Key takeaways
A solicitor's website in England and Wales is a regulated document. The SRA Transparency Rules, in their current form since 11 April 2025, dictate part of its content.
Price and service information must be "clear and accessible and in a prominent place on your website" (Rule 1.6). A PDF in the footer does not satisfy that.
The rules specify six services for individuals and three for businesses that trigger mandatory price publication.
Your SRA number and digital badge must appear prominently (Rule 4.1), and complaints information including routes to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA must be published (Rule 2).
The design opportunity: firms treat this as a compliance burden and bury it. Treating it as a conversion asset is a genuine competitive advantage, because published pricing is exactly what a prospective client is looking for.
Why this article exists
Almost all "law firm website design" advice is written for the US market, where fee opacity is normal and bar advertising rules are the main constraint. If you are a solicitor in England or Wales, that advice is not merely unhelpful — following it can put you out of compliance.
Your website carries obligations. Getting the design right means building those obligations in from the start rather than bolting a "Pricing" PDF onto a finished site six weeks after launch.
The good news is that the rules push you towards exactly what converts.
The rules, in website terms
The SRA Transparency Rules apply to firms and solicitors offering services to the public in England and Wales. The current version has applied since 11 April 2025.
Which services trigger mandatory price publication
For individuals (Rule 1.3):
- Residential conveyancing — freehold and leasehold sales and purchases, and mortgages
- Estate administration of UK assets, uncontested matters
- Immigration applications, preparation and submission, excluding asylum
- First-tier Tribunal immigration and visa appeals, excluding asylum
- Magistrates' Court representation for summary road traffic offences
- Employment Tribunal representation for unfair or wrongful dismissal claims
For businesses (Rule 1.4):
- Employment Tribunal defence of unfair or wrongful dismissal claims
- Debt recovery up to £100,000
- Business premises licensing applications, advice and representation
If your firm offers any of these, price publication is not optional.
What the price information has to contain (Rule 1.5)
This is more demanding than most firms realise. It is not "our conveyancing starts from £950."
- The total cost, or an average or range of costs
- The basis of charges — hourly rates or fixed fees
- Experience and qualifications of the people doing the work
- Disbursements described, with costs or ranges
- VAT treatment and amounts
- What is included in the displayed price, including the key stages of the matter and likely timescales
- Where a conditional fee or damages-based agreement applies, the circumstances in which a client may have to make payments
That last bullet on key stages and timescales is the one most commonly missed, and it is the one that most helps a prospective client.
Complaints information (Rule 2)
You must publish details of your complaints handling procedure, including how and when a complaint can be made to the Legal Ombudsman and to the SRA.
The SRA digital badge (Rule 4.1)
Your SRA number and the SRA's digital badge must be displayed in a prominent place on your website. Note: the rules require prominence; they do not themselves specify that the badge must be clickable, though the badge as issued by the SRA is designed to link to your regulatory record.
If you have no website (Rule 3)
The information must be available on request. Not having a site does not remove the obligation.
Letterhead and email (Rule 4.2)
Beyond the website: your SRA authorisation number and the phrase "authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority" must appear on letterhead and emails.
The design decisions that follow
1. Pricing needs real pages, not a PDF
"Clear and accessible and in a prominent place" (Rule 1.6) rules out the two most common implementations: a PDF download, and a single dense page listing every service in a table.
Build one pricing page per specified service, linked from the corresponding service page and from the main navigation:
unknown nodeThis satisfies the rule properly, and it happens to create pages that match how people search — "conveyancing fees [town]" is a real query with real intent.
2. Design a reusable pricing component
Because Rule 1.5 requires the same seven elements every time, build one component with fixed slots: headline cost or range, basis of charges, who does the work and their qualifications, disbursements, VAT, what's included with key stages and timescales, and any CFA/DBA payment circumstances.
Making these required fields in your CMS means nobody can publish a non-compliant pricing page later. That is the difference between compliance-by-design and compliance-by-memory.
3. Present key stages as a timeline, not a paragraph
The rule asks for key stages and likely timescales. A prospective client genuinely wants this. A simple vertical timeline — instruction → searches → enquiries → exchange → completion, with typical durations — is more useful and more readable than prose, and it demonstrably answers the rule.
This is the single best example of a compliance requirement that is also a conversion asset. Most firms write it grudgingly in a paragraph. Design it properly and it becomes the most persuasive thing on the page.
