Schema markup for law firms is structured data, written in the schema.org vocabulary, that tells search engines and AI systems exactly who a firm is, where its offices are, which attorneys work there and what they practice. Most firms need three types: LegalService for the firm and each office, Person for every attorney, and BlogPosting for articles, all connected in one JSON-LD graph.
What is schema markup for law firms?
Schema markup is code added to a web page that labels its content in a standard vocabulary published at schema.org. It is invisible to visitors and is usually written in JSON-LD, the format Google recommends. For a law firm, it does two jobs: it makes pages eligible for certain Google search features, and it removes guesswork when a crawler or answer engine such as ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews tries to connect your firm name, attorneys, address and practice areas.
Skip the old Attorney type, which schema.org has deprecated, and don’t expect FAQ markup to produce rich results: Google retired them in May 2026.
Key terms used in this guide
- Schema markup (also called structured data): the labels added to a page so machines can read what it describes.
- Schema.org: the shared vocabulary of types and properties that Google, Bing and AI systems recognize.
- JSON-LD: the code format used to write schema markup, placed in a script tag in the page.
- Entity: one real-world thing described in the markup, such as the firm, an office or an attorney.
- LegalService: the schema.org type for a law firm or law office; a subtype of LocalBusiness.
- Person: the schema.org type for an individual attorney.
- Rich result: an enhanced Google listing, such as breadcrumbs, generated from schema markup.
Which schema types does a law firm actually need?
Most firms need four building blocks. Everything else is optional.
LegalService for the firm and each office
LegalService is a subtype of LocalBusiness, so it supports the fields that matter for local search: name, address, phone, geo coordinates, opening hours, service area and links to your official profiles. Put it on the homepage, and give every physical office its own LegalService entity on its own location page. The name, address and phone must match your Google Business Profile exactly.
Person for every attorney
Each attorney bio page should carry a Person entity with name, jobTitle, worksFor (pointing to the firm), alumniOf, knowsAbout (practice areas) and sameAs links to the State Bar profile, Avvo, Justia and LinkedIn. This is how search engines verify that the lawyer writing your blog posts is a real, licensed expert, which feeds directly into E-E-A-T.
BlogPosting or Article for content
Every blog post should carry BlogPosting markup with a headline, publish and modified dates, a featured image, and an author that points to the attorney’s Person entity. Unattributed legal content is a weak signal; content tied to a named, credentialed attorney is a strong one.
WebSite and BreadcrumbList for structure
WebSite markup names your site, and BreadcrumbList shows how a page fits into your hierarchy (Home > Practice Areas > Personal Injury). Breadcrumbs remain a supported Google rich result and help both people and crawlers understand practice-area structure.
Should law firms still use the Attorney schema type?
No. Schema.org lists Attorney as deprecated and points to LegalService as the more inclusive, less ambiguous type. Attorney also describes a business, not a human being, which caused years of confusion. Use LegalService for the firm and Person for the lawyer. If your current plugin still outputs Attorney, it is not breaking anything, but it is worth updating during your next site refresh.
Is FAQ schema still worth adding to a law firm website?
The FAQ content is absolutely worth it. The FAQ rich result is gone. Google limited FAQ rich results to authoritative government and health sites in August 2023, then stopped showing them entirely on May 7, 2026, according to its FAQPage documentation. Google also says existing FAQ markup causes no harm, so there is no need to rip it out.
What still works: clearly written questions as visible headings, each followed by a direct two- to four-sentence answer. That format is easy for answer engines to quote, whether or not FAQPage markup is present. On a blog post, keep the page typed as BlogPosting so you don’t lose author and date signals in exchange for a rich result that no longer exists.
Does schema markup help law firms appear in AI search?
Indirectly. Google states in its guidance on AI features in Search that there is no special markup required to appear in AI Overviews. Schema is not a secret AI lever. What it does is make your firm’s facts unambiguous, so that when an AI system pulls together who handles DUI defense in San Diego, it is not guessing whether “Smith Law,” “Smith & Associates” and “John Smith, Esq.” are the same entity.
