See where your firm stands

Criminal defense · California

Criminal defense ad rules in California

People search the night of an arrest or a stop, or a relative does it for them. This page puts California’s filing duty, its limits on contacting people directly, the Google, Local Services and Meta policies, the state’s ethics opinions and its Spanish-speaking demand in one place for a criminal defense firm.

Last reviewed by the Probative Growth editorial team

What are the key facts for criminal defense ads in California?

  • What each ad must include. The landing-page shortcut for character-limited ads applies only to joint advertisers.

Criminal defense is a named sensitive category, so audience tools are limited and no ad should hint that the viewer is accused.

How does California sit on the basics a criminal defense firm runs into?

  • Ad filing in California: No filing
  • Call recording in California: All-party consent
  • Texting law in California: None found beyond federal law
  • Privacy law in California: Comprehensive law in force

Can a criminal defense firm contact people directly in California?

  • No general day count in the rules.

What have California’s ethics opinions said?

  • State Bar of California, Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), opinion (2026-05-14), on practical Guidance for the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Practice of Law: The guidance lists autonomous client intake as an example of agentic AI and says lawyers must not let agentic systems make legal decisions or give legal advice without lawyer review. What to do: If you use an AI agent for intake, keep a lawyer reviewing its work and do not let it give legal advice to prospects.
  • Orange County Bar Association, Professionalism and Ethics Committee, opinion 2022-01 (2022-07-27), on attorney Bios: Without informed consent, a lawyer may not name a client or describe a matter in bios or marketing if it would embarrass or harm the client, nor misleadingly. What to do: Get written client consent before naming clients, showing their logos, or describing their matters on your website bios.
  • State Bar of California, Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), opinion 2019-199 (2019), on attorney Directory and Rating Websites: A lawyer is not responsible for a directory profile until adopting or using it; then it must be truthful, with no fake reviews and care over misleading testimonials. What to do: If you claim or link to a directory profile (Avvo-type), check it for false content, never have friends or family post reviews, and add a disclaimer near testimonials.
  • San Diego County Bar Association, Legal Ethics Committee, opinion 2018-1 (2018-05-08), on marketing to mass disaster victims through targeted social media ads: Lawyers may run geographically targeted social-media ads to disaster victims soon after a disaster if the ads are truthful and include required information; California has no waiting-period rule. What to do: If you run geo-targeted ads after a disaster, keep them truthful, label them as ads, and never promise results.
  • San Diego County Bar Association, Legal Ethics Committee, opinion 2018-2 (2018), on calling prospective clients referred by a registered lawyer referral service: A lawyer may phone a person referred by a State Bar-registered lawyer referral service, because the person started the contact by asking the service for a lawyer. What to do: It is fine to call people a certified referral service sends you; do not cold-call people who have not asked for help.
  • State Bar of California, Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), opinion 2012-186 (2012), on social Networking: A lawyer's social media posts are advertising when they offer the lawyer's services, such as posting wins and inviting calls, and the ad rules still apply. What to do: Assume posts that mention wins or invite people to hire you are ads; add any required disclaimers and keep them truthful.

Which Google, Local Services and Meta policies matter for criminal defense ads?

  • Google Ads: Other restricted businesses: Bail bond services. Ads for bail bond services are not allowed. Google's examples include immigration bail services and detention bail services.
  • Google Ads: Personalized advertising: Commission of a crime. Criminal defense lawyers are a named example of a sensitive interest category. Their ads can't use advertiser-curated audiences: Customer Match, your data segments (remarketing), audience expansion or lookalike segments. Google's own audiences (in-market, affinity, life events) are allowed.
  • Local Services Ads: Local Services Ads: service categories (US). Google's US list has 17 lawyer categories: bankruptcy, business, contract, criminal, disability, DUI, estate, family, immigration, IP, labor, litigation, malpractice, personal injury, real estate, traffic, and a general 'Lawyers' category. Unlike some other categories, none of the lawyer categories is limited to certain states.
  • Meta: Privacy Violations and Personal Attributes. Meta ads can't assert or imply that the viewer has a personal attribute, including a health condition, disability, vulnerable financial status or criminal record. Meta's own 'not allowed' examples include 'Are you bankrupt?' and 'Are you a convicted felon?'.

