How do I hold my law firm marketing company accountable? Put four things in the agreement before you sign — a dated baseline, named measures, a review date with a consequence, and a short exit — because accountability you have to argue for is not accountability.
You are a lawyer. This is the part of agency selection you are better equipped for than almost any other client they have.
- 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.
The Four Clauses That Create Accountability
Accountability is almost entirely determined before work starts. Afterwards you are negotiating, which is a weaker position.
- 1. A dated baseline. Rankings for your terms, organic traffic, Map Pack position, monthly call volume and indexed page count, captured before anything is touched and delivered to you as a document. Without this, no later claim is checkable by either side.
- 2. Named measures, chosen by you. The specific search terms, attached to the agreement as a schedule. Terms picked afterwards let an agency report on whatever happened to improve.
- 3. A review date with a stated consequence. “At day 90 we review these measures; if they have not moved, X happens.” The consequence is the clause — a review with no consequence is a meeting.
- 4. A short exit. Thirty days' notice, no termination fee, and your assets in your own name so leaving is actually possible.
Clause four is the one that makes the others enforceable. A review point you cannot act on is a formality; a review point backed by a 30-day exit is a decision.
The Monthly Discipline
Accountability also requires something small from you every month, and it is the part firms skip.
- Ask for the URLs of pages created or edited, with dates. Then open two of them. This single request resolves more disputes than any report.
- Check your own rankings in a private browser window on your three main terms. Ten minutes.
- Record which contacts retained. Date, first name, channel, signed or not. This is the data no agency can produce for you and the data that makes targeting improve.
- Note your answered-call rate. Before any conversation about performance, know your own number, because if 30 percent went to voicemail the conversation is a different one.
Running the Hard Conversation
When performance is poor, the structure of the conversation decides its outcome.
Open with a number, not a feeling. “Cost per signed case is 38 percent of our average fee against a target of 20” is a problem to solve. “This does not feel like it is working” invites reassurance.
Separate the four steps before assigning the problem. Rankings down, or rankings fine and calls down, or calls fine and signings down? Only the first is squarely theirs, and getting this wrong loses you credibility for the rest of the conversation.
Ask for a written 90-day plan with a measure and a date. Not a discount. A discount buys you a cheaper version of the same result.
Say what happens if it is not met. Calmly, once, in writing afterwards. This is the sentence most firms omit, and omitting it converts the whole exchange into a courtesy.
Where Your Leverage Actually Sits
Three sources, in descending order of usefulness.
The ability to leave cheaply. Short notice, no termination fee, and — critically — assets in your own name. A 30-day exit is worth little if the website goes dark and the ad account's conversion history stays behind. Ask about the domain, site files, content, ad account and Google Business Profile separately, because they are often held differently from one another.
Unpaid invoices. If you are billed in arrears rather than in advance, the current month is leverage. If you prepaid a large setup fee, you spent it.
Your own data. Signed-case records, call recordings and a baseline mean you can describe the problem precisely. Precision is leverage; impressions are not.
Attorney Pro Marketing's structure is built around clause four rather than around promises. Month to month, 30 days' written notice, no cancellation fee. The day 0 baseline is the dated starting line, the measures are up to 30 keywords of your choosing rather than ours, and the day 14 report is the first review point — reached before you are billed for that period. Your domain, website files, content, Google Ads account and Google Business Profile are all registered in your firm's name, so the exit is real rather than nominal.
Published pricing at $2,500, $3,500 and $4,500 a month, which removes the other thing firms usually have to negotiate under pressure.
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
Four items: a dated baseline captured before work begins and delivered as a document; the specific search terms you choose, attached as a schedule; a review date with a stated consequence if the measures have not moved; and a short notice period with no termination fee plus your assets in your own name so leaving is possible.
A short exit. Thirty days' notice with no termination fee works every month without argument, whereas a performance guarantee depends on definitions the agency wrote and a remedy it chose. For the exit to mean anything, the domain, site files, content, ad account and Google Business Profile must be in your firm's name.
Open with a number rather than a feeling. Separate the four steps before assigning blame — rankings, clicks, contacts, signings — since only rankings and clicks are squarely the agency's. Ask for a written 90-day plan with a measure and a date rather than a discount, and state what happens if it is not met.
Four things: the URLs of pages created or edited with dates, then open two of them; your rankings on your three main terms in a private browser window; which contacts retained, kept as a simple list; and your answered-call rate, so you know your own number before discussing anyone else's performance.