Law Firm Marketing Budget Calculator
What a Texas firm should spend, and how to split it
A one- or two-attorney Texas family law firm planning measured growth lands near $4,500 a month; a solo personal injury firm near $6,100, because a top-of-page click for "personal injury lawyer" in Texas runs $138 to $632. Four questions give you your own number and the plan behind it.
A Dallas office at dusk: an AI-generated illustration, not a client office.
01Calculator
Build your law firm marketing plan in four questions.
Pick the practice, the firm size and the pace, then add two numbers from your books. The estimate moves as you answer; the ads line is checked against what Texas clicks cost for that practice.
Texas · Family law · 1 to 2 attorneys · Measured growth
$4,500a month
Planning range $3,600 to $5,400 a month, $54,000 a year
- SEO and AI search$1,98044%
- Google Ads and PPC$1,35030%
- Content$72016%
- Website and intake$45010%
- Cases that cover it
- 0.9 signed cases a month at your $5,000 fee
- What the ads line buys
- About 35 clicks a month at $13 to $65 for “family law attorney”
- Against today
- +$1,500 a month more than you spend now
Built for planning, not promises. The split and multipliers are our editorial planning assumptions, not a survey; the click range (30% line) is Google's top-of-page bid range from Google Keyword Planner, Texas, pulled 7 Oct 2026. Nothing here predicts leads, rankings or case outcomes.
02The short answer
How much should a law firm spend on marketing in Texas?
Start from the case, not from a percentage. Divide the monthly budget by your average fee per signed case and you have the number of new cases a month that pay for the marketing. At a $5,000 fee, the $4,500 family law budget is covered by about 0.9 signed cases a month.
Firm size sets the base ($4,200 for one or two attorneys, $7,600 for three to five, $13,200 for six or more). Practice sets how hard the market is: personal injury and DWI cost the most to advertise in Texas, estate planning and immigration the least. Pace decides how much of it goes to Google Ads, which buys leads now, against SEO and content, which keep paying after the month ends.
The table shows the planning number for every practice and firm size at measured growth. Your own fee and current spend change what it means, so run the calculator above with them.
| Practice | 1 to 2 attorneys | 3 to 5 attorneys | 6 or more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal injury | $6,100 | $11,100 | $19,200 |
| Criminal defense and DWI | $5,200 | $9,400 | $16,400 |
| Family law | $4,500 | $8,200 | $14,300 |
| Estate planning | $3,700 | $6,700 | $11,700 |
| Business law | $4,800 | $8,600 | $15,000 |
| Immigration | $4,300 | $7,800 | $13,500 |
03Click prices
What a click costs Texas law firms.
These are Google's own top-of-page bid ranges for the searches Texas clients type, pulled from Keyword Planner on 7 October 2026. Personal injury sits in a different market from everything else: $138 to $632 a click, against $13 to $65 for "family law attorney" and $4 to $21 for "estate planning attorney".
That is why the calculator turns the ads line into clicks. For a solo personal injury firm the $2,074 ads line buys about 5 clicks a month at Texas bid levels, so most small PI firms do better putting the weight on law firm SEO and the Google Business Profile, and using PPC for lawyers for the hours and counties where they can win. An estate planning firm's ads line, by contrast, buys about 75 clicks.
- personal injury lawyer$138 to $632
- dui lawyer$20 to $201
- criminal defense attorney$13 to $107
- family law attorney$13 to $65
- divorce lawyer$11 to $65
- business lawyer$8 to $39
- immigration lawyer$11 to $36
- estate planning attorney$4 to $21
- employment lawyer$3 to $14
Every row, with monthly searches
| Search term | Searches a month | Low bid | High bid |
|---|---|---|---|
| personal injury lawyer | 22,200 | $138 | $632 |
| criminal defense attorney | 6,600 | $13 | $107 |
| family law attorney | 22,200 | $13 | $65 |
| estate planning attorney | 27,100 | $4 | $21 |
| business lawyer | 8,100 | $8 | $39 |
| immigration lawyer | 14,800 | $11 | $36 |
| dui lawyer | 12,100 | $20 | $201 |
| divorce lawyer | 18,100 | $11 | $65 |
| employment lawyer | 12,100 | $3 | $14 |
Google Keyword Planner, Texas, pulled 7 Oct 2026: average monthly searches over the last twelve months and the top-of-page bid range advertisers paid. Bids move every week; treat them as a range, not a quote.
04The split
How to split a law firm marketing budget.
Four lines, one measure: signed clients. The starting split below is for family law at measured growth; practice and pace move it, and the calculator shows your version.
- 44%
SEO and AI search
Practice and city pages sized to what Texas clients search, the Google Business Profile, reviews, and being the firm ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews name.
SEO and AI search for law firms - 30%
Google Ads and PPC
Google Search and Local Services ads, budgets split by practice and county, Spanish ad groups where the market is bilingual, reported as cost per signed client.
Google Ads and PPC for law firms - 16%
Content
Guides and articles that answer the questions clients ask before they call: what a case is worth, how long it takes, what it costs.
Content for law firms - 10%
Website and intake
A fast site written to Rules 7.01 to 7.06, forms that reach a person, call tracking, and same-day follow-up, so the leads you pay for become cases.
