Leaving FindLaw or Scorpion: how to switch without losing your site
Why lawyers leave big legal marketing vendors
Lawyers describe the same handful of problems again and again: long contracts, not knowing what work is being done, high monthly costs for results they cannot connect to signed cases, and losing their website when they leave. A few examples from lawyers on Reddit:
"They totally shut down my site."A lawyer on r/LawFirm, describing leaving a large legal marketing vendor, Reddit
"FindLaw loves to tell you how much traffic you're getting from Google, and they take credit for it all because of their SEO."A lawyer on r/LawFirm, Reddit
"Was thinking about going with Justia but then I heard that you technically don't own your site which feels like a very bad deal."A lawyer on r/LawFirm, Reddit
These are individual experiences, and contracts vary by vendor, product and year. Some firms are happy with their vendor. The point is to know exactly what you own before you need to leave.
Step 1: Find out what you actually own
| Asset | How to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | Look up the registrant with a WHOIS search and ask for registrar login details. | If the vendor registered it in their name, you need it transferred before anything else. |
| Website content and design | Read the contract section on intellectual property and hosting. | Some platforms license the site to you rather than selling it. You may keep the text but not the design or code. |
| Google Business Profile | Open the profile and check who is listed as owner and manager. | You should be the primary owner. Vendors should be managers you can remove. |
| Search Console and Analytics | Check the user lists in each account. | Years of data live here. Make sure you are an owner and export what you need. |
| Phone numbers | Ask whether tracking numbers can be ported to you. | Old numbers are printed on listings and in clients' phones. |
| Directory profiles | List every directory profile the vendor created. | Paid profiles may disappear when the subscription ends. |
Step 2: Read the contract before you give notice
- Term and renewal: many legal marketing contracts run 12 months or more and renew automatically unless you give notice in a set window.
- Notice period: 30 to 90 days is common. Put it in a calendar.
- Early termination or offboarding fees: some vendors charge to release the site or to transfer it. One firm described a $2,500 offboarding fee.
- What happens to the site: whether it is taken down, handed over, or available only as an export of text.
Step 3: Protect your rankings during the switch
Rankings belong to URLs and to your Google profile, not to the vendor. You keep most of them if you move carefully:
- Crawl the current site and save a list of every URL, title and page text before anything changes.
- Export Search Console data to see which pages bring impressions and clicks.
- Rebuild those pages on the new site, ideally at the same URLs. Where URLs must change, set up 301 redirects from every old URL to its new match.
- Keep your Google Business Profile, name, address and phone identical. The profile does not need to move at all.
- Switch the domain to the new site only when it is ready, then resubmit the sitemap in Search Console and watch for errors.
Done this way, most firms see little or no ranking loss. Done badly (new URLs, no redirects, a missing month) you can lose years of work.
Step 4: Pick what comes next
| Option | Good for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Another large legal vendor | Firms that want everything from one company and accept long terms. | The same ownership and lock-in questions as before. |
| A local or freelance web designer | A cheaper, owned website. | Many build attractive sites with little SEO behind them. |
| Build it yourself with AI tools | Tech-comfortable solos with time. | Your time, plus the Google profile, reviews and listings work that a site alone does not cover. |
| A month-to-month SEO partner where you own everything | Firms that want results tracked to signed cases without lock-in. | Check how they report work and whether they serve competitors near you. |
Whatever you choose, insist on owning the domain, site files, Google accounts and numbers from day one, and a monthly list of work you can verify by URL. That is how our own plan works: 90-day launch, then month to month, $0 to leave. See law firm SEO pricing.
Questions to ask any new vendor
Switching only helps if the next vendor avoids the problems that made you leave. Ask these before signing, and get the answers in writing:
- Who registers the domain and hosts the site? The answer you want is that you own the domain and can export or move the site whenever you choose.
- What is the minimum term, and what does it cost to leave? Month-to-month after a short launch period, with no offboarding fee, is a reasonable ask.
- What will I see every month? A list of specific work with links you can click, not a count of "backlinks" or a traffic chart they take credit for.
- How will we know which cases came from you? Tracked phone numbers you own and a simple monthly count of signed cases by source.
- Do you work with other personal injury firms in my area? If yes, ask how they decide who gets the best keywords and neighborhoods.
- Who approves what goes live? You are responsible for your advertising under your state's rules, so you should approve pages and claims before they publish.
Before-you-cancel checklist
- Domain transferred to your own registrar account.
- Full crawl of the current site saved, plus Search Console and Analytics exports.
- You are primary owner of the Google Business Profile.
- Phone numbers ported or replaced, with listings updated.
- New site built with matching URLs or a complete redirect map.
- Notice given in the contract window, in writing.
Not sure where your current site stands? Run the free law firm SEO audit before you switch, so you have a baseline to compare against. The law firm SEO audit checklist covers the rest, and local SEO for lawyers explains the Google profile side.
FAQ
Will I lose my Google rankings if I leave FindLaw or Scorpion?
Not if you keep your domain, rebuild the pages that bring traffic, and redirect every old URL to its new match. Rankings belong to your domain, URLs and Google Business Profile, not to the vendor. Firms lose rankings when the domain is not theirs, pages disappear without redirects, or the new site launches with thin content.
Can I keep my website if I leave my legal marketing vendor?
It depends on your contract. Some vendors transfer the site, some let you keep only the text, and some take the site down. You can almost always keep your domain if it is registered in your name. Read the intellectual property and termination sections and ask for the export process in writing before you give notice.
Who owns my Google Business Profile?
You should. The profile is tied to your business, and the owner role should be your own Google account, with any vendor added as a manager you can remove. If a vendor created it under their account, ask them to make you primary owner before you cancel, or request ownership through Google.
How long does it take to switch SEO vendors?
Plan four to eight weeks if the domain and Google accounts are already yours: time to crawl the old site, rebuild key pages, set up redirects and launch. Add time if the domain must be transferred or the contract has a notice period. Rankings usually settle within a few weeks of a clean switch.
See where your firm stands
The free audit checks your Google Maps rank around your office, whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews name you, and your website, in about a minute.