New York lawyer advertising rules, SEO and ads

New York doesn’t make lawyers file ads with a bar. It asks for something else: a lawyer’s pre-approval of every ad, years of records, and a snapshot of the website at least every 90 days. Most ads carry the words “Attorney Advertising”, and past results travel with a set disclaimer. The New York City metro also crosses into New Jersey, so many New York campaigns answer to two states.

Not legal advice. We summarize New York’s published rules for marketing planning. The grievance committees and the courts apply them, they change, and the rules change. Get counsel’s view before acting on any of it.

New York rules in plain English

Each rule shows its verification code: P for a primary source we read, S for a secondary summary, D for the ABA-model default (what the codes mean).

Pre-approval and records, not filing

New York has no bar filing for ads. Instead, a lawyer or the firm pre-approves every ad, and the firm keeps a copy for 3 years (1 year for ads reached by computer). The website is snapshotted at launch, at each redesign and at least every 90 days (Rule 7.1(k)). Targeted solicitations are the exception: they are filed with the attorney disciplinary committee when sent, and their recipient lists kept for 3 years (Rule 7.3(c)).

Verification: P, primary source · 22 NYCRR 1200.7.1 · Rule 7.3

What every ad must say

• Name, office and phone. The lawyer’s or firm’s name, principal law office address and phone number (7.1(h)).
• The label. “Attorney Advertising” on every ad outside the exempt media, which are radio, TV, billboards, directories and periodicals, and in the subject line of advertising email (7.1(f)).
• Who’s real. Paid endorsements, actors and fictionalized scenes are disclosed (7.1(c)).

Verification: P, primary source · Rule 7.1

Waiting period: 30 days, or 15

No personal-injury or wrongful-death solicitation before day 30, or before day 15 if a claim must be filed within 30 days (7.3(e)). In-person, phone and real-time interactive computer contact are banned, except with close friends, relatives and former or current clients (7.3(a)). Soliciting legal business is also unlawful under the Judiciary Law (§479).

Verification: P, primary source · Rule 7.3

Results, testimonials and “specialist”

Results, comparisons and testimonials appear only if factually supportable, and with “Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.” A testimonial about a pending matter needs the client’s written informed consent. “Specialist” and “specializes” are off-limits unless the lawyer is certified by an ABA-accredited body or another state, and then only with the prescribed disclaimer (7.4).

Verification: P, primary source · Rule 7.1 · Rule 7.4

Paying for leads

No paying anyone to recommend the lawyer or to obtain employment (7.2(a)). Per-lead fees are allowed only on the conditions in NYSBA Opinion 1294 (March 2026): the price doesn’t change with whether the person hires the lawyer, and the platform disclaims recommending anyone. Opinion 1279 adds that flat per-client “administrative” payments are prohibited referral fees.

Verification: P, primary source · Rule 7.2

Other languages

A solicitation filed in another language includes an English translation.

Verification: S, read through a secondary summary · check it against Rule 7.3

Call recording: one-party consent

A person on the call may record it.

Verification: S, secondary source · Recording laws by state, 2026

Telemarketing

New York’s telemarketing law (General Business Law §399-z) sets calling hours and disclosures, and the state enforces it.

Verification: S, secondary source · Mini-TCPA tracker, July 2026

Privacy and geofencing

New York has no comprehensive consumer privacy law in force, but it bans geofencing near health care facilities.

Verification: S, secondary sources · State privacy comparison · Rivkin Radler

Rules last checked October 24, 2026.

What this means for your SEO and ads in New York

Search and social ads

• Settle the short-format question first. How the name, address, phone and label rules apply inside a search ad, where a headline holds 30 characters and a description 90 (Google), is the first thing we ask a New York firm’s counsel. The label alone is 20 characters.
• Pin what must always show. Google guarantees position only for text pinned to headline 1, headline 2 or description 1. Required elements go there, not in assets Google may drop.
• Keep the approval trail. Every version needs a lawyer’s approval before it runs. We log the exact version, the approver and the time, and keep it longer than the 3 years the rule asks.
• Leave results out of ads, or carry the full disclaimer with them. A 49-character sentence rarely fits a search ad that also has to name the firm.

Your website and SEO pages

• Snapshot on a calendar. Schedule a full capture of the site every 90 days and at every redesign, and keep the files with your ad records. SEO work that changes many pages at once counts as a redesign in our process, so it triggers a capture too.
• Disclaim results where they appear. Case-result pages, results-based testimonials and comparisons carry “Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.” on the same page.
• No “specialist” in titles. Unless the lawyer holds a qualifying certification, use “practices”, “focuses on” or “handles” in title tags and headings.
• Newsletters are ads too. An email that promotes the firm carries “ATTORNEY ADVERTISING” in its subject line.

Languages beyond Spanish

New York’s next languages have even higher shares of limited-English speakers: Chinese (3.2% of residents; 62.4% of its speakers), Russian (52.9%), the Yiddish and other West Germanic group (50.9%) and Bengali (53.0%) (Census, below). In September 2026 Google dropped language targeting for search campaigns; the language of the query now picks the language of the ad (Google).

• A firm serving the city should plan ads and intake for Chinese as well as Spanish, and check where in its market each language is spoken.
• Answer in the language of the ad, and keep required statements in that language.

Calls, texts and intake

• No outreach inside 30 days, or 15 when a claim is due within 30. Search ads and replies to people who asked for contact don’t count.
• Recording notices on every line. New York is one-party, but a New York firm’s callers are often in New Jersey or elsewhere.
• No radius targeting near hospitals or clinics. New York bans geofencing near health care facilities, and we never do it anywhere.

The city metro crosses the Hudson

An ad aimed at the New York metro reaches New Jersey, where ads naming a firm need a responsible New Jersey-licensed attorney and comparisons carry New Jersey’s own disclaimer (New Jersey). Split campaigns by state, or write ads that meet both. New York was the second-largest local legal advertising market by spend in ATRA’s 2024 report, an advocacy group’s tables.

Languages in New York

Sources: Spanish and any-language shares from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table C16001; other languages from the 2020-2024 estimates, table B16001. People age 5 and older.

Top metro areas in New York

Sources: population from the ACS 2024 1-year estimates, table B01003; Spanish at home from the ACS 2020-2024 estimates, table C16001, people age 5 and older. New York has 13 metro areas in all. Populations cover each whole metro area, including parts in other states.

The New York legal market

Source: Census Bureau, Statistics of US Businesses 2022, offices of lawyers (NAICS 541110). A firm with offices in several states is counted in each.

Questions for your counsel

• How do Rules 7.1(f) and 7.1(h), the label and the address and phone, apply inside a search or social ad?
• How should the firm document its pre-approval of each ad version?
• Which of the firm’s channels count as exempt media for the “Attorney Advertising” label?

How Probative works in New York

• Your attorney’s approval is the record. New York requires pre-approval, and our process already demands it for every version. The approval log, the ad and its run dates stay in our archive for 4 years.
• Website captures on schedule. We capture the site every 90 days and at each redesign, and hand you the files.
• No solicitations. We run inbound marketing only, so nothing we do needs New York’s solicitation filing.
• Two-state campaigns, checked twice. Ads that reach New Jersey are checked against New Jersey’s rules too.

Probative works with law firms in every state from day one, remotely and in person; travel terms are on the pricing page. Your attorney approves every ad before it runs, and where a state requires a filing, we prepare it and your attorney files it. Every Monday you see what each signed case cost, counted from your own records under The Probative Standard. The lawyer advertising rules by state table compares every state.