FindLaw has been part of legal marketing since 1995. Owned by Thomson Reuters for most of that time, it was sold to Internet Brands in a transaction completed in December 2024, which placed it in the same portfolio as Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell and Nolo. For a law firm, FindLaw has always been three products in one relationship: a lawyer directory consumers actually use, a website platform (FirmSite), and marketing services layered on top. Firms searching for FindLaw alternatives are usually unhappy with one of the three and uncertain about the other two. Separate them and the decision gets easier.
- FindLaw's directory is a legitimate citation and visibility source; keeping a profile there is independent of whether you keep its website or marketing.
- Before leaving, verify who owns your domain, whether your FirmSite website and content can be exported, and your contract's term and notice provisions.
- Directory alternatives (Justia, Avvo, state bar listings) are cheap or free; website and marketing alternatives differ most on ownership and contract terms.
- A planned switch preserves rankings; cancelling first and rebuilding later does not.
What FindLaw Is Today
FindLaw operates one of the most-visited consumer legal information sites and lawyer directories in the United States, and sells law firms directory placement, websites built and hosted on its own platform, and marketing services including SEO, paid search and content. Since December 2024 it has been owned by Internet Brands. FindLaw does not publish standard law firm pricing or contract terms; your agreement is the authoritative description of what you have and what you keep.
Three Products, Three Decisions
The directory
A FindLaw profile is a real citation that supports your local SEO and may send some consumer traffic. You can keep a basic profile whether or not you keep anything else. Judge premium placement on measured calls, not on the sales deck.
The website (FirmSite)
FindLaw websites have historically been built and hosted on FindLaw's platform. The question is whether the site, its content and your domain can leave with you. The contract answers it; ask before you plan.
The marketing
SEO, paid search and content services are the most replaceable of the three and the easiest to compare on measured cost per signed case. Ask for the breakdown of media versus fee in your current spend.
Verify Before You Leave FindLaw
- Domain ownership. Check the registrar record. If the domain is held by the vendor, request a transfer to the firm while the agreement is still active.
- Website portability. Ask in writing whether you receive working site files on termination, or only the content, or neither. Plan your alternative around the answer.
- Content rights. Pages, articles and blog posts written during the engagement. If rights are assigned to the firm, they can move; if not, the new site needs new content.
- Ad account and analytics ownership. Confirm the firm owns its Google Ads account, Google Business Profile and analytics property, with the vendor as a removable manager.
- Term, notice and auto-renewal. Find all three in the contract and calendar the notice deadline today.
- Current URL inventory. Crawl the site and save every URL. Each needs a redirect on the new site to preserve its rankings.
The FindLaw Alternatives
| Need | Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Directory visibility and citations | Justia (free profile), Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, state and local bar directories, Google Business Profile | Justia's free profile and a fully built Google Business Profile cover most of the citation value. Evaluate paid tiers anywhere on measured calls. |
| Website | Attorney Pro Marketing (sites included in every package), PaperStreet (custom), other legal web specialists | Insist on standard code, hosting in your firm's name, and your ownership of domain and content. |
| SEO and content | Juris Digital, LawRank, Rankings.io, Hennessey Digital, attorney-written content with help | Legal-only agencies working on a site you own. Compare on term and reporting. |
| Paid search | Attorney Pro Marketing (included in Growth and Dominate packages), legal PPC specialists, Local Services Ads managed in-house | Media should be paid from your own account with the fee stated separately. |
| Everything from one vendor | Scorpion, Martindale-Avvo, and other bundled agencies | Convenient; apply the same ownership and term questions. See Scorpion alternatives. |
The best law firm marketing companies page applies one set of questions to each of these companies, including us.
Switching Without Losing Rankings
- Secure the domain in the firm's name.
- Export all content and data you are entitled to.
- Record every current URL.
- Build the new site in parallel, on hosting you own, with a complete redirect map.
- Move or recreate ad and analytics accounts under the firm's ownership.
- Launch, redirect, and verify in Search Console the same day; watch rankings weekly for a month.
- Give notice only after steps 1 through 5 are done.
Most firms that follow the sequence see no lasting ranking loss. The firms that lose months of visibility are the ones that cancel first and rebuild later.
Not sure what your FindLaw agreement lets you keep?
Send it with the free audit request. We will tell you what moves, what does not, and whether switching is worth it for your firm — even if the answer is to keep the directory listing and change nothing else.
Where Attorney Pro Marketing Fits Among FindLaw Alternatives
We do not run a directory, and we think you should keep whichever directory profiles earn their cost. What we replace is the website and the marketing: a fast site on standard code hosted in your firm's name, Google Ads and Google Business Profile management, landing pages and AI visibility, all month-to-month with published pricing and a free 14-day period, run by a legal-only agency founded by a former practicing attorney. For firms whose FindLaw relationship was mostly about the website and campaigns, that is a direct alternative; for firms whose value was the directory, we are a complement rather than a replacement. Details on the law firm marketing agency page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Internet Brands. Thomson Reuters, which had owned FindLaw since the early 2000s, agreed to sell it to Internet Brands in 2024, and the transaction was completed in December 2024. Internet Brands also owns Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell and Nolo.
It depends on your contract. FindLaw websites have historically been built and hosted on FindLaw's own platform, so you should ask in writing whether you receive working site files, the content only, or neither on termination, and confirm at the registrar that your firm owns the domain. Get those answers before giving notice.
A basic profile is a legitimate citation that supports local SEO and costs little or nothing to maintain, so it is usually worth keeping regardless of what you do about the website and marketing. Premium placement should be judged on the calls it measurably produces against its fee.
Any legal website specialist that builds on standard code, hosts in your firm's name, and assigns you the domain and content. Attorney Pro Marketing builds sites as part of every package, live within three days; PaperStreet builds fully custom sites; several other legal web shops do the same. Avoid any replacement that recreates the portability problem.
They serve different purposes. Justia offers a strong free profile and is a useful citation for every firm. Avvo has a large consumer audience and a rating system that some clients consult. FindLaw has a large consumer information site and directory. Many firms maintain profiles on all three and pay for premium placement on none, or on one, based on measured calls.
Not if the switch is planned: domain secured, every URL recorded, new site built in parallel with a full redirect map, launched and redirected the same day, verified in Search Console. Rankings are lost when a site goes dark before its replacement is live or when redirects are skipped.