Consistency is the real GEO signal: the same firm name, address, attorneys and practice areas across your schema, your visible content, your Google Business Profile and your legal directory listings.
What does law firm schema look like in practice?
Here is a simplified example of a firm entity connected to one attorney:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@graph": [
{
"@type": "LegalService",
"@id": "https://examplelaw.com/#firm",
"name": "Example Law Group",
"url": "https://examplelaw.com/",
"telephone": "+1-619-555-0100",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"streetAddress": "123 Main Street, Suite 200",
"addressLocality": "San Diego",
"addressRegion": "CA",
"postalCode": "92101",
"addressCountry": "US"
},
"areaServed": "San Diego County",
"knowsAbout": ["Criminal Defense", "DUI Defense"],
"sameAs": ["https://www.linkedin.com/company/example-law-group"]
},
{
"@type": "Person",
"@id": "https://examplelaw.com/attorneys/jane-doe/#person",
"name": "Jane Doe",
"jobTitle": "Founding Attorney",
"worksFor": { "@id": "https://examplelaw.com/#firm" },
"alumniOf": "University of San Diego School of Law",
"knowsAbout": ["DUI Defense", "Criminal Appeals"]
}
]
}The @id values are what tie the graph together. Your blog posts then reference the attorney’s @id as their author, so every article reinforces the same entity.
What are the most common law firm schema mistakes?
- Marking up content that isn’t on the page. If a practice area, award or office appears in schema, it must also appear in visible text.
- Self-serving review stars. Google does not show star ratings for reviews a business publishes about itself on its own LocalBusiness or Organization markup. Your state bar’s advertising rules may also govern testimonials.
- Duplicate entities. An SEO plugin, a theme and a schema plugin each outputting their own LegalService creates conflicting data. Pick one source.
- Mismatched NAP. A suite number in schema that differs from your Google Business Profile weakens local trust signals.
- Orphaned attorneys. Person entities without
worksFororsameAslinks give search engines nothing to verify.
How do you test law firm schema markup?
Use two free tools. The Schema Markup Validator checks that your markup is valid schema.org, including types Google doesn’t display. Google’s Rich Results Test checks eligibility for Google features like breadcrumbs. After launch, watch the Enhancements reports in Google Search Console for errors as pages are recrawled.
Frequently asked questions
What types of schema markup should a law firm website use?
Use LegalService for the firm and each office, Person for each attorney, BlogPosting for articles, and WebSite plus BreadcrumbList for site structure, connected with consistent @id values in one JSON-LD graph.
Is the Attorney schema type still valid?
Schema.org has deprecated Attorney in favor of LegalService. Existing Attorney markup won’t hurt you, but new builds should use LegalService for the firm and Person for individual lawyers.
Do FAQ rich results still show up for law firms?
No. Google stopped showing FAQ rich results for all sites on May 7, 2026. Well-written FAQ sections still help visitors and answer engines, and existing FAQPage markup can safely stay in place.
Does schema markup improve Google rankings?
Schema is not a direct ranking factor. It makes pages eligible for certain search features and helps search engines and AI systems understand who your firm is, which supports local visibility and accurate citations.
Can I add schema markup to a WordPress law firm site without a developer?
SEO plugins can output basic schema, but law firms usually need custom attorney, office and practice-area entities connected correctly. A short technical audit catches duplicate or conflicting markup that plugins often create.
Get your law firm’s schema right
The X Concept has built and maintained WordPress websites for law firms and legal organizations since 2001, including the structured data that connects firms, offices and attorneys. If you want to know what your site is telling Google and AI search engines about your practice, contact us for a schema audit.
Schema markup for law firms is structured data, written in the schema.org vocabulary, that tells search engines and AI systems who a law firm is, where its offices are, which attorneys work there and what areas of law they practice.
