Which marketing companies specialize in criminal defense attorneys? Look for an agency that treats after-hours answering as part of the marketing — criminal defence is decided within hours, at night, often by a family member, and the firm that answers wins.
Arrests happen at 2am on a Saturday. So does the search. An agency scheduling ads for business hours is buying the wrong half of the week.
- 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 Window Is Hours
Almost every structural fact about marketing a criminal defence practice follows from the length of the decision window.
Someone is arrested. Within hours, they or a relative are searching on a phone. There is no research period, no comparison of three websites over a fortnight, no downloading of a guide. The shortlist is assembled in minutes and the firm that answers the telephone has an advantage no amount of content can match.
That has four consequences, and an agency that does not state them in the first conversation has not understood the practice:
- Immediate visibility beats accumulated authority. The Map Pack and paid search carry the channel because they are visible now. Organic content takes months to build and does not help the person arrested tonight.
- Ad scheduling must cover nights and weekends. Arrests cluster in exactly the hours most campaigns are set to pause.
- The phone number must be tappable above the fold. Not a design preference. The visitor is on a phone, in distress, with two other firms open.
- After-hours answering outperforms anything on the website. It is the single highest-return investment in this practice area, and it is not technically marketing — which is why most agencies never mention it.
Who Is Actually Searching
Frequently not the defendant. A spouse, a parent, an adult child — someone who has just received a call and has no idea what happens next.
That changes what the first screen has to say. The accused person wants to know whether they are going to prison. The mother searching at 3am wants to know how to get her son out tonight, what it costs, and whether anyone will pick up the phone. Pages written for the defendant miss the actual buyer about half the time.
It also changes the intent profile. Searches cluster around the immediate mechanics — bail, bond, arraignment, what happens at the first hearing, whether a licence is suspended — rather than around legal strategy. A content programme written about defence theory is written for colleagues.
What Works and What Does Not
Works: Map Pack position with a complete, active profile and recent reviews; paid search on charge-specific and situation-specific terms, scheduled around the clock; a page per charge type that answers the immediate mechanical questions; and reviews that describe responsiveness, because that is what a frightened family member is scanning for.
Does not work as a primary channel: long-form content programmes aimed at authority, email nurture sequences, downloadable guides, or anything premised on a buyer who has time. These are not useless — they are simply not what produces the case at 2am.
Specific keyword traps: “public defender”, “free lawyer”, “pro bono”, “how long do I go to jail for”, “can I represent myself”, plus every variant of the charge that is being searched by students and curious readers rather than people who were arrested. Excluding these on day one is the difference between a busy phone and a productive one.
Where Content Still Earns
It does earn, just not as the primary channel, and in two specific places.
Pre-charge and licence-consequence searches. People under investigation but not arrested, or facing an administrative licence hearing, do research for days or weeks. These searches have a window, and content wins them.
Post-conviction and expungement work. Entirely different timeline — someone deciding over months whether to pursue relief. Content-led, low competition, and frequently the most profitable part of a defence practice's organic programme.
An agency that proposes content for those two and paid plus local for the acute work has read the practice correctly. One that proposes a single blended programme has not.
Testing an Agency on This
- “How would you schedule my ads?” Nights and weekends should come up unprompted.
- “Who answers my phone at 2am?” If they have not raised it, they are selling the easy half.
- “What terms would you exclude on day one?” Public defender, free, pro bono should be on the list.
- “Who is my actual buyer?” A real answer mentions family members.
- “What is my cost per signed case likely to be?” Roughly $500 to $1,500 in most markets, derived from your average fee rather than quoted as a benchmark.
Attorney Pro Marketing builds defence programmes around the acute window: Map Pack and profile work on every tier, Google Ads management from the Growth tier with scheduling and exclusion lists set for when arrests actually happen, and the site built phone-first — number above the fold and tappable, first screen addressing the situation rather than the firm. Call tracking with recordings from Growth makes the answered-call rate visible, which in this practice area is the number that governs everything else.
Published pricing at $2,500, $3,500 and $4,500 a month, advertising billed to your firm directly by Google, month to month with 30 days' notice, and the day 0 baseline with a day 14 report before you are billed 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
The Map Pack and paid search, because the decision window is hours and both are visible immediately. Content takes months to build and does not help the person arrested tonight. Ad scheduling must cover nights and weekends, since arrests cluster in exactly the hours most campaigns pause.
Frequently not the defendant — a spouse, parent or adult child who has just received a call and does not know what happens next. That changes what the first screen must say: the immediate mechanics of bail, bond and arraignment rather than defence strategy, which is written for colleagues.
Public defender, free lawyer, pro bono, how long do I go to jail for, can I represent myself, and the charge variants searched by students and curious readers rather than people who were arrested. Excluding these on day one is the difference between a busy phone and a productive one.
Not as the primary channel, but it earns in two places: pre-charge and licence-consequence searches, where people under investigation research for days or weeks; and post-conviction and expungement work, which has a months-long timeline, low competition, and is often the most profitable part of a defence practice's organic programme.