Website Design in Washington DC for Law Firms Whose Team Pages Answer to the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct

Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A District law firm can list an economist on its team page as a principal who shares in the profits, an arrangement the D.C. Bar says the District alone allowed among U.S. jurisdictions from 1991 until several years ago, and Rule 5.4(b) of the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct sets its conditions. The same rules reach the firm name, the line under a lawyer admitted only elsewhere and the name of a partner who leaves for public office. Website design in Washington DC for law firms writes every bio, the firm name and the results pages to those rules. The Progression team works from New York, builds District firm sites remotely and comes to your office for on-site sessions whenever you ask.

A trade name that sounds like a federal office

A hypothetical solo veterans benefits practice is about to launch as Federal Benefits Claims Office, with an eagle mark. The lawyer rewrites it to her surname plus Benefits Law. Rule 7.5(a) allows a trade name only if it does not imply a connection with a government agency or with a public or charitable legal services organization and is not otherwise misleading.

Comment 1 to Rule 7.5 adds that a trade name with a place in it may need an express disclaimer that the firm is not a public legal aid agency, and that a distinctive website address can also designate a firm. DC web design firms start with the firm’s name, because changing a name after launch means redrawing the site.

Website design in Washington DC for law firms bound by the District’s conduct rules

The D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct, as the D.C. Bar publishes them, govern what a law firm’s site may say. Rule 7.1 governs every communication about a lawyer’s services, advertising included. A communication is false or misleading if it contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law, omits a fact needed to keep the statement as a whole from being materially misleading, or contains an assertion about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services that cannot be substantiated.

Comment 4 says the District subjects lawyer advertising only to the requirement that it not be false or misleading, and the Rules index marks Rules 7.2 to 7.4 as not contained in the District’s rules. A web design company in Washington DC building for a firm therefore asks one question of every line: can the firm substantiate it?

Plain advice: ethics questions go to the D.C. Bar’s legal ethics pages or to counsel. The site states facts the firm can support and leaves interpretation to them.

What does Rule 7.1 ask of each line on a site?

That the firm can substantiate it. A line that cannot be supported is the line to cut.

• Check every superlative and comparison.
• Check every statistic against a record.
• Check every credential against the person named.

Eight people on one firm’s team page

Web design in Washington DC for a law firm reads best one person at a time. Each row below is a person a District firm may list, the rule behind the title line, what the bio says and what the page never says.

Hiring DC web designers who know these rows keeps the page current when someone joins or leaves. What the build costs is in the next section.

The partner admitted only across the river

A partner in the District office who is admitted only in another jurisdiction needs a line under the name that says so. Rule 7.5(b) puts it this way for firms with offices in more than one jurisdiction, and the same care suits a District office.

• Write the jurisdictions of admission under the name.
• Say where the lawyer is not licensed to practice.
• Send what the lawyer may do in the District to counsel.
• Never write a title that implies a District license.

An economist who holds a share of the firm

Comment 7 to Rule 5.4 says the rule permits economists to work in a firm with antitrust practitioners. The bio names the role as it is.

• Write economist or principal, never attorney.
• Keep the bio factual.
• Link no legal advice to the person’s name.
• Update the page if the arrangement changes.

A managing director with authority and no law license

Rule 5.4(b) as it stands covers a nonlawyer who exercises managerial authority, and comment 7 names professional managers as office managers or executive directors. The bio says managing director and says nothing that suggests a law license.

• Use the real title.
• Do not list the person among the lawyers.
• Describe the role in business terms.
• Keep one place to update if the rule changes.

A name that leaves for public office

Rule 7.5(c) bars the name of a lawyer holding a public office from the firm name, or communications on its behalf, during any substantial period in which the lawyer is not actively and regularly practicing with the firm. The site’s firm name, header and footer are the places to check.

• Check the firm name in the header and footer.
• Check page titles and metadata.
• Check letterhead downloads.
• Restore nothing until counsel says the lawyer is back in practice.

Former partners, and two practices sharing a suite

It is misleading to keep using the name of a lawyer formerly associated with the firm who now practices elsewhere, according to comment 1 to Rule 7.5. The next sections cover the suite.

• Remove the former partner’s name from titles and text.
• Keep old bios off the live site.
• Redirect old bio addresses to the team page.
• Ask counsel about archived pages.

What website design in DC costs for a law firm

Pricing depends on scope and is set in the written proposal. Published prices are subject to change. A website design company in Washington DC prices the team directory, the results pages and the intake form as separate parts of the scope. Bio photography and attorney video are available on request.

Firm site prices on Progression’s service page

These are the fixed-scope starting prices on our website design and development page.

Sole purpose, and the services menu it allows

Rule 5.4(b)(1) lets a lawyer practice in an organization with a nonlawyer holding a financial interest or exercising managerial authority only if the organization has as its sole purpose providing legal services to clients. Plain advice: that firm’s services menu lists legal services and the professional work that assists them, never a standalone consulting product sold apart from the legal work.

