Website redesign for a law firm in Brussels: budget, timeline and risks (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

Redesigning a law firm website in Brussels costs €10,000 to €60,000 with a local agency in 2026 depending on the number of languages, while Kolonell's fixed grid is €2,700, €4,500 or €8,200, with extranets and integrations on quote. The risk specific to Brussels is volume: every practice area page, lawyer profile and publication often exists in French, Dutch and English, and each of those URLs has to be redirected. Allow six to ten weeks in total, including 3 to 4 weeks of build once copy is approved, plus an ethics review of every page before go-live.

When should a Brussels firm redesign its site?

Around Avenue Louise, the European Quarter or Uccle, firms in corporate law, EU and competition law or family law share the same symptoms:

• lawyer profiles are out of date, departed associates are still online and new partners are missing;
• the Dutch or English version has only half the pages of the French one;
• publications (news alerts, case notes) sit in an uncategorised blog and cannot be found by practice area;
• the contact form invites people to describe their matter in detail, which sends confidential information through plain email;
• the site takes more than 3 seconds to load on mobile, while many prospects check profiles just before a meeting.

What budget should you plan in 2026?

2026 ballpark ranges based on typical agency quotes and public rate pages of Brussels agencies.

Each Kolonell tier includes a project manager reachable on Brussels time, native English or French copywriting, delivery in 3 to 4 weeks and 3 months of support; maintenance afterwards is on quote. Tier details are on the international offer page.

What does the redesign really cost over three years?

Example for a mid-sized trilingual site. The agency maintenance figures are a market assumption, not a Kolonell price.

Which risks should you watch, and how do you neutralise them?

Ranking loss on practice area pages and lawyer profiles. These are often the most visited pages after the home page. Export every URL from Search Console, language by language, and map each one to its new address with a 301 redirect. Check hreflang tags so Google serves the right language.

Publications. A note on a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling or a Belgian reform can draw traffic for years. Never delete one without a redirect to the closest publication.

Confidential forms. Replace the describe your matter field with a short enquiry, state that no lawyer client relationship exists until the firm accepts the matter, and host the data securely. Under GDPR, the Data Protection Authority expects a clear privacy notice and consent management for non-essential cookies.

Professional conduct rules. Lawyers registered with the French-speaking or Dutch-speaking Brussels bar are bound by rules on advertising: accurate information, no promise of outcomes, care with specialisation claims and client references. Have a partner approve every page before launch. This is not legal advice.

Downtime. Lower DNS TTL 48 hours ahead, switch on a Friday evening, test forms within the hour.

Milestones of a realistic timeline: week 1, URL inventory and trilingual sitemap; weeks 1 to 2, design; weeks 2 to 3, build and publication migration; week 4, testing, redirects and ethics review; then 30 days of monitoring. Add 1 to 3 weeks if translations are not ready.

Questions to ask the provider: who handles redirects in each language; how publications are migrated; where form data is hosted; who owns the code and domain.

When a local agency is the better choice. A firm of more than 30 lawyers that wants a client extranet, in-person workshops with each department and an integrated legal translation team will often be better served by a specialist Brussels agency. A remote studio suits a mid-sized firm that wants a fast site, clear profiles and well organised publications.

Mini case study

*Illustrative example.* Sophie Van den Broeck is managing partner of an eight-lawyer corporate and competition firm near Avenue Louise. Before signing, she measures the migration volume:

• 8 lawyer profiles + 12 practice area pages + 150 publications = 170 pages
• 170 pages × 3 languages = 510 URLs to inventory and redirect

She then compares build and third-party costs: €22,800 with a local agency against €10,200 with Kolonell Premium, a difference of €12,600. She writes delivery of the 510-URL redirect map before design into the contract. To price your own migration, request a free quote.

FAQ

What budget for a Brussels law firm website redesign in 2026?

Expect €10,000 to €60,000 with a local agency depending on languages and integrations. Kolonell's fixed grid is €2,700, €4,500 or €8,200.

Do we need French, Dutch and English?

It depends on your clients: a firm focused on EU institutions often targets all three. Premium at €8,200 is the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote; Dutch review by a freelancer is a third-party cost.

How long does the redesign take?

Kolonell delivers in 3 to 4 weeks once copy is approved. Plan 6 to 10 weeks in total with translations and the ethics review.

Will we lose our publications and their traffic?

Not if every URL is redirected: for a typical firm that means several hundred URLs. Monitoring in Search Console for 30 days catches anything missed.

Can the contact form accept documents?

Secure upload is possible, scoped on quote. For a first contact, a short form of 4 or 5 fields is enough and limits risk.

Let's scope your project. Send us your number of pages, languages and publications, and we will price a redesign delivered in 3 to 4 weeks. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.