult moment and look for two things: does this firm handle my problem, and how do I reach them. We build the page hierarchy around those two questions — practice areas up front, contact reachable from every screen.

Professional ethics limit promotional language, which is less a constraint than a clarifying frame. When a site explains expertise, process and accessibility instead of making claims, it is both compliant and persuasive. Firms in Cyprus have an extra layer: enquiries from abroad about residency, company formation and property require a proper English counterpart.

A message from the contact form is not ordinary correspondence here; the sender is often describing an ongoing dispute. Which data the form collects, where it is stored and who can access it should be defined from the start. A short form that asks for no more than necessary is both completed more often and carries less sensitive data.

Expertise is shown rather than claimed. Articles explaining changes in legislation in plain language answer common questions in advance and pick up long-tail searches. They also shorten the first meeting: the other party arrives having already read the basic framework.

What may a law firm’s website contain?

The Turkish Bar Association’s advertising regulation treats a site as a means of information rather than promotion: name and surname, any academic title, the office or partnership name, bar and Union registration numbers, the date of admission to the profession, the university attended, languages spoken, and the office address and contact details are among the listed items. Firms operating in North Cyprus should also confirm the rules of the bar they belong to.

Does search optimisation conflict with professional rules?

The regulation lists the keywords that may be used when registering with a search engine: name and surname, office or partnership title, the city and the bar of registration, together with the words for lawyer, law, jurist, justice, defence, claim, equality and right. The conditions are that these must not aim to solicit work and must not create unfair competition with colleagues. Permitting shortcuts that funnel users to the site is explicitly prohibited.

Can we publish client testimonials?

No. Any wording that promises an outcome or seeks to attract work conflicts with professional rules, and everything relating to a case falls under the duty of confidentiality. Building confidence through a clear account of your practice areas and contact details that are easy to find is both permitted and more durable than a testimonial.

Do the same professional rules apply to printed matter?

They do; print is not a separate space from the website. A business card and letterhead fall under the same frame as the site: name, title, registration numbers, address and contact details. Slogans, anything intended to attract work, or a claim of speciality beyond what is permitted fall outside that frame. In practice this makes the job one of paper and typography rather than message.