- Should the website be in Spanish?
- If Spanish speakers are part of the firm's actual client base, yes, and properly: separate URLs, translated by a person, with the form, confirmation email and follow-up in the same language. If the firm cannot answer the phone in Spanish, publishing a Spanish site creates a worse experience than not having one. Decide by who you can serve, not by who you would like to reach.
- How much should the inquiry form ask for?
- Enough to triage and no more. Benefit sought, country of birth, current or last status, any pending case or prior denial, whether anyone is detained, and any deadline in hand. Keep A-numbers, document uploads and detailed history out of the public form and behind a secure portal after intake. Every extra field costs completions, so each one has to earn its keep by changing what the firm does next.
- Can we publish client testimonials?
- Testimonials for law firms are governed by the Florida Bar's advertising rules, which set requirements around implied results and disclaimers, so any testimonial program should be reviewed before it goes live and it is worth confirming the current rules with your own counsel. Immigration adds a second layer, because a client's status and case history are sensitive and consent needs to be fully informed. Reviews on a Google Business Profile and anonymized case-type descriptions are the usual practical route.
- Do we need a client portal?
- For document collection and case updates, a portal usually pays for itself, both in reduced phone traffic and in keeping sensitive documents out of email. It is not part of the marketing site and should not be. Link to it, keep it clearly separate, and never let the public form become an ad hoc intake of identity documents.
- How fast does the site need to be?
- Fast enough on a mid-range phone throttled to a poor connection, which is a stricter test than any desktop measurement. In practice that means restrained imagery, few third party scripts, and the phone number and primary content available before anything decorative loads. Google's Core Web Vitals give a reasonable scorecard, but the real test is opening the site on a cheap handset outside the office and seeing how it feels.