Law firm schema markup is structured data on your website that describes the firm to search engines in a standard vocabulary, Schema.org's, usually added to the page as a small JSON-LD script.

It is one of the quick checks in a law firm SEO audit, and it is an item that is often done wrong: the wrong type, review markup bought for stars, or FAQ markup still billed for a display that ended in May 2026.

What law firm structured data does

Law firm structured data is machine-readable description: the firm's name, address, phone, hours, practice areas and lawyers, written so a search engine can read them instead of inferring them from prose.

What it does is remove ambiguity about what the page is and who the firm is, and it can make a page eligible for rich results, the extras Google adds to some listings.

What it does not do is promise any of that: markup does not guarantee a rich result, and Google publishes no lawyer-specific rich result that a law firm's markup could unlock.

So the realistic goal is clarity, with the markup describing the firm exactly as the page shows it, and anything promised beyond that is a promise Google's own documentation does not make.

Legal service schema: the type a firm's site should use

Schema.org defines LegalService as a business that provides legally-oriented services, advice and representation, e.g. law firms.

LegalService sits inside the LocalBusiness hierarchy, so it carries the contact, location and hours fields Google's local-business documentation is built around, and Google says to use the most specific LocalBusiness subtype that applies.

For a law firm, that specific type is LegalService, on the homepage and on each office page the firm operates.

  • LegalService on the homepage and each office page, with name, address and phone matching what the page shows visitors.
  • Person markup on attorney bio pages, so each lawyer is described in the firm's markup and not only in prose.
  • Fields that match the page: an address, phone number or hour set that differs from what visitors see is a data problem, not a keyword.
  • A validator pass before publishing: markup errors are invisible on the rendered page, so nothing catches them except a test.

Attorney schema markup is deprecated

Attorney schema markup is what many older firm sites carry, and Schema.org marks the Attorney type deprecated.

The hierarchy still lists Attorney beneath LegalService, and Schema.org's usage figures, citing Google, put both types on 10,000 to 100,000 domains as of August 2026, so sites carrying the old type are not a rarity.

Deprecated is Schema.org's way of discouraging a type, so retire it for LegalService the next time the markup is touched rather than rebuild a page for it.

The schema that stopped earning anything

Three schema pitches still circulate on law firm proposals that Google's own documentation has since closed off.

The first is FAQ schema sold for rich results: Google stopped showing FAQ rich results in Search from May 7, 2026, and removed the documentation in June 2026.

The FAQ content itself still helps readers, so the pages are worth keeping; only the rich-result display ended.

The second is review markup sold as review stars: Google's review snippet documentation says that when a business controls the reviews about itself, its pages with LocalBusiness or Organization markup are not eligible for the star review feature, including reviews shown through an embedded Google or Facebook review widget.

The stars on some listings belong to third-party sites, and a schema add-on cannot produce them for the firm's own pages.

The third is special schema sold as AI-search preparation: Google's guide to optimizing for generative AI features, added in May 2026, says optimizing for its generative AI search is still SEO, and that structured data is not required for generative AI search, with no special schema.org markup needed.

That statement covers Google Search only; other AI systems run their own systems, outside Google's guidance, and the AI search for law firms guide covers what can be said about them.

Worth having, kept accurate

  • LegalService on the pages that represent the firm, matched to what the pages show.
  • Person markup on attorney bios.
  • FAQ text written for the reader, since the questions are real even though the display is gone.

Not worth buying

  • The deprecated Attorney type.
  • Review markup pitched as review stars on the firm's own listing.
  • FAQ schema billed for rich results after May 2026.
  • Special schema sold as preparation for Google's AI features.

Adding schema markup to a firm site

None of this needs a rebuild; it is usually a template change.

Pick the types

LegalService for the firm on the pages that represent it, Person for each attorney on bio pages, and nothing exotic beyond that.

Write the fields to match the page

Name, address, phone and hours exactly as the page shows them, because markup that contradicts the page describes a firm Google cannot verify.

Validate before publishing

Run each template through a structured data validator once, since a syntax error fails silently and the page will look perfect either way.

Re-check after redesigns

Template swaps and redesigns are where markup quietly disappears, and a validator pass after one is the whole maintenance job.

Where schema sits in the work

Schema is hygiene next to the work that changes consultations: the practice-area pages, the Google Business Profile and the conversion path on the site, which is the frame the wider law firm SEO guide uses.

Get the type right, keep the fields honest, and stop paying for the parts that no longer earn display, and the item is done.

Frequently asked questions

What schema markup should a law firm website use?

Schema.org defines LegalService as a business that provides legally-oriented services, advice and representation, e.g. law firms, and Google's local-business documentation says to use the most specific LocalBusiness subtype, which for a law firm is LegalService.

Is the Attorney schema type still valid?

Schema.org marks the Attorney type deprecated. Its usage figures, citing Google, still put both types on 10,000 to 100,000 domains as of August 2026, so plenty of sites carry the old one; LegalService is the type to use.

Does schema markup improve a law firm's Google rankings?

Schema markup does not guarantee a rich result, and Google publishes no lawyer-specific rich result. Correct markup is hygiene, not a ranking strategy.

Will review schema get my law firm stars in Google search?

No. Google's review snippet documentation says that when a business controls the reviews about itself, its pages with LocalBusiness or Organization markup are not eligible for the star review feature, including reviews shown through an embedded Google or Facebook widget.

Is schema markup worth doing at all if there is no lawyer-specific rich result?

It is cheap hygiene that removes ambiguity about what the firm is and where it is, and it is a template change on most sites. It is not a lever that changes rankings or display on its own.

Does law firm schema markup need maintenance?

Lightly: the fields should track the firm's real name, address, phone and hours, and it is worth a validator pass after a redesign or template change, which is where markup usually disappears.