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For law firms currently using FindLaw
Leaving FindLaw? Find out what you own before you give notice.
A FindLaw site is licensed, not owned. FindLaw’s own FAQ says you keep the rights to your content when the contract ends. The design, the code, the platform, and the pages FindLaw wrote stay with FindLaw, and the domain may be registered in their name. If your firm wants out, the first job is finding out which of those applies to you.
Better Call Spencer is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by FindLaw or Internet Brands.
Typical term
1 to 3 years, per published exit guides
What you keep
Content you supplied, per FindLaw’s FAQ
What stays
Design, code, CMS, FindLaw-written content
Owner since Dec 2024
Internet Brands (Martindale, Avvo, Nolo)
Licensed and owned are not the same thing.
What FindLaw and its published agreement terms say, next to what your firm should verify. FindLaw does not publish its current master agreement; your signed order form controls. Sources: FindLaw’s marketing FAQ and Lawyerist’s review, checked October 28, 2026.
01
Your content
FindLaw says: customers keep the rights to their site content when the contract ends, and an account manager can send it to you for reuse.
Verify: what counts as “your” content. Under the published agreement language, practice-area pages, FAQs, and stock images written or supplied by FindLaw are theirs, and you stop using them when you leave. Get the list in writing.
02
Your domain
Published reviews say: when FindLaw builds the site, the firm often does not own the domain and can lose it at contract end. FindLaw’s FAQ does not address domains.
Verify: run an ICANN registrant lookup today. If FindLaw is the registrant, the transfer, and any fee for it, has to be negotiated before you give notice, not after.
03
Design, code, and platform
The agreement language says: the site is “developed by” the vendor and “licensed to” the subscriber. Leaving means a rebuild on your own platform, not a transfer.
Verify: ask what you will receive at term end. Firms report getting a static HTML scrape, not editable design files. Plan and budget for a rebuild, and request original photography and logo files separately.
Who owns your domain? That one answer decides everything.
If your firm is the registrant, leaving FindLaw is a website rebuild with redirects, and your rankings follow the domain. If FindLaw is the registrant, leaving is a rebuild plus a domain negotiation, and every backlink, citation, and Business Profile link your firm has earned points at a name you do not control.
Checking takes a minute. Search your domain at ICANN Lookup and read the registrant organization. Then confirm who holds the registrar login and who pays the renewal. Do this before any conversation with FindLaw about leaving, because the answer changes what you ask for and how much leverage you have.
If FindLaw is the registrant, ask in writing for the domain to be transferred to your firm at the end of the term, and get the fee, if any, in the same email. Published exit guides describe buyback fees; your order form will say whether one applies to you.
A rebuild involves more than copying the homepage.
Six things that have to be rebuilt or tested. The static files FindLaw provides are a reference, not a working site.
01
Pages and URLs
Practice-area, location, and attorney pages preserved where they earn it. FindLaw URLs often end in .shtml; every one that changes needs a redirect.
02
Content and imagery
Your content rebuilt on your platform. FindLaw-written pages and licensed stock images replaced, because you stop using them at term end.
03
Forms, chat, and calls
FindLaw forms, chat, and call tracking are theirs. Intake routing, tracking numbers, and recordings have to be replaced and tested before cutover.
04
Search systems
Search Console, analytics, redirects, and sitemaps set up on the new site before launch. Verify who is admin on each today.
05
Email and DNS
If FindLaw hosts your email or DNS, collect the MX and DNS records before termination so mail does not go dark the day the contract ends.
06
Launch QA and monitoring
Responsive behavior, page functionality, accessibility, and thirty days of watching rankings, calls, and forms after cutover.
New owner since December 2024.
Thomson Reuters closed the sale of FindLaw to Internet Brands on December 2, 2024. Internet Brands already owns Martindale, Avvo, and Nolo, so a FindLaw customer now has the same corporate owner as the directories and pay-per-lead programs those brands sell.
What is confirmed: the sale, the closing date, and the sibling brands.
What is not: whether existing FindLaw contracts, pricing, or platform plans change. As of this page’s date, no such changes have been announced publicly.
