The verdict in three sentences
For a London arbitration and corporate practice, the website is usually the second thing a general counsel checks after a partner's name comes up in a referral, so a dated site weakens the pitch before the first call is booked. A redesign on Kolonell's fixed grid costs 2,300 to 6,900 GBP, against a 2026 ballpark of 15,000 to 150,000 GBP at London legal-sector agencies. The risks that deserve your attention are lost search equity, unreviewed claims and an unscoped client portal, and all three can be contained before you sign.
Five signals that your current site is losing mandates
Clients of an arbitration practice (general counsel, boards, state entities, funders) choose on partner reputation, seat and institutional experience, languages and sector depth.
| Signal on the current site | What a general counsel infers | What the redesign changes |
|---|---|---|
| Partner bios last edited two years ago, no seats listed | The team may be thinner than claimed | Structured bios: seats, institutional rules worked under (ICC, LCIA, SIAC, HKIAC, ICSID in general terms), languages, sectors |
| Practice pages written as generic bullet lists | No real sector depth | Sector pages for energy, construction, investment treaty or shareholder disputes, written by partners and edited |
| Mobile page load above 4 seconds | Careless with detail | Performance budget, target under 2.5 seconds on mobile |
| No accessibility work at all | Exposure under the Equality Act 2010, hard to read for senior readers | WCAG 2.2 AA as the target, checked before go-live |
| Analytics cookies fire before consent | Weak grip on UK GDPR and PECR | Consent before any non-essential cookie, privacy notice rewritten |
| French, Arabic or Spanish speaking partners, English-only site | Weak signal for state and Gulf clients | Premium, the multilingual tier, with languages set in the quote |
| Insights page with no post for 18 months | Practice inactive or shrinking | Publishing workflow the marketing team can run without a developer |
Firms regulated by the SRA must also keep the SRA digital badge and complaints information visible, and any statement about expertise or results must not mislead. Check these points with your compliance partner: this is not legal advice.
What a redesign costs in London in 2026
The figures below are prudent ranges drawn from typical agency quotes and public rate pages. They are a 2026 ballpark, not a survey.
| Option | Budget (2026 ballpark) | Typical duration | Main watch-out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large London legal-sector agency | 40,000 to 150,000 GBP | 4 to 9 months | Long committees, scope grows with each partner meeting |
| Mid-size London studio | 15,000 to 40,000 GBP | 3 to 5 months | Strong design, SEO migration sometimes treated as an extra |
| Freelance designer and developer | 4,000 to 12,000 GBP | 6 to 12 weeks | Single point of failure, rarely covers compliance review |
| Kolonell Starter | 2,300 GBP | 3 to 4 weeks | Focused site, ideal for a boutique with a clear offer |
| Kolonell Growth | 3,900 GBP | 3 to 4 weeks | Fuller architecture, sector and insight pages |
| Kolonell Premium, the multilingual tier | 6,900 GBP | 4 to 6 weeks | Languages and RTL scope set in the quote |
| Client portal, data room, DMS or CRM integration | On quote | Scoped separately | Never bundle it silently into a fixed price |
| Maintenance after the 3 included months | On quote (market assumption: 300 to 1,200 GBP per month for agency retainers) | Monthly | Ask what the retainer actually covers |
Every Kolonell tier includes a project manager reachable during UK business hours, native English copywriting, delivery in 3 to 4 weeks (4 to 6 for Premium) and 3 months of support. The details are on the international offer page.
Timeline by phase, once content is ready
The clock starts when partner bios, practice descriptions and the sign-off owner are confirmed. Name one decision maker on day one.
| Phase | Starter or Growth | Premium | What the firm provides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery and URL inventory | Week 1 | Week 1 | Access to the current site, Search Console, list of partners |
| Architecture and wireframes | Weeks 1 to 2 | Weeks 1 to 2 | Practice and sector priorities |
| Copy and design | Weeks 2 to 3 | Weeks 2 to 4 | Partner interviews, 30 minutes each |
| Build and content migration | Week 3 | Weeks 3 to 5 | Publications, PDFs, photography |
| Compliance review and 301 map | Week 4 | Weeks 5 to 6 | Sign-off by the compliance partner |
| Go-live and monitoring | End of week 4 | End of week 6 | DNS access, a quiet launch window |
Risks and how to contain them
Search equity. Inventory every live URL, map each one to its new address with a 301 redirect, and watch Search Console coverage for at least eight weeks. Partner pages often carry most of the organic traffic.
Content migration. Old insights and PDFs carry links from journals: keep or redirect them, never delete in bulk.
Regulated content. Directory rankings, matter descriptions and client names appear only where they are real, current and cleared. Build a compliance review into the schedule before go-live.
Gated areas and integrations. A client extranet or a link to your document management system is a separate project, scoped and priced on quote.
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Downtime. Switch DNS during a low-traffic window, keep the old site ready for rollback for 14 days, and test forms against UK GDPR consent rules.
Questions to ask any provider, and when a London agency is the better choice
Ask who writes the copy and whether they have written for regulated professions, how the redirect map is delivered, who owns the domain accounts and what happens in month four. A London agency is the better choice when you need a full brand repositioning with in-person workshops across several offices, on-site photography in the City every quarter, or deep integration with an existing document management or CRM stack from day one. For a clear redesign of a focused practice, a remote studio with a fixed grid is usually faster and easier to budget.
Mini case study
Illustrative example: "Harrowgate Chambers Partners", a fictional 14-partner arbitration and corporate boutique near Fleet Street, has a site with 180 URLs and partners who work in English, French and Arabic. It chooses Premium, the multilingual tier, at 6,900 GBP. It adds translation of 30,000 words at 0.10 GBP per word, so 3,000 GBP (market assumption), and partner photography at 1,500 GBP (market assumption). Total: 6,900 + 3,000 + 1,500 = 11,400 GBP. A mid-size London studio quoted 32,000 GBP for a similar scope, a difference of 20,600 GBP moved to its conference programme.
FAQ
How long does a redesign take for a London arbitration firm?
Count 3 to 4 weeks for Starter or Growth and 4 to 6 weeks for Premium once content is ready. Partner approvals often add 1 to 2 weeks, so name a single sign-off owner.
Will we lose our Google rankings?
A full URL inventory, a 301 map for every page and eight weeks of Search Console monitoring keep the risk low. No serious provider promises a ranking, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
Can we display directory rankings and matter names?
Only what is real, current and cleared by the client and your compliance partner. Arbitration confidentiality means many matters stay anonymous. This is not legal advice.
Is a client portal included in the 6,900 GBP Premium tier?
No. Portals, data rooms and DMS or CRM integrations are scoped and priced on quote, so the core site budget stays predictable.
What does maintenance cost after the 3 included months?
It is on quote. As a market assumption, London agency retainers for law firm sites run from 300 to 1,200 GBP per month depending on what is covered.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your partner count, current URL volume and target languages, and we will propose a tier, a fixed budget and a launch date. 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.
