Law Firm Facebook Ads Budget: How Much Should You Spend in 2026?

"How much should I spend on Facebook ads?"

Every law firm owner asks this question. Most marketing agencies dodge it with "it depends" and move straight to asking for your credit card.

Here's the honest answer: it does depend, but there are real frameworks that make the decision simple. You don't need to guess. You need math.

Let me show you exactly how to calculate your budget based on your firm's size, goals, and what actually works in legal advertising.

The Quick Answer: Budget Tiers for Law Firms

These aren't arbitrary numbers. They're based on what we've seen work across hundreds of law firm campaigns.

But the right budget for you depends on three things:

1. Your total marketing budget
2. How Facebook fits your channel mix
3. Whether you're testing or scaling

Let's break down each one.

Starting Point: The 7-10% Rule

Most law firms should allocate 7-10% of gross revenue to marketing. This isn't a Facebook-specific number. It's your total marketing budget across all channels.

Aggressive growth firms push this to 15-20% of revenue. If you're actively trying to scale quickly or enter new markets, higher allocation makes sense. But you need the intake infrastructure to handle it. More leads without better intake just means more waste.

The 70-20-10 Rule for Channel Allocation

Once you know your total marketing budget, how much goes to Facebook?

Most successful firms follow the 70-20-10 rule:

• 70% - Proven channels (what's already working)
• 20% - Growing channels (what's showing promise)
• 10% - Testing (new experiments)

Where Facebook fits depends on your situation:

If Facebook Is New to You

Facebook starts in the 10-20% testing bucket. Don't bet your entire marketing budget on an unproven channel.

Example: $5,000/month marketing budget

• Google Ads (proven): $3,500 (70%)
• Facebook (testing): $500-1,000 (10-20%)
• SEO/Content: $500-1,000

If Facebook Is Working

Once Facebook proves itself, it moves to the 70% bucket and you test something else.

Example: $10,000/month marketing budget

• Facebook (proven): $7,000 (70%)
• Google Ads (growing): $2,000 (20%)
• New channel test: $1,000 (10%)

Small Firm Budgets: $300-$1,500/Month

For solo practitioners and small firms spending $3,000-$6,000/month on total marketing, Facebook typically gets 10-25% of that.

What $300-$500/Month Gets You ($10-$17/day)

This is testing budget. You can:

• Run 1-2 campaigns
• Test basic creative
• Build remarketing audiences
• Supplement other channels

You won't dominate your market at this level. But you can learn what works before scaling.

Best use case: Remarketing to website visitors. It's the highest-ROI use of a small budget because you're targeting people who already know you.

What $500-$1,500/Month Gets You ($17-$50/day)

This is where Facebook starts becoming a real lead channel:

• 2-3 campaigns running simultaneously
• Enough data to optimize weekly
• Exit learning phase within 1-2 weeks
• 5-15 leads/month depending on practice area

Important: At this level, stick to one practice area. Splitting a small budget across PI, family law, and criminal defense means none get enough data to optimize.

Budget Breakdown at $1,000/Month

Notice that not all of your "Facebook budget" goes to Facebook. You need creative assets and landing pages that convert. Account for these costs.

Medium Firm Budgets: $1,500-$15,000/Month

This is where Facebook advertising gets interesting. You have enough budget to run multiple campaigns, test systematically, and actually optimize.

What $1,500-$3,000/Month Gets You ($50-$100/day)

• 3-5 ad sets per campaign (the optimal range for learning)
• Multiple audience tests running simultaneously
• Meaningful data within 7 days
• 15-40 leads/month typical range
• Ability to test creative variations properly

At this level, you're not guessing anymore. You have real data to make decisions.

What $5,000-$15,000/Month Gets You ($170-$500/day)

• Multiple practice area campaigns
• Full-funnel approach (awareness + conversion)
• Rapid creative testing (5-10 variations monthly)
• 50-150+ leads/month
• Market presence that competitors notice

The scaling math: At $10,000/month with a $75 cost per lead and 15% lead-to-case conversion, you're looking at roughly 18-20 signed cases. If average case value is $3,000, that's $54,000-$60,000 revenue on $10,000 spend. The math works.

Budget Breakdown at $5,000/Month

Critical insight: Keep 20-30% of your ad budget as testing reserve. Even when campaigns are working, you need to test new approaches. What works today won't work forever. Marketing decay is real.

Large/Aggressive Budgets: $15,000+ /Month

Firms spending $15,000+ monthly on Facebook are playing a different game. This is market dominance territory.

Characteristics of High-Budget Success

Multiple campaigns running simultaneously:

• Brand awareness campaigns
• Lead generation for each practice area
• Remarketing sequences
• Local market saturation

Sophisticated funnel structure:

• Top of funnel: Video views, engagement
• Middle: Content consumption, website traffic
• Bottom: Lead forms, call conversions

Creative production at scale:

• New video every 2-4 weeks
• 10+ static creative variations active
• UGC (user-generated content) testing
• Seasonal and news-jacking creative

Aggressive Growth Math (15-20% of Revenue)

If you're pushing 15-20% of gross revenue to marketing with Facebook as a primary channel:

These are real numbers from firms that have made Facebook their primary growth engine.

The Testing vs. Scaling Split

Here's a framework most agencies won't share: your budget should be split between testing and scaling.

Testing Budget Rules

• Never test with more than 30% of budget
• Give tests 7-14 days before judging
• Test one variable at a time
• Kill losers fast, scale winners slowly

Scaling Budget Rules

• Only scale what's already working
• Increase budgets by 15-20% weekly maximum
• Wait 3-5 days between budget changes
• Never scale during learning phase

The 15-20% weekly rule is critical. Facebook's algorithm needs time to adjust to budget changes. If you double your budget overnight, performance tanks while the system relearns. Slow, consistent increases preserve your cost per lead.