The written conditions under 5.4(b)(4) live in the firm’s agreements, not on the site. Comment 8 says the rule does not permit a corporation, investment banking firm, investor or any other person or entity to acquire ownership of a law firm for investment, so an investors or backed by line has no place on such a site.

Web development companies in Washington DC are often asked to build a services menu first, and for these firms the rule comes first. A web design agency in Washington DC that begins with the rule saves the menu a rewrite. See law firm website design for the wider site.

Can a services menu list a consulting product?

Not as a standalone product sold apart from the legal work, in a firm that relies on Rule 5.4(b). The menu lists legal services and the professional work that assists them.

Two practices, one suite, two websites

Rule 7.5(d) says lawyers may state or imply that they practice in a partnership or other organization only when that is the fact. Comment 2 adds that lawyers sharing office facilities but not in fact associated in a firm may not call themselves, for example, Smith and Jones.

Plain advice: two solos in one suite keep two sites, two names and no shared our team page. A shared reception or conference room is described as shared space, not as a firm. A DC web design firm building both sites keeps them apart.

Results, verdicts and client words

Comment 1 to Rule 7.1 says advertisements that describe the amount of a damage award, the lawyer’s record in obtaining favorable verdicts, or client endorsements, unless suitably qualified, can create an unjustified expectation. Comparisons with other lawyers are false or misleading if they cannot be substantiated.

Comment 3 permits the names of clients regularly represented only with their consent. Plain advice: every result entry carries the facts that qualify it, a review widget shows the full text, and a client logo wall exists only with written consent on file. Web design in DC for a results page starts with those three habits.

Web design companies in DC that build review pages leave the choice of what to publish to the firm. See law firm marketing agency for the marketing side.

Should a review widget show the full text of a review?

Yes. A widget that shows only the best sentence can leave out a fact needed to keep the whole from misleading.

Referral partners and the reciprocal line

Rule 7.1(c) bars paying or giving anything of material value for recommending a lawyer’s services, with listed exceptions: the reasonable costs of permitted advertisements, the usual fees of a legal service plan or lawyer referral service, and payment for a law practice under Rule 1.17. Under 7.1(c)(4), a lawyer may refer clients to another lawyer or nonlawyer professional under an agreement that provides for the other person to refer clients to the lawyer, if the reciprocal agreement is not exclusive and the client is informed of its existence and nature.

Comment 7 says such agreements should not be of indefinite duration and should be reviewed periodically. Plain advice: a referral partners page never calls an arrangement exclusive, and the engagement process, not the website, is where the client is informed. A DC web design agency building that page writes it in those terms.

A web development company in Washington DC building the intake form keeps referral arrangements out of the contact flow.

Can a referral page call a partner exclusive?

No. Rule 7.1(c)(4) requires that the reciprocal agreement not be exclusive, and the page never says otherwise.

A fees page the District’s rule allows

Comment 3 to Rule 7.1 permits public information about the basis on which fees are determined, prices for specific services, payment and credit arrangements, and foreign language ability. Comment 4 repeats that the only test is whether the communication is false or misleading. Plain advice: a flat fee is printed with what it covers and what it leaves out.

Rule 7.1(b) and comment 5 limit in-person solicitation, which includes telephone contact but not email. An intake form’s follow-up call goes only to someone who asked for one. A web design company in DC that builds the form sets that rule into the form’s wording.

Web design firms in Washington DC that write a fees page use words, not sample dollar figures, in examples.

May an intake form trigger a follow-up call?

Only for someone who asked for one. The form says so and records the request.

• Offer a call as a choice the visitor makes.
• Record the choice with the inquiry.
• Send everyone else an email reply.

What the D.C. Bar asked the Court of Appeals to change in 2026

On April 27, 2026, the D.C. Bar approved and transmitted to the D.C. Court of Appeals proposed amendments to Rule 5.4 and its comments, with minor comment amendments to Rules 5.3 and 5.7, and the court accepted written comments until August 12, 2026. The D.C. Bar’s post on the proposals lists them.

• Fee sharing where the firm’s principal rather than sole purpose is legal services, and any other services are law-related.
• Disclosure to prospective and existing clients if a representation involves nonlawyer owners.
• Registration with the D.C. Bar, updated annually, for firms with nonlawyer owners.
• The Mandatory Course on the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct and Practice for nonlawyer owners.
• Nonlawyers with only managerial authority, such as a chief operating officer, moved out of Rule 5.4.
• Neither the current rule nor the proposals allow private equity or outside investment.

These are proposals sent to the court. The rule as the D.C. Bar now publishes it applies until the court acts. Plain advice: a site with nonlawyer principals keeps its bio fields and an about page easy to update in one place. Web design companies in Washington DC that build those pages leave the forecast to counsel.

Does the proposed change apply today?

No. The proposals are with the court, and the rule as the D.C. Bar publishes it governs until the court acts.

Who signs off on each line before launch

A web development company in DC can build the pages, but the lines belong to the people they describe. The table sets out who confirms what and what sends a line back for review. Website design companies in Washington DC that run this sign-off keep every page current.

For the AEO side of a law firm’s presence, see AEO for law firms, and for search work in the District see SEO company in Washington DC.

Frequently asked questions