How can I tell if my law firm's marketing fees are too high? Too high is not a dollar amount — it is a fee that fails four tests: cost per signed case, hours actually delivered, market rate for the same scope, and what you keep if you leave.
A $6,000 fee producing eight cases a month is cheap. A $1,500 fee producing nothing is expensive. The figure alone tells you nothing.
- Published pricing — $2,500, $3,500 and $4,500 a month, on the site.
- Month to month. No contract is holding you anywhere.
- A former attorney of 17 years who filed 5,000+ cases works your account.
- You see your rankings move for 14 days before you are billed a dollar.
- Law firms only — no other industries, ever.
| Attorney Pro Marketing | Scorpion | FindLaw | Typical legal agency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing published on the website | Yes — $2,500 / $3,500 / $4,500 per month | Not published | Not published | Rarely published |
| Contract term | Month to month, 30 days’ notice | Not published | Not published | Commonly 12 months |
| Who works on your account | A former attorney of 17 years, in every account | Assigned account team | Assigned account team | Account manager, often across industries |
| Your website is built on | Standard, portable code | Proprietary platform | FirmSite platform | Varies — ask before signing |
| See results before you are billed | Yes — 14 days, then you decide | No | No | No |
| Ad spend billed by Google directly to you | Yes, no markup | Ask | Ask | Often passes through the agency |
“Not published” means the figure does not appear on that company’s own website as of October 2026 — check for yourself before you sign anything, with them or with us.
Test One: Cost Per Signed Case
This is the test that settles most arguments, and it takes ten minutes with your own numbers.
Total monthly marketing cost — fee, advertising, subscriptions, everything — divided by signed cases attributable to marketing that month. Compare it to your average collected fee.
Under 10 percent of average fee: the programme is performing well, and the fee is not your problem. Between 10 and 25 percent: normal. Above 25 percent: either the fee is too high for the output or something is failing between the click and the signed retainer. Above 50 percent: act this month.
If you cannot run this test because nobody is tracking which calls came from where, that is the finding. The fee may be fine; you have no way to know, and neither does the agency.
Test Two: Hours Actually Delivered
Competent marketing labour runs $75 to $200 an hour. Divide your fee by a rate in that band and you have the hours it should represent. Then ask the agency what was done last month, specifically.
- Ask: which pages were created or edited, with URLs and dates.
- Ask: what changed in the ad account, with the change history.
- Ask: what was posted to the Google Business Profile, and when.
- Do not accept: a dashboard of impressions, clicks and “visibility”. A report describes work; it is not the work.
If a $4,000 fee produced two blog posts and a report, you are paying roughly $2,000 a post. That is the finding, and it is a conversation you can have calmly with evidence.
Test Three: Market Rate for the Same Scope
Write down what you are actually receiving each month, then get two written proposals for that same scope from other agencies. Not a general quote — your specific deliverables.
This is the only test that produces a genuine market comparison, and it works because published and quoted pricing differ. An agency that publishes its rates has already told you the market number; one that quotes will price you based on what it thinks you will pay, which means your current fee may reflect a judgement about you from two years ago.
Test Four: What You Keep If You Leave
This test does not measure the fee. It measures what the fee has been buying, which turns out to be the same question.
If the website is portable, the content is assigned to you, the ad account holds your conversion history and the Google Business Profile is owned by your Google account, then your fee has been buying assets. The accumulated value stays with you and a fee at the high end of market can still be reasonable.
If the site goes dark when you stop, the content is licensed and the ad account belongs to the agency, then your fee has been buying access. Access priced like ownership is too high at almost any number, because at the end of five years you have nothing to show for sixty payments.
What to Do With the Answer
- Open with the data, not the complaint. “Our cost per signed case is 38 percent of average fee” is a conversation. “This feels expensive” is a negotiation you will lose.
- Ask for a scope-and-hours summary for the last three months. A capable agency produces it. The response itself is informative.
- Propose a 90-day plan with a defined measure. Not a discount — a target and a date.
- Fix the ownership language now, whatever you decide. If you stay, get the assets in your name. It costs nothing to ask and it is worth more than any fee reduction.
If the four tests point to leaving, Attorney Pro Marketing publishes its pricing precisely so test three is possible without a sales call: $2,500, $3,500 or $4,500 a month. Advertising is billed to your firm directly by Google so test one is calculable. The work is done by Alon Darvish, a former attorney of 17 years, so test two has a name attached. And test four is settled in advance — your domain, site files, content, ad account and Google Business Profile are all in your firm's name. No setup fee, month to month, 30 days' notice. We record your rankings on day 0 and show you the movement on day 14 before billing you for that period.
See it before you pay for it.
We snapshot your rankings on day 0, build and launch your site within three days, and show you the movement on day 14. If it has not moved enough to be worth continuing, you owe nothing for that period and you keep the Google Business Profile work.
Related Questions
Run four tests: cost per signed case against your average collected fee, where 10 to 25 percent is normal and above 25 percent needs explaining; hours delivered against the fee at a $75–$200 labour rate; the same scope priced by two other agencies in writing; and what you would keep if you left. Failing two or more means the fee is too high regardless of size.
Specifics, not dashboards: which pages were created or edited with URLs and dates, what changed in the ad account with the change history, and what was posted to the Google Business Profile and when. A report of impressions and clicks describes work rather than being the work.
Open with data rather than feeling — “our cost per signed case is 38 percent of average fee” starts a conversation where “this feels expensive” starts a negotiation you will lose. Ask for a scope-and-hours summary for the last three months, then propose a 90-day plan with a defined target and date rather than requesting a discount.
Yes, if it is buying assets you keep — a portable website, content assigned to you, an ad account holding your conversion history, a Google Business Profile owned by your Google account. A fee buying only access is too high at almost any number, because after five years of payments there is nothing left behind.