Legal advertising rules in Australia: what law firms can and cannot say

Compliance13 min readReviewed 11 September 2026

Three layers apply at once: the professional conduct rules enforced by your state’s legal services commissioner, the Australian Consumer Law enforced by the ACCC, and the advertising policies of whatever platform you’re using. This page is general information, not legal advice, confirm the current position with your own regulator before publishing.

Before you launch any law firm marketing, whether that’s a new Google Ads campaign, a content push, or a rebrand, it’s worth understanding the guardrails you’re actually working within. This is a general overview of what shapes what Australian law firms can and can’t say in their advertising.

Which rules actually apply?

Three separate layers govern a law firm’s advertising at the same time, and firms usually only think about the first:

1. Professional conduct rules. New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia participate in the Legal Profession Uniform Law scheme; other states and territories have their own legal profession legislation, which in most cases adopts the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015 or a close equivalent. Advertising conduct for solicitors sits primarily in those conduct rules, administered locally by each jurisdiction’s law society and legal services commissioner.
2. The Australian Consumer Law. The prohibition on misleading or deceptive conduct applies to law firms exactly as it does to any other business, and is enforced by the ACCC and state fair trading bodies. A claim can be perfectly consistent with the conduct rules and still be a consumer law problem, or vice versa.
3. Platform policies. Google, Meta and LinkedIn all maintain their own advertising policies, some of which impose additional restrictions on legal services advertising and on targeting sensitive categories. These are contractual rather than legal, but a policy breach gets your account suspended, which is an immediate commercial problem regardless.

Some jurisdictions also impose specific statutory restrictions on advertising particular legal services, personal injury most notably, covered below.

The core rule: advertising must not mislead

The central advertising provision for solicitors under the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules requires that any advertising, marketing or promotion connected with a solicitor or law practice must not be false, misleading or deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive, must not be offensive, and must not otherwise be prohibited by law. This single rule underpins almost everything else in legal advertising: specific, honest, substantiated claims are generally on safer ground than vague, grand or unverifiable ones.

Note that "likely to mislead" is a lower bar than "false". A claim can be literally true and still create a misleading overall impression, through omission, through prominence, or through the gap between a headline and the fine print. The practical test many firms use: would a stressed, non-lawyer reader take away an impression the firm could not substantiate? If so, rewrite it.

Claims about being "the best"

Superlatives are the single most common compliance problem in law firm marketing, largely because they’re the default vocabulary of advertising everywhere else. "Sydney’s best family lawyer", "the leading criminal defence firm", "number one for conveyancing", each is a claim, and each needs a genuine, substantiated and disclosable basis.

Where a claim is based on an award or ranking, name it and date it, so a reader can evaluate it: "Recognised in [named award], 2025" is verifiable; "award-winning" alone is not. Where there’s no substantiation available, replace the superlative with something specific. "Over 400 property settlements since 2011" does more work than "Sydney’s leading family lawyers", and carries none of the risk.

Claims about specialisation and expertise

Solicitors must not convey a false, misleading or deceptive impression of specialist expertise. In particular, the term "accredited specialist" (or variations of it, including post-nominals) can only be used by a solicitor who actually holds that accreditation through the relevant recognised scheme in their state. A firm can still describe genuine focus areas and experience honestly, but should be careful not to imply a formal specialist accreditation that hasn’t actually been obtained.

This has a practical SEO consequence worth flagging: "family law specialist [suburb]" is a term people search, and it is not automatically safe to target with a page or an ad. Where the firm doesn’t hold accreditation, phrasing like "specialising in family law" is riskier than describing what the practice actually focuses on. Where a named lawyer does hold accreditation, say so specifically and attribute it to that person rather than to the firm generally.

Approaching people who have recently suffered trauma or injury

A specific rule addresses one of the more sensitive areas of legal marketing: soliciting instructions in a manner likely to oppress or harass a person who, because of a recent trauma or injury or other circumstances, is or might reasonably be expected to be at a significant disadvantage in dealing with the solicitor at that time. This is particularly relevant for personal injury, workers’ compensation and similar practice areas, where direct or aggressive approaches to recently injured people, in person, by phone, or in some circumstances online, carry real regulatory risk and reputational risk alongside it.

The digital dimension of this deserves thought that it rarely gets. Retargeting someone who visited an injury page, buying lists of accident or hospital contacts, or targeting audiences defined by a recent traumatic event are all worth examining carefully against this rule and against platform policies, even where a firm’s intent is entirely benign. Publishing genuinely useful information that people find when they choose to search sits on very different ground to approaching them.

Additional restrictions on personal injury advertising

Beyond the conduct rules, several Australian jurisdictions impose specific statutory restrictions on advertising personal injury legal services. These regimes differ meaningfully between states, and can limit where such advertising may appear, what it may contain, and how services may be promoted at all. They apply to online advertising, not only to billboards and television.

Because the detail varies and penalties in this area can be significant, a firm should confirm the current position in every jurisdiction it advertises into before building a personal injury campaign, not after. This is one area where a general guide genuinely cannot substitute for checking with your own regulator, and where an agency unfamiliar with legal advertising can create real exposure. Our guide to choosing a legal marketing agency covers what to ask about compliance review.

Referral fees and disclosure

Paying or receiving a fee for referring a client is not automatically prohibited under the conduct rules, but it is conditional: the arrangement generally needs to be disclosed to the client, and structured so the client understands they aren’t obliged to accept a referral. Firms working with referral partners, medical providers, brokers, or lead-generation services, should have a clear, disclosed process rather than an informal or undisclosed arrangement.

