The clock starts at arrest. Answer first, sign first.
Criminal clients search in the worst moment of their lives — after an arrest, before an arraignment, the night someone is booked on bond. Competitive DUI and felony clicks run $50–$300+ in major metros, and the firm that answers first almost always signs the retainer. We build the full acquisition system so that firm is yours.
Criminal clients don't shop for weeks. They hire in hours.
Criminal defense is a crisis-driven vertical: DUI, felony, and domestic-violence searches spike at 2 a.m., the night of an arrest, in the hours before an arraignment. Most firms respond one of two ways: they refuse to compete for the expensive DUI and felony terms and concede every case to whichever firm has a billboard on the interstate, or they run generalist paid campaigns that spend heavily on searchers looking for bail-bond phone numbers, "how much does a lawyer cost," and paralegal jobs.
The firms that win treat criminal-defense acquisition as an answer-the-phone production line: Local Services Ads and the Google Screened badge sitting above every organic and paid result, Search matched tightly to charge type — DUI, felony, drug, domestic violence — each with its own bar-compliant landing page, and 24/7 speed-to-lead intake, because the person calling three firms from a holding cell or a kitchen table at midnight signs with whoever answers first. Every stage is measured against one number: cost per signed matter, weighed against the flat fee or retainer that matter produces.
The searches that become signed cases.
High-intent criminal defense searches we target — and the budget-drainers we strike before they cost you a dollar.
| Search term | Est. CPC (competitive metros) | Intent |
|---|---|---|
| DUI lawyer | $140 | Highest-value charge type |
| criminal defense lawyer near me | $120 | Signed-case intent |
| DUI attorney near me | $130 | Signed-case intent |
| federal criminal defense lawyer | $150 | Highest case value |
| drug charge attorney | $110 | Case-type |
| felony defense lawyer | $100 | Head term |
| domestic violence attorney | $90 | Case-type |
| criminal lawyer free consultation | $80 | Ready to call |
Just as important as the searches we buy are the ones we block. These are negative keywords — searches we tell Google to never show your ad for — so job-seekers, students, and DIY researchers never spend a dollar of your budget:
From click to signed case.
$1,150 × 3 = $3,450 per signed matter
Benchmark estimates for competitive metros; smaller markets run meaningfully lower. Illustrative math — prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
We track revenue, not clicks.
Most agencies report clicks and cost-per-lead. We report signed cases and cost-per-signed-case — and we feed real case value back into Google so the algorithm bids toward the clients who actually retain and pay.
Ad spend in
Every dollar deployed against a specific keyword
Call tracked
CallRail ties each call & form to its exact search
Lead tagged
Signed · qualified · unqualified · spam — real names, not "conversions"
Case signed
Fee value recorded per matter in WhatConverts
Value fed back
Offline conversion import teaches Google to bid toward retainers
Every call tracked to the keyword
Dynamic call tracking ties every phone call to the exact search, campaign, ad, and keyword that produced it — recorded and scored.
Real names, not "conversions"
Calls and forms captured with the caller's real name and details, routed to your intake team in minutes — not an anonymous number on a dashboard.
Real ROAS, reported monthly
Ad spend in, case value out, cost-per-signed-case — the only numbers that decide whether marketing works. No vanity metrics.
How we fill a criminal defense caseload.
Local Services Ads
Google Screened LSAs sit above every ad and every organic result for criminal and DUI searches, and you pay per lead — not per $150 click. We run the license and background verification, optimize the profile for charge-type coverage, and dispute unqualified leads monthly. In criminal defense, LSAs are frequently the cheapest signed matter in the account.
Search, matched by charge
Exact and phrase match on charge-type terms only — DUI, felony, drug, domestic violence — each with its own ad group, its own bar-compliant landing page, and its own negative list. Call-only campaigns run nights and weekends, because arrests don't happen on a schedule.
The credibility test
A defendant or a worried family member interviews two or three firms in the span of an hour. Landing pages carry attorney credentials, the charges handled, the process explained in plain English, and a click-to-call button that never makes someone hunt for the phone number.
Intake as a ranking factor
Respond within five minutes and you are up to 21x more likely to convert the lead. We wire call tracking, missed-call text-back, and 24/7 answering — because the marketing budget is only as good as the firm that picks up the phone at 2 a.m.
Built for criminal defense, not adapted to it.
Optimized to cost-per-signed-matter
Not clicks, not calls — signed retainers and flat fees. Matter value imported back into Google Ads so the algorithm learns which charge types produce fees, not just forms.
Google Screened, managed weekly
Verification handled, profile optimized by charge type, junk leads disputed monthly. The pay-per-lead layer most criminal firms leave to chance.
Bar-compliant by default
No outcome guarantees, no promised dismissals or acquittals, required prior-results disclaimers wherever results are mentioned. Your ads never expose the firm.
Speed-to-lead engineering
Five-minute response makes you 21x more likely to sign. Call tracking, text-back, and 24/7 answering wired into every campaign — because arrests don't wait for business hours.
Charge-type campaign architecture
DUI, felony, drug, and domestic violence each get dedicated campaigns and landing pages — because a $150 federal-charge click deserves its own page, not a generic one.
Month to month, you own it all
Your ad account, your data, your landing pages, your call records. We keep firms by performance — not by contract.
Advertising criminal defense, the way the bar requires.
The Compliance Brief
No guarantees, ever
No 'we win or it's free' or promised-dismissal claims in ads. We write demand generation that survives bar review.
No 'specialist' claims without certification
Unless your firm holds board certification in criminal trial law, we use compliant language: 'focuses on,' 'concentrates in,' 'experienced in.'
Prior-results disclaimers, built in
Wherever case outcomes are referenced, the required 'prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome' disclaimer runs conspicuously, sized and placed per your state's rules.
No promised outcomes on charges
No ethical criminal-defense firm promises a dismissal, an acquittal, or a specific plea, and neither do we — we commit to transparent tracking of calls, signed matters, and cost per signed case.
Built for firm growth, priced for case value.
Management fees below; your ad budget is separate and set to your market. Month to month — you own everything.
Solo & Small Firm
- Google Business Profile optimization
- One Google Search campaign or Local Services Ads
- Professional, bar-compliant landing page
- Call & form tracking with real names
- Monthly reporting
Growth Firm
- Everything in Solo, plus:
- Google Search + Local Services Ads
- SEO + research-backed practice content
- WhatConverts revenue & real-ROAS tracking
- Clio / Filevine / Lawmatics integration
- Bi-weekly strategy
Market Leader
- Full paid + organic + LSA program
- Multi-location & multi-practice
- Dedicated legal strategist
- Offline-conversion ROAS bidding
- Creative & landing-page testing
Management fee is separate from your advertising budget. As your investment grows, your percentage drops. Month to month — you own your ad accounts, website, content, data, and call records.
Criminal Defense marketing, counsel to counsel.
Explore the other worlds.
Let's talk about your next signed matter.
A 30-minute case-strategy call: your market, your numbers, and exactly where the next signed criminal defense cases come from. No obligation.