A law firm website should do one job for a new caller: send that person to the matter they actually have, with the facts already written down before anyone on your side picks up. The first page should send each matter to its own page, and the intake that follows has to arrive with the facts that matter. A homepage that only says the firm is experienced makes the first call start from nothing. The first page is a sorter, and the call is a confirmation.
This guide covers what the first page has to do for a new caller, why each matter needs its own door, how to get the facts written down first, what the first call should already hold, and how to check the page against a new caller.
Takeaways
- Send each matter to its own page from the first screen a new caller sees.
- Make the intake arrive with the facts that matter already written down.
- Treat personal injury, criminal defense, and estate planning as different doors.
- Keep a brochure line about experience off the job of the first call.
- Read one test note for each door before anyone dials.
What the First Page Has to Do for a New Caller
The first page has to move a new caller toward the matter they came in with. Someone arrives with a problem in mind. They need a door with that problem's name on it and a short form that writes down the facts your intake already asks for on the phone. If the first page only introduces the lawyers, the caller still has to explain everything from the start, and the person who answers has to build the file in real time.
Say what happens next in plain words: pick the matter, answer a few questions, and a person at the firm reads that note and calls. That sequence is the job. A paragraph about years in practice, a row of portraits, and a single button that says "contact us" leave the sequence to the phone, and the phone is where you confirm. It is a poor place to discover which matter this is.
Name the matters you take in the words a caller would use. If you take injury matters, defense matters, and planning matters, those words belong on the first page as separate paths. A visitor should not have to guess that a will and a car crash live behind the same button. The first page can be short, and short is fine when each link goes to a page that continues the sort.
The Legal Services page sells the work, and this article is about what the first page of a law firm site has to do for a new caller. Keep the selling page as the invitation, and keep this decision on the first screen: which matter, then which facts. Put the paths above any long story about the firm, because a new caller who is ready to talk should find the door before the biography.
A long pale oak table runs beside a row of empty chairs.
Why Each Matter Needs Its Own Door
Each matter needs its own door because the facts are not interchangeable. A personal injury matter starts with the kind of incident and when it happened. A criminal defense matter starts with the charge and the next date. An estate planning matter starts by separating a plan for documents from a probate that is already open. One generic lawyer page asks the caller to pick a story shape the firm never named.
Personal injury is a door for harm that already happened, and the page behind it asks whether another firm is already involved. Criminal defense is a door for a charge, with a discreet way to send the charge and the next date. Estate planning is a door that separates planning documents from a probate already underway. The first page points at those three conversations and leaves each one on its own page.
A shared form under those doors mixes the file after the click looked sorted. The personal injury note needs the incident, the defense note needs the charge and the date, and the estate note needs to say which meeting this is. A shared inbox can still work when the subject line and the fields make the matter obvious before anyone opens the note, but each door still needs its own fields. Name the doors the way the person who answers says them, so the caller and the file use one language.
How to Get the Facts Written Down First
Get the facts written down first by deciding the list before you touch the design. The list is short on purpose. It is the list your intake already wishes every caller had answered.
Build it in this order.
- Write down the matters you take, and mark any matter that still has no page of its own.
- For each matter, write the three facts the person who answers needs before a conversation is the right next step.
- Put those facts on that matter's page, as choices where a choice exists, and as a short line where the caller has to name something.
- Point the first page at those matter pages, and retire the single box that asks for a name and a story.
- Submit one test for each door, and read the note the way the person who answers will read it.
Step two is the whole point. If you cannot name the three facts, you are not ready to design a form. The facts are the intake, and the page is where they get written down so the call does not start from nothing. Step three favors choices, such as the kind of incident, whether another firm is involved, and whether this is planning or an open probate. Use a line for a detail a choice cannot hold, like the next date on a defense matter. A box labeled "message" collects a story and skips the fact you needed.
Step five is the proof. You should be able to say the matter and the facts in one sentence before you call back. If the test note cannot support that sentence, the first page still reads like a brochure. Keep the three facts where the staff can see them, and when someone asks for a shorter form, ask which of those facts the call can live without, because dropping one moves that question back onto the phone.
