The verdict in three sentences
A law firm website redesign in Edinburgh costs £8,000 to £45,000 in 2026 depending on the size of the local agency, against a fixed £3,900 (Growth) or £6,900 (Premium) with Kolonell for a content-led site without a client portal. The real risk is not the budget but losing search traffic on practice area pages and solicitor profiles that have ranked for years, and a URL inventory with a 301 redirect map largely prevents it. Plan 3 to 4 weeks of build once content is ready, plus 2 to 4 weeks of drafting and compliance review that only your partners can carry out.
Which signs say an Edinburgh firm is due for a redesign?
In firms across the New Town, the West End and Leith, the same symptoms keep coming up:
- solicitor profiles are two hires out of date and departed partners are still listed;
- private client, conveyancing, commercial and family law pages blend English and Scots law concepts, although property law and succession law differ markedly in Scotland;
- the conveyancing quote form sends personal data by plain email, with no clear retention policy;
- the cookie banner sets analytics cookies before any consent, which PECR does not allow for non-essential cookies;
- the site is hard to use by keyboard or screen reader, while the Equality Act 2010 requires you not to disadvantage disabled clients;
- only the previous supplier knows how to edit the CMS.
Two of these signs are usually enough to justify a redesign rather than a visual refresh.
What budget should you plan for the redesign?
2026 ballpark, based on typical agency quotes and public rate pages from UK providers. These are ranges, not guaranteed prices.
| Option | Typical scope | 2026 budget | Build time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelance web designer in Edinburgh or the Lothians | adapted theme, 10 to 20 pages | £3,000 to £8,000 | 4 to 8 weeks |
| Small Edinburgh studio | custom design, 20 to 40 pages, CMS | £8,000 to £18,000 | 8 to 12 weeks |
| Legal-sector specialist agency (Scotland or UK) | strategy, custom design, 40+ pages, integrations | £18,000 to £45,000 | 12 to 20 weeks |
| Kolonell Starter | 5-page site | £2,300 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Kolonell Growth | + blog and analytics | £3,900 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Kolonell Premium | + advanced animation, SEO groundwork, the multilingual tier (languages set in the quote) | £6,900 | 3 to 4 weeks |
All three Kolonell tiers include a project manager reachable during your office hours, native English copywriting, delivery in 3 to 4 weeks and 3 months of support. These stay on quote: a secure client portal for document exchange, an integration with your case management software, a conveyancing fee calculator with complex logic, and any search work beyond the groundwork. Maintenance after the 3 months is also on quote. Tier details are on the international offer page.
What does a realistic timeline look like?
| Phase | Led by | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Audit and inventory of existing URLs | provider | 3 to 5 days |
| Content: practice areas, solicitor profiles, fee information | firm + copywriter | 2 to 4 weeks, often the bottleneck |
| Design and development | provider | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Compliance review of marketing content | compliance partner | 3 to 5 working days |
| Redirects, testing, accessibility check | provider | 3 to 5 days |
| Go-live then Search Console monitoring | both | 1 day + 4 to 8 weeks of monitoring |
In total, 6 to 9 calendar weeks, of which 3 to 4 weeks are pure build. Solicitors in Scotland are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland, whose rules govern how firms promote themselves: have every marketing claim (specialisms, comparisons, references to outcomes) reviewed by the person responsible for compliance before go-live. This is not legal advice.
Which risks matter most, and how do you reduce them?
| Risk | What happens | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Search traffic loss | old profile and practice area URLs return 404 errors | full crawl, page-to-page 301 map, sitemap submitted in Google Search Console |
| Content migration | outdated fee scales, English law content on a Scottish site | page-by-page audit, sign-off by a partner |
| Quote form or calculator | displayed LBTT or fee figures are no longer current | testing before go-live, rates checked against Revenue Scotland |
| Form data | sensitive family law details sent unencrypted | UK GDPR, privacy notice, minimal fields, retention period |
| Cookies | analytics running before consent | PECR-compliant banner, rejecting as easy as accepting |
| Downtime | outage during the DNS switch | TTL lowered 48 hours ahead, switch out of office hours, rollback ready |
| Accessibility | forms unusable by keyboard | WCAG 2.2 AA target, accessibility statement published |
Data protection falls under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, overseen by the ICO. The minimum pre-launch checklist: every old URL redirected, forms tested end to end, cookie consent verified, accessibility statement published, backup of the old site kept for 90 days.
When is a local Edinburgh agency the better choice?
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To be honest: if your redesign includes a client portal tied into case management, in-person workshops with fifteen partners, a rebrand across several Scottish offices or an internal procurement process that demands local references, an Edinburgh agency with legal-sector depth earns its fee. For a content-led site of 20 to 60 pages with forms and team profiles, a remote studio with a project manager in your time zone is enough. Kolonell built the website for TR Signing Group, a signing services company in New Jersey, a professional services profile close to yours. Photos of partners in the office remain a job for a local photographer (third-party cost, often £400 to £900 per half day as a ballpark).
Questions to ask any provider: who holds the domain name and the code? How many URLs does the redirect map cover? Who reviews compliance? What does maintenance cost after the warranty?
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Fiona Reid, managing partner of a 9-solicitor private client and conveyancing firm in the New Town. The old site has 70 indexed URLs: 12 practice area pages, 14 team profiles, 38 articles and 6 utility pages. A local studio quotes £16,000 over 12 weeks. With Kolonell Premium at £6,900, plus a local photographer at £650 (third-party cost), the budget comes to £7,550, which is £8,450 less. The client portal moves to a phase 2 on quote. The 301 map covers all 70 URLs, with 9 outdated articles merged into 3 guides. Timeline: 3 weeks of content, 4 weeks of build, one week of review.
FAQ
How much does a law firm website redesign cost in Edinburgh in 2026?
As a ballpark, £3,000 to £8,000 with a freelancer and £8,000 to £45,000 with an agency. Kolonell works from a fixed grid: £2,300, £3,900 or £6,900.
How long should we plan for?
Kolonell delivers in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready. With drafting and compliance review, allow 6 to 9 calendar weeks.
Will we lose our search rankings?
A temporary dip of 2 to 6 weeks is common even with a good migration. A complete 301 map and Search Console monitoring sharply limit lasting losses.
Is the client portal included?
No, a secure portal and software integrations are on quote. The 3 months of included support cover the delivered site.
Do we need an accessibility statement?
It is good practice to show your efforts under the Equality Act 2010. Aim for WCAG 2.2 AA and a 1 to 2 day audit before launch.
Let's scope your project. A 20 to 70 page redesign with a full redirect map, from £3,900 and delivered in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
