The 5 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Law Firm Marketing Agency

Most attorneys who've worked with a marketing agency before have at least one bad experience to show for it. An agency that made big promises, delivered little, charged a percentage of a budget you didn't control, and locked you into a 12-month contract that felt impossible to exit.

Understanding how to choose a law firm marketing agency comes down to five questions. If you get clear, direct answers to all five, you're working with a good agency. If answers are vague, deflected, or buried in a contract you have to request separately, keep looking.

Question 1: What Do You Charge, and How Is It Structured?

This should be the easiest question to answer. If it isn't, that's information.

The two most common agency pricing structures are:

Percentage of ad spend. The agency takes 15–30% of whatever you spend on ads, in addition to a management fee. This creates a structural conflict of interest: the more you spend, the more they make — regardless of whether spending more is right for your firm. An agency charging 20% on $3,000/month in ad spend earns $600 from your budget without generating a single additional client.

Flat monthly fee. The agency charges a fixed amount regardless of how much you spend on ads. Their income doesn't go up if they push you to a higher budget. This aligns their incentives with yours.

What to listen for: a clear number with no ambiguity about what's included. "It depends on your situation" in response to a pricing question is a red flag, not a nuanced answer.

Question 2: Where Does My Ad Spend Go — and Who Controls It?

This question separates agencies who are transparent from agencies who aren't.

There are two setups:

You pay the agency, they distribute to the platforms. The agency invoices you for a combined fee that includes both their management and the ad spend. You don't see the breakdown in real time, and you're trusting them to allocate your money correctly. This is how agencies have historically inflated budgets and taken undisclosed markups.

You pay the platforms directly. Your credit card is on file with Google. You see every charge. The agency manages your account but never touches your money. When you pay $1,500 in ad spend, $1,500 goes to Google — not $1,200 to Google and $300 to the agency as a silent markup.

The second structure is the only one we use at Crow & Pitcher, because it's the only one that lets us say "no markup" with a straight face. Any agency that won't structure it this way should be asked directly why not.

Question 3: Who Owns My Ad Account?

This question has a massive practical implication that most attorneys don't think about until they want to switch agencies.

If your agency built your ad account and it's in their name, they own it. Every piece of history — the performance data, the audience information, the structure — belongs to them. When you leave, you start over from scratch with a new agency. Some agencies use this as leverage to keep clients who'd otherwise leave.

If you own your ad account, it's yours regardless of who manages it. You can take it to another agency, take it in-house, or pause it — your call. All the data stays with you.

Ask this question early. The answer should be simple: "You own the account from day one. It's created under your login."

Question 4: What's the Contract Term?

This is where many agencies lose attorneys who've been burned before.

Long contract terms exist to protect agencies from the consequences of poor performance. A 12-month contract means you can't leave if month three is disappointing — you're still paying through month twelve. That's a powerful incentive to oversell results on the front end.

Short terms or month-to-month structures put the risk back on the agency. If the results aren't there, you leave. That's a powerful incentive to actually deliver.

Ask for the termination clause specifically. "What happens if I want to stop?" should get a clear answer with a specific notice period. If the answer requires you to read a contract to find out, ask to see that section before signing anything.

At Crow & Pitcher, there's a 3-month initial term — enough time to get a real read on results — followed by month-to-month with 30 days' notice to exit. That's the structure because we're confident enough in the results to not need a longer lock-in.

Question 5: How Will You Report Results, and in What Terms?

Marketing agencies are famous for reporting a lot of numbers that don't tell you whether you're getting clients.

The metrics that don't directly tell you what you need to know: clicks, website sessions, "impressions," quality score, ad relevance score. These are internal performance indicators that an agency cares about. You're a lawyer, not a marketer.

The metrics that actually tell you what you need to know:

If an agency's reporting defaults to engagement metrics and requires you to dig to find actual call volume, that's how they obscure underperformance. Reports should lead with client-facing outcomes: calls, costs, and any information you've shared about what signed.

Ask to see a sample report before you sign. If it's full of charts about things you don't recognize and short on calls and cost-per-call, keep asking until you see what you actually care about.

What Good Answers Look Like

If you get those answers from any agency, that's a good sign — hire them. If you'd like to see how Crow & Pitcher handles each one, book a 15-minute call and ask us directly.

Crow & Pitcher works with small law firms in family law, personal injury, and estate planning. Flat $1,000/month, ad spend at cost, client-owned accounts, no long-term contract.