What the First Call Should Already Hold
The first call should already hold the matter and the facts that matter. The person who answers confirms them, adds what only a voice can clear up, and says what happens next. They should not open with a blank page and a polite request to start at the beginning.
| Door on the first page | Facts the page should already have | What the person answering sees | What the call is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal injury | Kind of incident, when it happened, whether another firm is involved | A note that names the incident | Confirm the facts and whether the firm can look |
| Criminal defense | The charge, the next date, sent through a private form | A private note with the charge and the date | A discreet conversation about that charge |
| Estate planning | Planning documents or an open probate, and who it is for | Which meeting this is | Start the meeting the page already sorted |
| Brochure homepage | A name and an open message | A story with no matter named | Rebuild the matter from the first sentence |
Read the first three rows as the standard. The fourth row is what you have when the site introduces the firm and waits: the caller repeats the story and the staff write down facts the page could have collected. Experience on the homepage does not repair that. Show the table to the person who answers and ask which row matches yesterday's first call. Empty fields on a matter row mean the door exists and the form does not.
Keep the destinations as roles. The injury note goes to the person who screens injury matters, the defense note goes somewhere private, and the estate note goes to the person who books those meetings. A shared mailbox can still work when the subject names the door and someone reads it before the callback. The call confirms a name and says what the firm needs before it can look, and the category of the matter stays a page task.
How to Check the Page Against a New Caller
Check the page by walking a new caller through it, then with a real test. From the first page, you should be able to see where a personal injury matter goes, where a criminal defense matter goes, and where an estate planning matter goes, without reading a biography. If you cannot, the first page is still a brochure.
Open the matter page you would have chosen. The facts should sit above the button, in words a caller can answer without a legal vocabulary. The form should wait until those facts are present, because a form that sends on a name alone trains the staff to accept a blank call. Required fields are how the page keeps its promise.
Run the test without coaching the person who fills it in. When the note arrives, cover the name and read only the facts. You should know the door and the few things intake needed. Then make the call as a confirmation. If you hear yourself asking what kind of matter this is, fix the first page before another live caller comes through it.
Repeat the test when you add a matter or drop one. A door you no longer take comes off the first page the same week, and a door you added in the office and forgot on the site arrives as a confused message. After a week of real notes, listen for the sentence the staff can say before they dial: injury, this kind of incident, this timing, and whether another firm is already involved; defense, this charge, this next date; estate, planning or probate, and who it is for. When those sentences are common, the first page is doing the job. Ask which field staff still request out loud, and put that field on the right door only.
Questions
What Should the First Page Do Before Anyone Answers?
Send each matter to its own page and collect the facts intake needs, so the note arrives written down. A new caller should land on personal injury, criminal defense, or estate planning as a real door, and the person who calls back should read those facts first.
Why Should Personal Injury, Criminal Defense, and Estate Planning Be Separate Doors?
The facts are different. An injury note needs the incident and whether another firm is involved. A defense note needs the charge, the next date, and a private destination. An estate note needs to separate planning documents from a probate already underway. One generic lawyer page leaves that sorting to the first call.
Which Facts Should Arrive With the Intake?
The facts that change the conversation. For injury, the kind of incident, when it happened, and whether another firm is involved. For defense, the charge and the next date. For estate planning, who the documents are for, or whether a death has occurred and a court file exists. A name alone leaves the call empty.
What Happens When the Homepage Only Says the Firm Is Experienced?
The first call starts from nothing. The caller tells the story from the beginning, and the person who answers writes down the matter type and the facts the page could have asked. The door has to be a page, and experience on the homepage does not choose it.
Where Should a Single Contact Box Sit on the First Page?
Not as the only path. The first page can point to each matter page, but a single box that asks for a name and a message puts every matter back in one pile, and the staff sort it by hand.
Conclusion
The first page of a law firm site should send each matter to its own page, and the intake that follows has to arrive with the facts already written down. A homepage that only says the firm is experienced makes the first call start from nothing. You now know what the first page has to do for a new caller.
When you are ready to decide what the first page must do before a new caller reaches a person, Speak With Us.