4. Put the badge and number where they signal trust
Rule 4.1 requires prominence. The footer on every page is the conventional and defensible placement. Adding the SRA number near the contact details and on the pricing pages costs nothing and reinforces legitimacy exactly where a hesitant visitor is deciding.
5. Complaints information gets a real page
A dedicated /complaints page covering your internal procedure, timescales, and how and when to escalate to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA. Link it from the footer. Firms worry this invites complaints; in practice it signals confidence, and it is required regardless.
6. Keep it current
Pricing must be reviewed and updated when it changes. Put a "last reviewed" date on each pricing page and diary an annual check. A dated page also reassures the reader that the number is real.
Beyond compliance: what actually converts
The rules give you the skeleton. These are the parts that decide whether a visitor instructs you.
Fee-earner profiles. Rule 1.5 already requires you to state experience and qualifications. Extend that into proper profiles with photographs, SRA numbers, areas of practice and years qualified. Clients instruct people.
A response commitment. "Enquiries received before 5pm get a response the same working day." Small firms can make this promise credibly and almost none do.
Plain-English service pages. One page per practice area, opening with the client's situation rather than the legal category. "You've had an offer accepted" beats "Residential Conveyancing Services."
Speed. Legal enquiries are mobile and urgent. Google and SOASTA's analysis of real-world mobile data found bounce probability rises 32% as load time goes from one second to three, and 123% by ten seconds. Deloitte and Google's Milliseconds Make Millions study across 37 brands found a 0.1-second improvement moving conversion 8.4–10.1%. Most solicitor sites are slow because of a page builder and unoptimised photography, both fixable.
Accessibility. WCAG AA as the floor. Public-sector-facing and disability-related practices should expect to be asked directly.
A launch checklist
- Pricing page published for every Rule 1.3 and 1.4 service the firm offers
- Each pricing page contains all seven Rule 1.5 elements
- Key stages and likely timescales stated, not implied
- VAT treatment explicit
- Disbursements listed with costs or ranges
- Pricing reachable from main navigation, not just the footer
- Complaints page published, covering Legal Ombudsman and SRA routes
- SRA number and digital badge prominent on every page
- Letterhead and email signatures carry the authorisation wording
- "Last reviewed" date on each pricing page, with an annual diary entry
- Tested on mobile, with a keyboard, and against WCAG AA contrast
For editable starting points see law firm Framer templates and the legal template category. For the broader design view, law firm website design covers firm-level structure and small law firm website design covers positioning for smaller practices. US practices should read attorney website design, where the regulatory picture is entirely different.
Frequently asked questions
What do the SRA Transparency Rules require on a solicitor's website? Price and service information for specified services, published clearly, accessibly and prominently; complaints handling details including how to complain to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA; and the firm's SRA number with the SRA digital badge displayed prominently. The current version of the rules has applied since 11 April 2025.
Which services require published prices? For individuals: residential conveyancing, uncontested estate administration of UK assets, immigration applications and First-tier Tribunal appeals excluding asylum, Magistrates' Court summary road traffic matters, and Employment Tribunal unfair or wrongful dismissal claims. For businesses: Employment Tribunal defence of those claims, debt recovery up to £100,000, and business premises licensing.
Can we publish pricing as a PDF? It is a poor fit for the requirement that information be clear, accessible and in a prominent place on the website. HTML pages, one per service, linked from main navigation, satisfy the rule more defensibly and perform far better in search.
Does the SRA digital badge have to be clickable? The rules require the SRA number and digital badge to be displayed prominently. They do not themselves specify clickability, though the badge as issued is designed to link to the firm's regulatory record. Displaying it as issued is the safest approach.
How often must pricing be updated? Whenever pricing changes, and reviewed at least annually. Adding a visible "last reviewed" date to each pricing page makes the review cycle easy to evidence and reassures prospective clients that the figures are current.
Last updated: 17 August 2026. This article summarises regulatory requirements for design purposes and is not legal or compliance advice. Always check the current rules directly with the SRA.
Sources: Solicitors Regulation Authority, Transparency Rules (current version applied 11 April 2025) · SRA, Price transparency guidance · Deloitte with Google, Milliseconds Make Millions · Google / SOASTA mobile bounce-probability analysis
