On 26 September 2026 I looked at the first page of Google for "refonte site avocat", the French search for a law firm redesign. Eight results. Six are pages dedicated to redesigns, and not one shows a price.
They all say much the same thing: plan your redirects, keep the pages that rank, reread your texts against the profession's rules, tell the bar. All true. What's missing is the method and the number. Here are both.
1. Redesign or new site?
Your data settles this, not your taste.
Open Search Console (if your site isn't in it, that's the first thing to fix). Look at the last twelve months. If some pages get impressions and clicks, your site has a value Google took time to build, and a redesign has to keep it. If nothing ranks, you don't need a redesign. You need a site, and you can start from a blank page without losing anything.
With me the difference between the two is small. I reuse none of the old code. I keep what matters to Google and to your clients, the page addresses, the texts that work, your contact details, and I rebuild the rest. That's why the price is a new site's price, from €1,500 excl. VAT. A redesign quote cheaper than a new site means, most of the time, that the old site gets touched up rather than rebuilt, and you keep its slowness.
2. What you must report to the bar
Article 10.5 of the RIN is plain: a lawyer who opens or substantially modifies a website must inform the bar council without delay and communicate the domain names that give access to it. A redesign is a substantial modification.
The same article governs the domain name. It has to contain your name or the firm's name, in full or abbreviated, with or without the word "avocat". A generic domain that evokes the title, a field of law or a lawyer's activity is forbidden. If your old site runs on something like "avocat-divorce-lyon.fr", the redesign is the moment to change it, and to redirect the old domain to the new one.
Two more rules from 10.5 to check on the new site: no advertising banner other than the profession's, and no link to a site whose content goes against the profession's essential principles.
My part: I prepare the list of domain names (the main one, redirected variants, subdomains) with the launch date. You send it to your bar.
The rules above are the French ones. If you practise in another country, your bar's rules differ; the method for Google below is the same everywhere.
3. What to keep from the old site
Export from Search Console the list of your pages with their impressions over twelve months. Sort by impressions. Then, line by line, decide: this page keeps the same address, merges into another, or goes.
Pages that get impressions keep their exact address, or are redirected to the page that takes over their subject. Their text is reused and improved, not thrown away: it's what Google knows. Pages with no impression in a year can go, provided they're redirected to the closest page.
Keep what nobody thinks to write down too: the exact address of the contact page (it's often linked from your Google profile, bar directories and legal directories), the title tags that rank, and your contact details written the same way everywhere.
4. Redirects, one by one
This is the step that decides whether you lose rankings.
Google recommends permanent server-side redirects, 301 or 308, and keeping them "as long as possible, generally at least 1 year". For a small site, Google advises moving all URLs at once rather than section by section. Then the internal links on the new site have to point to the new addresses, and the new sitemap goes into Search Console.
In practice I keep a two-column table, old address and new address, one line per page, including PDFs and images that get traffic. Each redirect goes straight to the final page, never through an intermediate address. After launch I test every line, and I watch the 404 errors in Search Console for a month.
One calendar point: Google writes that for a medium-sized site it can take "a few weeks or more" before the new addresses replace the old ones in results. So don't change addresses in the middle of a campaign, or just before a period when you expect new matters.
5. Content to reread before launch
A redesign wakes up old texts. Four things to check, for a firm in France:
- Client names. The CNB's vade-mecum is blunt: naming clients is forbidden, professional secrecy applies. The only exception is tender procedures, with express prior consent. A "They trust us" page with logos leaves the new site.
- Practice areas. Article 10.2 of the RIN caps the dominant practice areas you claim at three. The word "spécialiste" is reserved to holders of a specialisation certificate. Nine "specialty" tabs on the old site become three practice-area pages, plus an "Other matters" page if needed.
- Comparisons. Decree 2023-552 (article 15) allows advertising if it's truthful and "excludes anything comparative or disparaging". "Leading firm", "the best lawyer in", "success rate": those go.
- Client reviews. The CNB advises against displaying client reviews on a lawyer's site, and the names fall under secrecy anyway. A "Fees" page that explains how you charge, fixed fee or time spent, with a reminder that the fee agreement is in writing, serves the visitor better.
GDPR applies too: a contact form with a consent box, a privacy policy, and no trackers loaded before consent.
6. Google, ChatGPT and AI Overviews
Since 22 July 2026, Google shows AI Overviews in France. For a search like "comment contester un licenciement" (how to challenge a dismissal), part of the visitors now read a generated answer before clicking, when they click at all.
A law firm site needs few things to get picked up in those answers: one page per practice area that answers the questions your clients ask, an FAQ with short answers, structured data describing the firm (name, address, bar, practice areas), and the same contact details on the site, the Google profile and the directories. Nothing exotic. It's the same work as for Google, done with care.
7. Price and timeline
With me, a law firm redesign starts at €1,500 excl. VAT. That covers the complete rebuild, the redirect table and its tests, the domain-name list for the bar, the content reread against the rules above, and a fees page. Hosting costs €10 to €50 a month depending on the site; maintenance starts at €150 a month if you want me to handle it.
Count two to six weeks between the first call and launch, depending on the number of pages and redirects. Google rankings follow Google's pace: a few weeks.
If you'd rather know what your current site is worth before deciding, the SEO and GEO audit costs €1,500 excl. VAT and tells you what's holding it back.
The service is detailed on my law firm website design page, and full prices are on the pricing page. For a market view across all sectors, I wrote about website redesign cost in 2026.
Sources
- Conseil national des barreaux, Règlement intérieur national, articles 10.2 and 10.5, consolidated version of 7 July 2026.
- Décret n° 2023-552 of 30 June 2023, article 15 (Légifrance).
- Conseil national des barreaux, Vade-mecum de la communication des avocats, 3rd edition, October 2023.
- Google Search Central, "Site move with URL changes" (permanent redirects, kept at least one year, a few weeks to process).
- Google, launch of AI Overviews in France, 22 July 2026.
- First page of Google.fr for "refonte site avocat", checked on 26 September 2026.
Does your firm's site look dated, or has it stopped showing up? Describe your situation and I reply within 24 hours with a first opinion. Tell me about your project or see pricing. You can also browse the two law firm site demos on my law firm website page.