Website and intake for law firms
How the split and the number are built
The monthly number
Base by firm size × Texas factor (1.08) × practice factor × pace factor, rounded to the nearest $100. The planning range is 80% to 120% of it.
| 1 to 2 attorneys | $4,200 base |
|---|---|
| 3 to 5 attorneys | $7,600 base |
| 6 or more | $13,200 base |
| Personal injury | × 1.35 |
| Criminal defense and DWI | × 1.15 |
| Family law | × 1.00 |
| Estate planning | × 0.82 |
| Business law | × 1.05 |
| Immigration | × 0.95 |
| Hold our ground | × 0.84 |
| Measured growth | × 1.00 |
| Aggressive growth | × 1.34 |
The split
Starts at SEO 44%, ads 30%, content 16%, website and intake 10%. "Hold our ground" moves six points from ads to SEO and content; "aggressive growth" moves five points into ads. Personal injury and criminal defense add four points to ads, because those clients search and hire within hours; estate planning and business law add four points to content, because those clients read before they call.
These are our planning assumptions from running law firm accounts, not a survey. The click prices are the only external data in the model, and they are what the ads line is checked against.
05The plan
Your law firm marketing plan in five steps.
- 01
Set the number from the case
Average fee per signed case, the cases you want each month, and what you spend today. That gives you the budget and the gap.
- 02
Price the clicks before you buy them
Check the bid range for your practice and county. If the ads line buys fewer than twenty clicks a month, lean on SEO and the Google Business Profile first.
- 03
Fix intake before you add traffic
Answered calls, forms that reach someone, and follow-up the same day. Marketing cannot sign a client nobody calls back.
- 04
Build the pages clients search
One page per practice and per city you serve, written to Texas advertising rules. The homepage is filed with the State Bar's Advertising Review Committee within ten days of going live (Rule 7.04; other site pages are exempt under 7.05).
- 05
Report signed clients, move money quarterly
Cost per signed client by channel, monthly. Each quarter, move budget toward the line that signed cases most cheaply.
06Strategies
Law firm marketing strategies that change the number.
Win the map before the page
For most Texas practices the Google Business Profile (reviews, categories, hours, photos) is the cheapest lead a firm gets.
One page per practice and city
"Houston family law attorney" and "Katy divorce lawyer" are different searches. A page that answers each beats one page that lists them all.
Spanish where the market is
San Antonio, El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley search in both languages. Spanish pages and ad groups carry every required disclaimer in Spanish (Rule 7.01(d)).
Be the firm AI names
ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews cite a few firms per answer. Clear practice pages, schema and consistent listings are what gets a firm cited. See generative engine optimization.
Measure signed clients, not clicks
Track every call and form to the case it became. A channel with expensive clicks can still be the cheapest per signed client.
Spend ad money where you can win
Bid on the counties, hours and practice terms where the click price fits your fee, and let SEO carry the rest.
How much should a law firm spend on marketing in Texas?
On our planning model, a one- or two-attorney Texas family law firm planning measured growth lands near $4,500 a month ($3,600 to $5,400), and a solo personal injury firm near $6,100. Firms of six or more attorneys start from a $13,200 base. Run the calculator with your own fee per case and current spend for your number.
What percentage of revenue should a law firm spend on marketing?
We plan from the case instead of a revenue rule of thumb: divide the monthly budget by your average fee per signed case to see how many new cases pay for it. At a $5,000 fee, a $4,500 budget is covered by about 0.9 signed cases a month.
Why does personal injury marketing cost so much more?
Because the clicks do. In Texas, Google's top-of-page bid range for "personal injury lawyer" is $138 to $632 a click, against $13 to $65 for "family law attorney" (Google Keyword Planner, Texas, pulled 7 Oct 2026). The same ads budget buys far fewer personal injury clicks.
Should a small firm start with SEO or Google Ads?
It depends on what the ads line buys. If it buys fewer than about twenty clicks a month at your practice's bid range, start with SEO, the Google Business Profile and intake, and add ads for the counties and hours you can win. If clicks are affordable for your fee, ads bring leads while SEO builds.
What goes into a law firm marketing plan?
Four lines: SEO and AI search, Google Ads, content, and the website and intake that turn leads into cases. A plan sets the monthly number from your fee per case, prices the clicks, fixes intake, builds the pages clients search, and reports cost per signed client every month.
Are these numbers a quote or a market survey?
No. The base, the multipliers and the split are our editorial planning assumptions from running law firm accounts. The click prices are the only external data and come from Google Keyword Planner, Texas, pulled 7 Oct 2026. The estimate does not predict leads, rankings or case outcomes.
Does the calculator save what I enter?
The calculation runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to us unless you ask for the itemized plan, which attaches it to the contact form. We count plan requests in Google Analytics by practice, firm size and budget, without names.
Start here · Dallas, Texas
Start with a conversation.
Tell us the city and the practice. We come back with where the firm shows up on Google and in AI answers, what its competitors pay per click, and a written plan. We reply within two business hours, Monday to Friday, Central time.
(469) 904-9906Downtown Dallas across the Trinity River. The office, library and skyline photographs on this page are AI-generated illustrations, not client work.