The full list for every platform is in the ad platform policy tracker.

What else in California touches criminal defense marketing?

  • Texting and telemarketing. No Florida-style state texting law with private suits found; the federal TCPA applies.

How much Spanish-speaking demand is there in California?

  • California: about 10,513,931 (±38,294) people aged 5 and over who speak Spanish at home. ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.
  • California: about 4,107,223 (±27,003) Spanish speakers aged 5 and over who speak English less than "very well". ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.
  • California: about 342 (±29.4) Spanish speakers with limited English (less than "very well") for every Spanish-speaking lawyer, judge or judicial worker. ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.

Test Spanish pages and ads next to English ones.

Which California metros do we cover?

Each metro page covers how clients there find a lawyer, what AI answers show and the local courts:

What does this mean for your firm?

  • Check the California filing duty before the first criminal defense ad runs, and ask your attorney to approve each ad.
  • Plan each criminal defense campaign around the platform’s own policies, so ads are not disapproved after launch.
  • Test Spanish and English side by side where the Spanish-speaking audience is large.

Not legal advice. Probative Growth is a marketing firm, not a law firm. Rules change; your attorney decides what runs.

Questions firms ask about criminal defense ads in California

Can a criminal defense firm contact people directly in California?

No general day count in the rules.

Can a criminal defense firm in California run Local Services Ads?

Google's US list has 17 lawyer categories: bankruptcy, business, contract, criminal, disability, DUI, estate, family, immigration, IP, labor, litigation, malpractice, personal injury, real estate, traffic, and a general 'Lawyers' category. Unlike some other categories, none of the lawyer categories is limited to certain states.

How much Spanish-speaking demand should a criminal defense firm plan for in California?

California: about 10,513,931 (±38,294) people aged 5 and over who speak Spanish at home. ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.

Sources

  1. California Business and Professions Code §6157.2Accessed October 24, 2026
  2. California Rules of Professional Conduct (2026 edition)Accessed October 24, 2026
  3. California Business and Professions Code §6152Accessed October 24, 2026
  4. State mini-TCPA tracker, July 2026Accessed October 24, 2026
  5. 47 CFR 64.1200, the federal TCPA rulesAccessed October 24, 2026
  6. State Bar of California, Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), NoneAccessed October 25, 2026
  7. Orange County Bar Association, Professionalism and Ethics Committee, 2022-01Accessed October 25, 2026
  8. State Bar of California, Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), 2019-199Accessed October 25, 2026
  9. San Diego County Bar Association, Legal Ethics Committee, 2018-1Accessed October 25, 2026
  10. San Diego County Bar Association, Legal Ethics Committee, 2018-2Accessed October 25, 2026
  11. State Bar of California, Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), 2012-186Accessed October 25, 2026
  12. Google Ads: Other restricted businesses: Bail bond servicesAccessed October 25, 2026
  13. Google Ads: Personalized advertising: Commission of a crimeAccessed October 25, 2026
  14. Local Services Ads: Local Services Ads: service categories (US)Accessed October 25, 2026
  15. Meta: Privacy Violations and Personal AttributesAccessed October 25, 2026
  16. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, table C16001 (Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over), via the Census Data APIAccessed October 25, 2026

Criminal defense ads

Google, Microsoft, Local Services, Meta and YouTube ads for criminal defense firms.

Where do I start?

See where your firm stands.

Tick what your firm already has: 7 questions, about 2 minutes. You’ll see your stage, what we’d change first, and one place to start, with its price.

See where your firm stands

Or get a free review: Probative Growth records a 90-second video of what clients see when they look you up, and emails it within 2 business days.

Step 2 of 2. Where should we send the video for your site?

We use this to send your video. No newsletter, and no sales calls unless you ask.

We use what you send to reply. To learn which of our ads work, we tell Google, Microsoft and Meta that a request came in, with the ad you clicked (if any) and a scrambled copy of your email and phone, never your message. Never sold, never added to lists. Global Privacy Control or an email to us turns this off. By sending this form you agree to our privacy policy.

See every price