Local agency or remote studio for a law firm website in Brussels: how to choose (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

For a law firm in Brussels, a local agency makes sense if you want meetings at the firm, partner portraits produced by the same supplier and a trilingual French, Dutch and English site managed end to end, at a 2026 ballpark of 8 000 to 40 000 EUR. A remote studio like Kolonell fits if you want a sober, precise site on your practice areas, your lawyers and how to contact you, at a fixed price of 2 700 EUR, 4 500 EUR or 8 200 EUR, with native French and English copy and a project manager at your hours. The criterion that most often decides in Brussels is language: if Dutch must be written and maintained by the supplier, the local agency keeps the advantage.

This version is written for the English-speaking partners of law firms in Brussels; the French version is the reference.

Which criteria should you compare between a Brussels agency, a freelancer and Kolonell?

These ranges are prudent orders of magnitude. They rest on public rate cards of Brussels agencies serving the professions, minimum project sizes on Clutch.co profiles, hourly rates published by Belgian studios (often 70 to 120 EUR per hour) and rates visible on Malt and Upwork. They are not quotes.

To be frank: a Brussels freelancer at 2 000 EUR costs less than our Starter plan. What Kolonell adds at 2 700 EUR is a project manager, copy written for clients looking for a lawyer rather than jargon, a written fixed price and the handover of every login. The team is in Senegal (GMT), one hour behind Brussels in winter and two in summer: calls fit into your morning or afternoon. Payment by bank transfer or Wise, 50 % at kickoff, 50 % at delivery. Details on our international website offer.

When is the local agency the better choice for a Brussels firm?

To put it plainly, stay local if:

• Dutch is a working language of the firm and you want the supplier to write and proofread the NL pages with the same care as the FR pages;
• you want portraits and a video of the partners shot at the firm, on Avenue Louise or near the Palais de Justice; Kolonell does not shoot on site;
• the site comes with an ongoing content plan (legal news articles, newsletter, events) with a team that comes to a meeting every month;
• you want a client extranet to share documents and invoices: that is an application, quoted on request at Kolonell, and a local team that hosts it can be a sound choice.

When does a remote studio like Kolonell fit?

Many firms of two to fifteen lawyers have a clear need: present their practice areas, their lawyers and how to consult them, in French and English, without an endless timeline. That is a well defined scope.

What does a Brussels law firm site need to get right?

Brussels brings together very different clients: Belgian companies, international businesses and associations around the European Quarter, expatriates looking for an employment or immigration lawyer, individuals consulting about a divorce or a lease. One site must speak to all of them without mixing everything, and say clearly which languages each lawyer works in.

• Two bars. Brussels has a French-speaking and a Dutch-speaking bar. State each lawyer's bar on their profile.
• Ethics and advertising. Advertising by lawyers is allowed but governed by the bars' ethics rules: fair, dignified information, with no promise of results and no misleading comparison. Have a partner proofread the copy before launch.
• Professional secrecy. The contact form should warn visitors not to send confidential documents before the firm takes the matter, and messages should land in a secure mailbox.
• Personal data. The GDPR applies, supervised in Belgium by the Data Protection Authority: privacy policy, a compliant cookie banner, a retention period for enquiries.
• Accessibility. The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 to certain services; WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA is the technical reference.

This is not legal advice.

Which questions should you ask before signing?

• Who writes the Dutch pages, and who keeps them up to date?
• Is the copy checked against the ethics rules, and by whom?
• Where do form messages go, and how long are they kept?
• Can a lawyer publish an article or edit their profile alone?
• Who owns the domain, the hosting and the portraits?
• What is the written price of an extra language or practice area?

What does each option cost over three years?

Both columns use the same maintenance assumption after the support period and the same hosting. Kolonell maintenance after support is quoted on request: the figure below is an assumption, identical on both sides.

Mini case study

Illustrative example. Laurence D. is founding partner of a six-lawyer corporate and employment firm in Ixelles. Two Dutch-speaking partners are joining, so the site must exist in three languages. A Brussels agency quotes 22 000 EUR, Dutch and portraits included. The other route: Kolonell Premium at 8 200 EUR for French and English, a professional translation of the Dutch pages at 1 400 EUR and a local photographer at 600 EUR, for 10 200 EUR. The gap is 11 800 EUR. If the firm wants the supplier to own the Dutch version over time, the agency is worth the difference; if the firm's usual translator can follow up, the remote route is enough.

FAQ

Can Kolonell write in Dutch?

No, our native copywriting covers French and English. Dutch pages are supplied by you or quoted separately, often around 1 000 to 2 000 EUR for a 10 to 15 page site, as an order of magnitude.

Can we show our fees?

Yes, if the partners wish and within the ethics rules. The Growth plan at 4 500 EUR includes a billing methods page you edit yourselves.

Is the contact form compatible with professional secrecy?

It shows a notice, collects the minimum and sends messages to your mailbox, with no unnecessary third-party storage. An encrypted document exchange space is a custom application, quoted on request.

What time are the calls?

During your office hours, the team being 1 to 2 hours apart from Brussels. A written update reaches you every week during the 3 to 4 week project.

What does support include?

Three months after launch, six on Premium at 8 200 EUR. After that, maintenance is quoted on request and you keep every access.

Let's scope your project. Send us your practice areas, the list of your lawyers with their bar and the languages you need, and we reply with a fixed-price plan and a 3 to 4 week timeline. Request your free quote or see the international offer.