13 questions to ask before you hire a law firm marketing agency
What to ask about ownership, fees, reporting, intake and compliance, what good answers sound like, and the red flags that should end the conversation.
Most firms choose a marketing agency on a sales call, from a deck full of results nobody can check. The questions below are designed to get past the deck. Ask all of them, ideally in writing, and compare the answers side by side. (They apply to us too.)
Ownership and money
1. Who will own the ad accounts, website, domain and tracking numbers?
A good answer: your firm, from day one, in your firm’s name, with the agency given access.
A red flag: the agency owns the website or ad account and “licenses” it to you, or you’d have to buy it out if you leave. Losing a website or an ad account’s history can set a firm back months.
2. How do you charge, and is any part of your fee tied to cases or legal fees?
A good answer: a flat fee by scope, possibly banded by ad spend.
A red flag: a price per signed case or a percentage of fees. Under ABA Model Rule 5.4 and its state versions, sharing legal fees with a non-lawyer is generally prohibited, and in California workers’ comp, paying for referrals is barred by Labor Code §3215. If an agency proposes this, ask your counsel before signing anything.
3. Is ad spend paid directly to the platforms? Is there a markup?
A good answer: you pay Google and Meta directly, on your own card or invoice, and the agency never touches media money.
A red flag: a single “all-in” monthly number that hides how much reaches the ad platforms.
4. What’s the contract term, and how do we leave?
A good answer: a defined start period, then month to month, with a written handover of everything built.
A red flag: long auto-renewing terms, early-termination fees, or vague answers about what happens to your data and pages.
Reporting
5. What number do you report first?
A good answer: cost per signed case, by practice, counted by the month the lead arrived. See our guide to cost per signed case.
A red flag: impressions, clicks or leads, with signed cases nowhere in the report.
6. How do you define a lead, a qualified lead and a signed case?
A good answer: written definitions, agreed with you before anything runs, and a sample report that uses them.
A red flag: definitions that change from month to month, or numbers that come only from the ad platforms.
7. Can I see a real report, with the client’s name removed?
A good answer: yes, with numbers labeled by source, and an explanation of anything that’s estimated.
The work
8. Who will actually do the work on our account?
A good answer: named people, with their roles, and who you’ll speak with each week.
A red flag: a senior person on the sales call and an unnamed “team” afterward.
9. What do you do about intake?
A good answer: they measure speed to lead and contact rate, set up immediate follow-up, and review lost leads with your team. Ads that generate leads nobody calls back are wasted spend.
A red flag: “intake is your side.”
10. Do you work with firms that compete with us in our market?
A good answer: a clear policy, such as exclusivity by practice and metro at some level, or a commitment to tell you before taking on a direct competitor.
Rules and risk
11. How do you make sure ads follow attorney-advertising rules?
A good answer: a written review of every ad before launch, covering the responsible attorney and office where your state requires them, no guaranteed outcomes, documented testimonials and awards only, disclosed dramatizations, and final approval by you or your counsel.
A red flag: “we’ve never had a problem.” The firm, not the agency, carries the professional responsibility.
12. What data do you send to Google and Meta?
A good answer: conversion stages and hashed contact details only, with neutral event names, and nothing about injuries, diagnoses or case details.
A red flag: they don’t know, or they send intake answers to improve “targeting.”
13. What would make you turn us down?
A good answer: something specific, such as a budget too small for the market, no ability to answer leads, or a direct conflict with an existing client.
A red flag: they’d take anyone. An agency with no reason to say no has no reason to tell you the truth about fit.
Claims to treat with care
Be careful with any claim you can’t check: “top 1%,” “award-winning,” a wall of logos, percentages with no dates, or testimonials from firms you can’t find. Ask for the source. A good agency will tell you exactly where each number came from, or take it down.
How to compare the answers
Put the answers in a table, one row per question and one column per agency. Weight ownership, fee structure and reporting most heavily: those decide whether you can see what’s working, and whether you can leave if it isn’t. Then ask two current clients of each finalist the same three questions: what the agency reports first, how fast problems get fixed, and whether they’d hire them again.