The Learning Phase: Why It Matters for Budget

Facebook campaigns enter "learning phase" when they launch or when you make significant changes. During learning phase, costs are higher and performance is unstable.

Learning Phase Requirements

• Minimum 50 conversion events per week to exit
• At $50/lead, that's $2,500/week minimum
• Budget changes >20% restart learning
• Audience changes restart learning
• Creative changes restart learning (sometimes)

Budget implication: If you're spending less than $2,500/week, your campaigns may never fully exit learning phase. They'll work, but not optimally.

How to Survive Learning Phase

1. Set it and forget it for 5-7 days
2. Don't panic at early high costs
3. Don't make changes until 50+ conversions
4. Use CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization) to let Facebook allocate

Practice Area Budget Considerations

Not all practice areas cost the same on Facebook.

PI and mass tort require bigger budgets because competition is fierce and case values justify higher acquisition costs.

Family and criminal often see lower costs but require more volume since case values are typically lower.

Estate planning can be efficient but needs content-heavy approaches since these aren't urgent "I need a lawyer now" cases.

Common Budget Mistakes

1. Starting Too Small

Spending $5/day "to test" doesn't give you data. It gives you random noise. You need enough volume to see patterns.

Fix: Start with at least $30-$50/day per campaign. Less than that and you're not really testing.

2. Changing Budget Too Often

Adjusting budget every day based on yesterday's results creates chaos. The algorithm can't stabilize.

Fix: Set budgets and wait 3-5 days minimum before changes. Weekly optimization is often enough.

3. Not Accounting for Creative Costs

Your Facebook budget isn't just ad spend. You need creative assets that actually work.

Fix: Budget 15-25% of your Facebook spend for creative production. Refreshing creative every 4-6 weeks prevents fatigue.

4. Ignoring Seasonality

Legal searches and conversions vary by season. January is typically strong (New Year resolutions). Summer often dips for some practice areas.

Fix: Increase budget during high-intent seasons. Reduce or maintain during slow periods. Use your historical data.

5. Scaling Too Fast

You find a winner and triple the budget. Costs spike. You panic and cut everything.

Fix: Scale 15-20% weekly maximum. Patience beats aggression with Facebook's algorithm.

6. No Landing Page Budget

Running ads to your homepage is like paying for a billboard that points to a parking lot.

Fix: Budget for dedicated landing pages. At minimum, $500-$1,000 upfront plus $100-$200/month for testing.

ROI Reality Check: What Should You Expect?

Let's run real numbers for a mid-size firm.

Scenario: $5,000/Month Facebook Budget

Even the conservative scenario shows positive ROI. The variable that matters most? Lead-to-case conversion rate. That's an intake problem, not an ads problem. Your intake determines your ROI.

Building Your Budget: A Step-by-Step Framework

Step 1: Calculate Total Marketing Budget

Take your gross revenue. Multiply by 7-10% (or 15-20% for aggressive growth). That's your annual marketing budget.

Step 2: Identify Where Facebook Fits

Is Facebook a proven channel (70% bucket), growing channel (20% bucket), or test (10% bucket)?

Step 3: Set Your Monthly Facebook Budget

Based on the allocation above, determine your monthly spend.

Step 4: Split Testing vs. Scaling

Allocate 20-30% for testing new approaches, 70-80% for proven campaigns.

Step 5: Account for Non-Ad Costs

Add 15-25% for creative production and landing pages.

Step 6: Set Quarterly Review Points

Evaluate performance quarterly. Adjust allocations based on what's working.

What We'd Tell a Firm Starting Today

If you asked us "what should we spend on Facebook ads?" here's the honest framework:

Just getting started? $1,500-$3,000/month for 90 days. That's enough to test, learn, and see if Facebook works for your market and practice areas. If it doesn't show promise in 90 days, reallocate to other channels.

Facebook is working? Scale 15-20% weekly until you hit your capacity constraints. The constraint is usually intake, not ads.

Want to dominate? 50%+ of marketing budget to Facebook once you've proven it works. But only if your intake can handle the volume.

The uncomfortable truth: Most firms fail at Facebook not because they spent too little on ads, but because they couldn't convert the leads they generated. Fix intake first. Then scale ads.

Ready to Calculate Your Actual ROI Potential?

We've built our recommendations on data from 1,400+ law firm implementations. The frameworks above work, but your specific situation matters.

If you want to see exactly how much you should spend based on your firm's numbers, we can run the math together.

Related Facebook Ads Guides

Looking for more on Facebook advertising for law firms? Explore our complete series:

• Strategy & Planning

  • Facebook Ads vs Google Ads: ROI Comparison
  • Facebook Ads Compliance: Ethics Rules by State

• Technical Setup

  • Facebook Pixel & Retargeting Guide
  • Lead Ads vs Landing Pages: Which Converts Better?
  • Meta Advantage+ AI Campaigns

• Practice Area Guides

  • Facebook Ads for Family Law & Divorce
  • Facebook Ads for Criminal Defense & DUI
  • Facebook Ads for Immigration Lawyers

• Creative & Format

  • Video Ads: Reels, Stories & Vertical Format
  • Using Claude AI to Manage Meta Ads

Irfad Imtiaz is Director of Technology at My Legal Academy and Co-Founder & CTO at Ranql. He has personally helped 400+ law firms implement AI and automation systems.

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