UX Lessons: Designing a Frictionless Client Journey in Law

For most clients, their first interaction with a solicitor sets the tone for everything that follows. In conveyancing especially, where the stakes are high and the process can feel overwhelming, those early impressions matter. A clear quote and a smooth onboarding experience can transform anxiety into confidence.

Coyne Solicitors in Lucan recently redesigned this client journey by introducing an online quoting tool linked directly to secure onboarding. Beyond the impressive results — 20+ quotes per week, 30% engagement on the calculator page, and a doubling of enquiries — the project provided valuable insights into how user experience (UX) principles can be applied to legal services.

This article explores those lessons.

Why UX matters in legal services

The term “user experience” is usually associated with technology companies. Yet law firms, too, provide services that clients must navigate. If that navigation is confusing, slow, or stressful, clients are less likely to feel reassured.

In conveyancing, clients are already under pressure — deadlines, lenders, estate agents, and personal commitments all add urgency. A poorly designed intake process can compound that stress. By contrast, a well-designed journey can make clients feel supported before they even speak directly to their solicitor.

Lesson 1: Start with clarity

The first principle of good UX is clarity. Clients need to know exactly what to expect when they land on a solicitor’s website. Coyne Solicitors applied this by:

• Providing a clear call-to-action: “Get Your Conveyancing Quote”.
• Using plain language to describe the service, avoiding unnecessary jargon.
• Displaying professional fees, outlays, and VAT separately, so clients could see what each figure represented.

This level of transparency communicates professionalism and builds trust. It also reduces the number of follow-up questions, saving time for the firm’s staff.

Lesson 2: Minimise friction

Friction occurs when clients face unnecessary obstacles. In traditional conveyancing intake, friction often comes in the form of delays: waiting for a quote by email, waiting for confirmation, or waiting to be told what documents to provide.

Coyne reduced friction by:

• Delivering instant quotes online.
• Adding a “Proceed” button so clients could instruct the firm immediately.
• Enabling secure document upload, so paperwork could be provided without delay.

Each of these changes removed a step where momentum might otherwise have been lost.

Lesson 3: Design for mobile first

Many clients now access legal services from their phones. A quote calculator that looks fine on a desktop but is clumsy on a mobile will frustrate potential clients.

Coyne’s system was designed to be fully mobile responsive:

• Input fields were simple and easy to tap.
• Results displayed clearly without excessive scrolling.
• Uploading documents was optimised for phone cameras, so clients could take a picture of ID or utility bills and submit them instantly.

This attention to mobile usability significantly expanded accessibility.

Lesson 4: Give clients a sense of progress

Another core UX principle is that users want to know where they are in a process. Long, unexplained forms or vague instructions create uncertainty.

Coyne addressed this by:

• Breaking onboarding into clear steps.
• Using short forms with progress indicators.
• Providing immediate confirmation once documents were uploaded.

Clients reported that this gave them confidence their case was “moving forward,” even before they received direct contact from the solicitor.

Lesson 5: Balance automation with human reassurance

Good UX in legal services is not about replacing solicitors with technology. It is about making the process smoother so that the solicitor’s expertise can be delivered more effectively.

At Coyne Solicitors:

• Automated quoting handled routine fee enquiries.
• Digital onboarding collected essential documents efficiently.
• Solicitors were then free to focus on legal advice and personal communication.

This balance meant clients felt both the convenience of technology and the reassurance of human expertise.

The results of better UX

By applying these UX lessons, Coyne Solicitors achieved measurable improvements:

• Over 20 quotes generated each week, where previously there were none.
• 30% of visitors to the calculator page proceeded to request a quote.
• Calls and emails more than doubled, showing increased trust and engagement.
• File openings became faster, reducing stress for clients and administration for staff.

The impact was not only in numbers. Clients described the process as “easy,” “clear,” and “straightforward” — words rarely used to describe legal intake in the past.

What other firms can learn

Coyne’s project shows that UX principles apply just as much to legal services as to any other sector. Other firms considering similar initiatives can take away the following:

• Clarity builds trust — itemise fees, avoid jargon, and make next steps obvious.
• Friction costs business — every delay risks losing a client; reduce unnecessary steps.
• Mobile is essential — design for the devices clients actually use.
• Progress matters — clients want confirmation and milestones along the way.
• Technology should support, not replace — keep solicitors at the heart of the journey.

Final thoughts

User experience may not be a term many solicitors use daily, but it captures something that matters deeply in practice: how clients feel when they first engage with your firm.

By investing in a digital quoting and onboarding system designed around clarity, convenience, and reassurance, Coyne Solicitors have not only increased the number of enquiries but also improved the quality of the client journey.

The lesson for the wider profession is simple: when legal services are designed with the client’s experience in mind, everyone benefits.

⚖️ This article is intended for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.