What Is The Modern Firm's Website Design Process?

Updated

The Modern Firm's website design process is a structured, collaborative sequence that starts with a conversation about your firm and ends with a launched, mobile-friendly site built for small law firms. According to the company's own site, it has served nearly 2,000 clients over more than 20 years, with an exclusive focus on small firms. The process is tailored rather than templated: the firm positions its approach as "tailored to their exact needs," so the specific steps and timeline depend on your practice area, existing brand assets, and how much content you can supply.

The Process at a Glance

The Modern Firm's navigation lists a dedicated page called "The Modern Firm Website Design Process," which signals that the workflow is a defined, repeatable sequence rather than an ad-hoc arrangement. Based on how the firm describes its services, the process generally moves through these stages:

  1. Initial conversation ("Let's Chat!") — The site's primary call to action is a conversation, not a purchase. This is where you describe your firm, your goals, and what's not working about your current online presence.
  2. Scoping and tailoring — Because the firm emphasizes solutions "tailored to their exact needs," this stage determines which services apply to you: website design alone, or design combined with branding, content writing, and marketing.
  3. Design and build — The website design service is the core deliverable, with mobile-friendly sites as an explicit standard.
  4. Content and branding integration — If needed, attorney content writing and logo/branding services feed into the site rather than being handled separately.
  5. Launch and ongoing support — Website support and hosting services, plus integrations for law firm websites, cover what happens after the site goes live.

What Shapes Your Specific Timeline

The firm does not publish a fixed timeline on the pages reviewed, so treat any schedule as something to confirm during your initial conversation. What the site does make clear is which variables will drive that schedule:

  • Whether you need branding first. If your firm has no logo or inconsistent brand collateral, the branding process (logo design, print and digital collateral, email signatures) runs alongside or before design.
  • Who writes the content. The Modern Firm offers attorney content writing as a service. Firms that supply their own copy move through that stage differently than firms that delegate it.
  • How many practice areas and pages you need. A single-practice family law firm and a multi-practice firm have different scopes.
  • Your feedback turnaround. The process is collaborative, so review cycles on design drafts and copy affect the calendar.

Where You, the Client, Participate

The site's framing — "Lawyers at small law firms wear many hats; online marketing expert shouldn't have to be one of them" — tells you what the firm expects from you: decisions and input, not production work. In practice, your involvement centers on:

  • Describing your firm's differentiators and ideal clients during the initial conversation
  • Reviewing design directions and providing consolidated feedback
  • Approving content, whether written by you or by the firm's writers
  • Supplying any existing brand assets, photos, and firm details

The firm's "No Jerks Policy" is listed in its main navigation, which is worth noting if you're evaluating fit: it signals that the working relationship is expected to be professional and collaborative on both sides.

Deliverables You Can Expect

Based on the services listed on the site, the process can produce:

Deliverable Source service
Mobile-friendly law firm website Law Firm Website Design Services
Logo and brand identity Law Firm Logo Design Services
Print and digital brand collateral Branding services
Email signatures Email Signature Service for Law Firms
Written site and blog content Attorney Content Writing
Hosting and ongoing site support Website Support and Hosting Services
Third-party tool connections Integrations for Law Firm Websites

Marketing services — local marketing, SEO, paid advertising management, and social media marketing — sit alongside the website process rather than inside it. You can start with design and add marketing later, or scope both together.

How to Decide If This Process Fits You

This process is built for small law firms that want a single partner handling design, branding, and content, and that prefer a tailored build over a self-serve template. It's a weaker fit if you want to assemble the site yourself from a template, or if you already have a complete brand system and only need hosting.

The most reliable next step is the one the site itself pushes: start with a conversation. Ask specifically about timeline for a firm your size, what you need to prepare, how many revision rounds are included, and what ongoing hosting and support cost after launch — the site references a "Law Firm Website Design Pricing Guide," so request that directly rather than assuming a figure.