Two questions to ask your account manager, in writing: has my agreement been assigned to a new entity, and has anything in it changed? And: what is the current end-of-term process for content, domain, and account transfers?
If you also buy leads from Martindale-Nolo or advertise on Avvo: those are now the same vendor as your website, with one account relationship across all of them. I wrote a separate Watchdog guide on what attorney reviews say about pay-per-lead directories and the questions to settle before renewing.
See an option before you sign a new website contract.
If the project is a fit, I can arrange a private first-pass preview of your site, built by a developer I’ve vetted under my engagement. It’s built for evaluation, not public launch. Forms, tracking, redirects, licensed assets, and production testing get their own written scope.
Brian: scopes the project, sets the priorities, manages the build, and handles the SEO side of the migration. Your single point of contact.
The developer: a specialist I’ve worked with before, building and testing to that scope under my engagement. You don’t manage them; I do.
I don’t write the code. Development is performed by a specialist developer working under my engagement; you contract with Better Call Spencer and deal with one person. SEO oversight of the migration is scoped into the same proposal.
What to request and verify before leaving FindLaw.
In this order. Most of it happens before anyone gives notice.
- Get a copy of your signed agreement and order form from your account manager. Note the term end date and the notice period.
- Run an ICANN registrant lookup on every domain. If FindLaw is the registrant, request the transfer and any fee in writing.
- Ask in writing which pages and images are yours and which are FindLaw-written or licensed. Export your content now.
- Confirm admin ownership on Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, Google Business Profile, and call tracking.
- Export a complete URL list, plus all historical reporting and lead data, while you still have access.
- Collect DNS and MX records if FindLaw hosts your email, and plan the email move separately from the site move.
- Decide who builds the replacement and who oversees the SEO side of the move. One contract for both is easier to hold accountable.
- Build a staging and cutover plan, test redirects and every lead path, then monitor after launch.
Questions firms ask about leaving FindLaw.
Will FindLaw give me my website?
Its FAQ says you keep the rights to your site content and can have it sent to you for reuse. That is not the site. The design, code, and platform are licensed and stay with FindLaw, and firms report receiving a static HTML copy rather than editable files.
Do I own my domain?
Maybe. It depends on who the registrant is, which you can check at ICANN Lookup in a minute. Lawyerist’s review says firms whose sites FindLaw built often do not own the domain. If that is you, the transfer needs to be negotiated before you give notice.
Can I keep my content?
Content you supplied, yes, per FindLaw’s FAQ. Pages FindLaw wrote and stock images it licensed are theirs under the published agreement language, and you stop using them when you leave. Ask for the list in writing so you know what has to be rewritten.
What does the notice period mean in practice?
Published exit guides describe 1-to-3-year terms with a 60-day notice window. Your order form controls. The practical rule: have the replacement built and tested before the notice period runs out, because hosting ends with the term.
Have law firms sued FindLaw?
Yes, publicly. In 2014 a law firm sued FindLaw, West, and Thomson Reuters in federal court over about $61,900 in services, alleging missing content, unauthorized paid links, and declining rankings; FindLaw moved to dismiss most claims and pointed to the agreement’s liability limits. In 2015 an Omaha attorney sued over about $22,477, alleging the site went offline repeatedly. Neither case says anything about your contract, but both are worth reading before you sign a renewal.
Does Brian rebuild FindLaw websites?
Not with my own hands. I scope the rebuild, bring in a developer I’ve vetted, and manage the build, the migration, and the SEO side of it under one engagement. You deal with me.
Better Call Spencer LLC is an independent consultancy. FindLaw is a trademark of its owner. Nothing on this page implies authorization, partnership, or endorsement by FindLaw or Internet Brands. Statements about FindLaw are drawn from its public marketing FAQ, published agreement language, published reviews, court reporting, and the Thomson Reuters press release, as of October 28, 2026, and may change; your signed agreement controls.
Do not give notice until you know what you own.
Know who holds the domain. Know which pages are yours. Then decide who should do the work. Back to Switching Agencies.