The verdict in three sentences
For an international arbitration and corporate law firm in Chicago, the website is where a general counsel or a board checks partner standing, seats and institutions, languages and sector depth before taking a call. A redesign quoted by Chicago legal marketing agencies typically runs $25,000 to $150,000 in 2026, while Kolonell works on a fixed grid of $2,900 (Starter), $4,900 (Growth) and $8,900 USD (Premium). The real risks lie elsewhere: lost search history, a botched content migration and copy that slips past the bar's advertising rules.
Five signs the current site is costing you mandates
Arbitration clients rarely browse. In-house counsel arrive with a name from a colleague, an institution's list or a conference panel, and they spend a few minutes verifying it. A site built ten years ago for a domestic litigation practice tends to fail that check in predictable ways.
- Partner pages read like CVs from 2015. No recent tribunal roles, no seats, no languages of practice, no sector focus.
- Institutions are invisible. Experience before the ICC, ICSID or other institutions is buried in a PDF or missing altogether.
- The firm looks domestic. Nothing signals cross-border work, foreign-language capability or experience with states and state entities.
- Mobile is broken. Many first checks happen on a phone between meetings, and a cramped, slow page sends the wrong signal.
- Insights stopped in 2022. A dormant publications page suggests a dormant practice, whatever the reality.
None of this requires inventing anything. Clients judge on facts the firm already has: who the partners are, where they sit, which institutions they appear before, which industries they know.
What a redesign costs in Chicago in 2026
Local figures below are a 2026 ballpark drawn from typical agency quotes and public rate pages; Kolonell figures are its fixed grid.
| Option | 2026 budget (USD) | Typical delay | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large legal marketing agency, Chicago | $60,000 to $150,000+ | 4 to 8 months | Strategy, brand, custom design, content team |
| Mid-size Chicago web agency | $25,000 to $60,000 | 3 to 5 months | Custom design, CMS, limited copywriting |
| Freelance designer and developer | $8,000 to $20,000 | 2 to 4 months | Design and build, copy supplied by the firm |
| Kolonell Starter | $2,900 | 3 to 4 weeks | Focused site, native English copywriting |
| Kolonell Growth | $4,900 | 3 to 4 weeks | Fuller structure: practices, people, insights |
| Kolonell Premium | $8,900 | 4 to 6 weeks | The multilingual tier, languages set in the quote |
| Maintenance after launch | $300 to $1,500 per month (market assumption) | Ongoing | Updates, security, small changes |
Every Kolonell tier includes a project manager reachable in Chicago business hours, native English or French copywriting, delivery in 3 to 4 weeks (4 to 6 for Premium) once content is ready, and 3 months of support. Client portals, deal rooms, conflict-check integrations and other custom work are on quote, as is maintenance after the three included months. The details are on the international offer page.
Timeline by phase
| Phase | Kolonell (Starter or Growth) | Kolonell Premium | Who must be available at the firm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scoping and URL inventory | Days 1 to 3 | Days 1 to 4 | Managing partner, marketing lead |
| Structure and copywriting | Week 1 to 2 | Week 1 to 3 | Practice heads for interviews |
| Design and build | Week 2 to 3 | Week 2 to 4 | Marketing lead for approvals |
| Compliance review of copy | Week 3 | Week 4 to 5 | General counsel or ethics partner |
| Redirects, tests, go-live | Week 3 to 4 | Week 5 to 6 | IT contact for DNS |
The clock starts once content is ready: partner bios, practice descriptions, approved photos. In most firms, partner availability is the bottleneck, not the build.
Risks and how to contain them
| Risk | What goes wrong | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Loss of search visibility | Old partner and practice URLs return 404 | Full URL inventory, 301 redirect map, Search Console checks after launch |
| Content migration | Publications lose dates, authors or files | Migration list item by item, checked before switch |
| Advertising rules | Copy implies results or specialist status the bar does not allow | Ethics review before go-live under Illinois rules modelled on ABA Model Rules 7.1 to 7.3 |
| Accessibility | ADA Title III demand letters target inaccessible sites | WCAG 2.1 AA target for templates, contrast and forms |
| Gated areas and integrations | Client portal scope grows mid-project | Separate quote, separate timeline |
| Downtime | DNS switch during a hearing week | Planned switch, rollback ready, low-traffic hour |
Lawyer advertising rules in the US come from state bar rules, largely modelled on the ABA Model Rules, which prohibit false or misleading communications about a lawyer's services. In practice that means no invented cases, no ranking or award the firm does not hold, and care with words like specialist or expert. This is not legal advice: your ethics partner signs off on the final copy.
Questions to ask any provider, and when a local agency wins
Need a professional website?
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Ask each provider: who writes the partner bios and how many interviews are planned; how redirects are tested; who reviews copy for bar compliance; what is excluded from the price; and who owns the domain, hosting and CMS accounts at the end.
A Chicago agency is the better choice when you need a full rebrand with in-person workshops, a large content team on retainer, or deep integration with practice management and conflict systems from day one. Kolonell fits firms that already know their positioning and want a credible, fast, well-written site on a fixed budget. We have built sites for professional services firms such as TR Signing Group, a signing services company in New Jersey.
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Lakeshore Arbitration Partners, a fictional 18-lawyer firm in Chicago, wants a site in English and Spanish for Latin American clients. It chooses Premium, the multilingual tier, in English and Spanish, at $8,900. It adds legal translation review at about $3,600 (market assumption: 20,000 words at $0.18) and a partner photo session at $2,500 (market assumption). Total: $15,000. A mid-size Chicago agency quoted $55,000 for a comparable scope, so the difference of $40,000 can fund two years of content and events.
FAQ
How long does an arbitration firm redesign take with Kolonell?
Three to four weeks for Starter or Growth and four to six weeks for Premium, counted from the moment content is ready. Partner interviews usually take the most calendar time.
Will we lose our Google visibility?
Not if every old URL is mapped to a new one with a 301 redirect and Search Console is checked in the first 30 days. Most losses come from skipped redirects on partner and publication pages.
Can we list our tribunal appointments and institutions?
Factual, verifiable experience can generally be described, subject to confidentiality and your state bar rules. Avoid outcome claims and rankings you cannot document.
Is a client portal included?
No. Portals, deal rooms and system integrations are quoted separately, because their scope varies widely from one firm to another.
What happens after the 3 months of support?
Maintenance is on quote. Market rates in Chicago often fall between $300 and $1,500 per month (market assumption), depending on update volume.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your practices, partner count and target languages, and we will propose a tier and a timeline. 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.