Pay-per-lead marketing services deserve particular attention here, because the commercial arrangement can amount to paying for referrals even where it’s framed as advertising. Understand exactly what you’re paying for and on what trigger, and check how it sits against your disclosure obligations before signing.

Case studies, results and testimonials

Because of the rule against misleading advertising, case studies, past results and client testimonials need careful handling. Presenting a single exceptional outcome in a way that implies a typical or guaranteed result for future clients is a common way firms unintentionally stray into misleading territory. Practical approaches many firms take include using clearly marked, genuinely illustrative examples with an explicit disclaimer that results vary and outcomes for any individual matter cannot be guaranteed, and avoiding any wording that reads as a promise about how a prospective client’s own matter will turn out.

Three further points that catch firms out:

• Consent and confidentiality. A case study drawn from a real matter needs the client’s informed consent, and even with consent it should be de-identified enough that the matter and the parties can’t be worked out from the detail.
• Fabricated or incentivised reviews and testimonials are misleading conduct under the Australian Consumer Law, which the ACCC actively enforces, as well as a conduct rules problem. Our guide to getting more Google reviews covers the compliant approach.
• Selective presentation. Publishing only your best five outcomes without any indication that they are unrepresentative can create a misleading impression even if every individual claim is accurate.

How a firm presents its results and testimonials is also part of its law firm branding, so getting the disclaimers right protects reputation as much as it protects compliance. Our own case studies are written with these same disclaimers in mind.

Fees, "no win no fee" and free consultations

Statements about cost are advertising claims like any other, and are held to the same standard. "No win no fee", where it is permitted and accurate, typically carries disclosure obligations about what costs a client may still be liable for, disbursements, adverse costs orders, which is difficult to convey properly in an ad headline. A "free consultation" offer should be genuinely free and its scope should be clear, so that someone arriving expecting advice isn’t surprised by a fee. Fixed-fee claims should state what is and isn’t included. None of this argues against publishing fee information; it argues for publishing it precisely.

Who regulates this, and what happens if you breach

Each state and territory has a legal services commissioner or equivalent, working alongside the local law society. A breach of the advertising rule can be raised as a complaint and dealt with as unsatisfactory professional conduct or, in more serious cases, professional misconduct. Separately, the ACCC and state fair trading bodies can act on misleading or deceptive conduct under the Australian Consumer Law.

Most jurisdictions apply the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules or a close equivalent, but local guidance, complaint-handling processes and any additional local practice notes differ, so it’s worth checking directly with the relevant body rather than assuming requirements are identical everywhere. Firms operating or advertising across multiple states should check the requirements in each jurisdiction they market into, including states you don’t have an office in but do target with ads.

Quick reference: what’s allowed by category

If you want the short version of each section above, organised by topic rather than by heading, these four tabs restate what’s already covered without adding anything new.

• Describing genuine focus areas and experience honestly is fine.
• "Accredited specialist" (or variations, including post-nominals) can only be used by a solicitor who actually holds that accreditation.
• Avoid wording that implies a formal specialist accreditation you haven’t actually obtained.
• A false or misleading impression of expertise is treated the same as any other misleading advertising.

• Case studies, past results and testimonials aren’t prohibited, but need careful handling under the misleading-advertising rule.
• Don’t present one exceptional outcome in a way that implies a typical or guaranteed result.
• Mark examples clearly as illustrative, with a disclaimer that results vary and outcomes can’t be guaranteed.
• Obtain informed client consent, and de-identify enough that the matter and parties can’t be worked out.
• Avoid any wording that reads as a promise about how a prospective client’s own matter will turn out.

• Soliciting instructions in a manner likely to oppress or harass someone recently affected by trauma or injury is specifically addressed by the rules.
• Particularly relevant for personal injury, workers’ compensation and similar practice areas.
• Direct or aggressive approaches to recently injured people, in person, by phone or online, carry real regulatory and reputational risk.
• Several jurisdictions impose additional statutory restrictions on advertising personal injury legal services; check each state you advertise into.
• The disadvantage the rule protects against can apply to other circumstances too, not only physical injury.

• Paying or receiving a referral fee isn’t automatically prohibited under the conduct rules.
• The arrangement generally needs to be disclosed to the client.
• Clients need to understand they aren’t obliged to accept a referral.
• Firms working with referral partners, medical providers, brokers or lead-generation services should have a clear, disclosed process rather than an informal one.
• Pay-per-lead services can amount to paying for referrals even when framed as advertising; check the arrangement before signing.

A practical compliance checklist

• Every advertising claim should be one you could substantiate if asked, especially anything implying a guaranteed or typical outcome.
• Replace unsupported superlatives with specific, verifiable facts; where a claim rests on an award or ranking, name and date it.
• Don’t use "accredited specialist" or similar wording unless the specific solicitor genuinely holds that accreditation.
• Be deliberately cautious with any marketing that could reach people shortly after an accident, injury or other traumatic event, particularly direct or unsolicited approaches, and check the additional personal injury advertising restrictions in each state you target.
• Disclose referral fee arrangements to clients rather than leaving them informal, and scrutinise pay-per-lead arrangements before signing.
• Mark case studies and testimonials clearly as illustrative examples, with a plain disclaimer that results vary and aren’t guaranteed, and obtain client consent.
• State fee claims precisely, what "no win no fee", "free consultation" and any fixed fee actually cover.
• Keep a record of who approved each piece of advertising and on what basis. If a complaint arrives a year later, that record is the thing you’ll want.
• Re-review evergreen pages periodically. A claim that was accurate when written can become misleading as the firm changes.
• Check current requirements with your state law society or legal services commissioner before a new campaign goes live, not after a complaint arrives.
• If you’re working with an agency, confirm how they review advertising for compliance; our guide to choosing a legal marketing agency covers what to ask.