Your law firm owns the parts of its website that a signed agreement assigns to it, plus any account registered in the firm’s own name. Paying an agency’s invoices does not transfer the rest.

Most firms learn this at the worst moment, right after deciding to leave. The new agency asks for the domain, the hosting login, and Google access, and nobody at the firm has any of it. If you rely on outside legal marketing services, find out what you actually hold before the relationship ends.

Key Takeaways

• An agency-built site is rarely “work made for hire.” Commissioned work qualifies in only nine categories, and only with a signed written agreement.

• Under 17 U.S.C. §204(a), copyright moves only through a signed written transfer. Payment alone doesn’t do it.

• A new Google Business Profile owner waits 7 days before managing every feature, so ask for access early.

• Changing a domain’s contact details can trigger a 60-day lock on moving it to another registrar.

Who owns my law firm’s website if I leave my marketing agency?

The firm owns whatever its agreement assigns in writing, plus accounts in its own name. Everything else belongs to whoever created it or opened the account, and that is often the agency. Two rules in the Copyright Act explain why.

Agency work usually isn’t “work made for hire.” Under 17 U.S.C. §101, a work qualifies when an employee creates it on the job, or when it is specially commissioned in one of nine categories and both sides sign a work-for-hire agreement. The U.S. Copyright Office’s Circular 30 lists all nine. Your agency is not your employee, and a typical law firm site doesn’t fit those categories. So the firm can’t assume it owns the design and code.

Ownership moves only on paper. Section 204(a) requires a signed writing from the owner to transfer copyright. Without a clause assigning the work to you, you may hold only a license, and it can end when the contract does.

Three beliefs cause most of the surprises:

• “We paid for it, so it’s ours.” Payment gets you only what the contract grants.

• “It’s on WordPress, so we own it.” WordPress is software. The design, code, hosting account, and domain each have their own owner.

• “It’s a proprietary platform, so we lose everything.” Your written content, your photos, and any domain or Google accounts in your name can usually still move with you.

What does your firm actually hold?

Check each asset on its own, and find where the record of who holds it lives.

• Domain: the registrant details inside the registrar account. A public lookup may show “redacted.”

• Content (text, bios, photos): the deliverables and IP clauses. You can export what you supplied. Agency-written copy needs a written assignment or license.

• Design and custom code: look for “assign” versus “license” in the IP clause.

• Themes and plugins: whose name and email each license carries. Premium licenses can be reissued in the firm’s name.

• Hosting: the name and billing details on the account. A full file and database backup can be restored to a new one.

• Google Business Profile, Analytics, Search Console, and Ads: the access and admin settings in each account.

• Call-tracking numbers: the carrier or tracking account that holds them.

• Form and intake records: the form tool, website database, inboxes, and any CRM.

The trickiest handovers

Domain. ICANN’s lookup FAQ warns that public data may be unavailable or redacted, so log in to the registrar itself. Moving to a new registrar takes an authorization code, which registrars must provide within five calendar days of your request, per ICANN’s transfer guidance. ICANN also says you generally can’t transfer within 60 days of changing contact information, though some registrars allow an opt-out. Often you don’t need a new registrar at all, because pointing the nameservers at new hosting can be enough.

Google Business Profile. Only the current primary owner can transfer primary ownership, and the new owner waits 7 days before managing every feature.

Search Console. If the agency is the only verified owner, verify the firm directly, for example with a DNS record at your registrar. Remaining users lose access after a grace period once all verified owners are removed.

Analytics and Ads. You need the Administrator role in Analytics and admin access to the client account in Ads to unlink an agency’s manager account.

Call-tracking numbers. The FCC says you can usually keep a number when switching providers in the same geographic area. The request runs through the account holder, so if the agency holds it, you need their cooperation or new numbers.

Owned, leased, or proprietary: what moves with you?

Your arrangement decides how much you take and how much you rebuild. Read the contract instead of guessing from the technology.

• Owned site: the domain, content, design, custom code, and database move if the agreement assigns them. Premium themes and plugins licensed to the agency may need relicensing.

• Licensed or leased site: the domain, accounts in the firm’s name, and content you supplied move. Design and code stay behind unless you negotiate a buyout or license.

• Proprietary platform: the domain, accounts, and exportable text and images move. The site itself gets rebuilt, with redirects from the old URLs.

SocioSquares, a law firm marketing agency founded in 2011, builds every client website on one rule: the client owns the website and all rights to it. That covers the domain, content, design, and the accounts behind it. A client who leaves takes all of it along. Whichever agency you hire next, get the same clarity in writing before work starts.

The handover timeline

The order of steps matters, because some transfers take days to clear and your leverage drops once you give notice.

Before you give notice. Read the intellectual property, deliverables, and termination clauses. Confirm the registrant inside the registrar account. Secure owner or admin roles on every Google account, tied to a firm-controlled email, since the 7-day Business Profile wait starts now. Request a full site export and database backup in writing.

The day you give notice. Send a written list of every asset, the login you need for each, and the date you need it by.

The handover. Migrate the site to hosting in the firm’s name. Keep the same URLs where possible. Where they must change, Google’s site move documentation recommends server-side 301 or 308 redirects without chains. Form submissions hold confidential prospective-client inquiries, so move them by encrypted transfer and get written confirmation of what the agency keeps or deletes. Careful redirects reduce the risk to your rankings, though nobody can promise they hold steady.

The first 30 days. Call every tracking number, submit a test form from each page that has one, and watch Search Console for a spike in page errors.

Once ownership is settled, the next question is performance. Our guide on what makes a law firm website convert leads picks up from there, and the Google Business Profile optimization guide for law firms covers the profile you just secured.

When to bring in an attorney

If the agency disputes what you own, stop working from checklists. This article can’t tell you what your contract means. A business or intellectual property attorney can read the assignment and termination clauses before you give notice or escalate.

Read More: Who Owns Your Law Firm’s Website When You Leave a Marketing Agency?

Frequently Asked Questions

Does paying for a website mean my law firm owns it?
No. Under 17 U.S.C. §204(a), copyright transfers only through a signed written document. Without an assignment clause, the firm may hold only a license.

Can a marketing agency keep my law firm’s domain name?
It depends on who is listed as the registrant. If the firm is the registrant, it can request the authorization code and move the domain. If the agency registered it in its own name, the transfer depends on its cooperation, and an attorney can advise you.

How long does it take to transfer a Google Business Profile?
At least 7 days. A new owner must wait that long before managing every feature, and only the current primary owner can transfer primary ownership.

Will we lose our Google rankings when we switch agencies?
No one can promise either way. Keeping URLs the same, or using 301 redirects where they change, and watching Search Console afterward lowers the risk.

Which legal marketing services let you keep your website when you leave?
The ones whose written agreement assigns the website and its accounts to you. Before signing, ask for the IP clause and a list of which deliverables, domains, and accounts belong to the firm.