Websites for small and mid-sized law firms in BC.
Practice-area SEO, conversion-focused design, secure intake portals. For solo practitioners and boutique firms across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley that don’t want to look like every other law firm website in the province.
Most BC law firm websites are the same website.
Navy-and-gold palette, stock courthouse photo in the hero, a carousel of service areas, a partner bio grid, and a “contact us” form that treats an estate-planning client and a commercial-litigation client identically. The templates have converged and the sites are interchangeable. A prospective client comparing three firms on Google rarely chooses based on the website — they choose based on whoever was referred to them first, because the sites don’t help them decide.
A better law firm site does a few things differently. It has distinct, substantive practice-area pages instead of a single dump. It surfaces specific experience (representative matters, publications, bar association roles) rather than generic “decades of experience” boilerplate. It has an intake path that asks the right first-round questions for the kind of matter a client is bringing. And it looks like your firm — not like a template any firm could have bought.
The technical foundation is the other half. LocalBusiness schema, practice-area schema where it applies, fast mobile load, clean URL structure, and proper internal linking between related practice areas. These are the fixes that move rankings for queries like “commercial litigation lawyer Vancouver” or “employment lawyer Surrey.”
What works
- One page per practice area, keyword-targeted (H1, URL, schema).
- Substantive content on each page — representative matters, process, fee structure where possible.
- LocalBusiness + LegalService schema pointing at your actual address and service area.
- Intake flow that differentiates by matter type, not one generic form.
- Bar number, Law Society membership, and practice credentials visible.
- Partner bios with real accomplishments, not generic “passionate advocate” copy.
What doesn’t
- A single “Practice Areas” dump page trying to rank for 15 keywords.
- Stock lady-justice imagery the other six firms are also using.
- “Contact us for a free consultation” as the only CTA.
- Law-firm directory pages masquerading as SEO (Avvo, Lawyerist profiles paid for).
- Monthly blog content with no editorial direction — ranks for nothing, costs time.
- Duplicating content across three city doorway pages for the same practice area.
Serving law firms across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
Most of my law firm engagements are in Vancouver or Surrey, with practice areas ranging from commercial litigation to family and employment law. See the city-specific pages for Vancouver, Surrey, and Abbotsford for the local market context in each.
Will my new site look like every other law firm website in BC?
No — that's the default failure mode and I actively avoid it. The Instrument Serif / JetBrains Mono type system, cream and ink palette, and editorial layout I use means your site will read as professional without looking like the same navy-and-gold template as the other six lawyers in your catchment. Credibility comes from signal density (bar numbers, decision references, practice-area depth) more than from visual polish.
How should I structure practice-area content for local SEO?
One page per practice area, with the right keyword target baked into the H1, URL slug, and schema — e.g. 'commercial-litigation-vancouver' rather than a single 'Practice Areas' dump page. Internal linking between related practice areas builds topical authority. Location-specific practice pages (e.g. 'family law Surrey') can work if the firm genuinely serves that market, but avoid creating 20 near-identical city pages for doorway coverage — Google penalizes that.
Can you build a secure client-intake portal?
Yes. Intake portals for law firms are a common Custom App build — secure client onboarding, conflict checks, document upload with proper encryption at rest, and workflow handoff to practice-management software like Clio or PracticePanther. Scoped per engagement. For smaller firms, a polished intake form integrated with your existing tools is usually enough. For mid-sized firms running a meaningful intake volume, a dedicated portal starts paying back in a quarter.
Firm website due for a rebuild?
20 minutes on the phone. Send me your URL, a quick sketch of your practice areas, and where you’d like to rank. I’ll tell you whether a rebuild, a targeted audit, or a practice-area content overhaul is the right move.
Book a 20-min call