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Criminal defense · New York

Criminal defense ad rules in New York

People search the night of an arrest or a stop, or a relative does it for them. This page puts New York’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 New York?

  • What each ad must include. The name and contact information of at least one lawyer or firm responsible for the communication (7.1(d)); the comment says contact information should include a phone number or a physical office address.

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

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

  • Ad filing in New York: No filing
  • Call recording in New York: One-party consent
  • Texting law in New York: State rules, state-enforced
  • Privacy law in New York: No comprehensive law

What have New York’s ethics opinions said?

  • New York County Lawyers Association, Professional Ethics Committee, opinion 748 (2015-03-10), on the ethical implications of attorney profiles on LinkedIn: A LinkedIn profile listing only education and jobs is not an ad, but adding practice areas, skills or endorsements likely makes it one; lawyers must remove inaccurate endorsements.
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1049 (2015-03-02), on solicitation: Answering an online request for a lawyer, in the way invited, is advertising, not solicitation; posts seeking plaintiffs are allowed except about a specific incident during the waiting period. What to do: Reply to online requests for a lawyer only in the way the person asked, and treat the reply as an ad.
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1294 (2026-03-11), on solicitation; Advertisement; Lead Generators: Paying a platform to contact users who agreed to share their details is a permitted lead payment if it recommends no lawyer, uses neutral disclosed criteria, and fees ignore retention. What to do: Before paying a lead platform, confirm it does not recommend you, picks lawyers by neutral disclosed criteria, and charges the same whether or not you are hired.
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1232 (2021-11-10), on attorney advertising: A lawyer who asks a fertility clinic to list him on its website as a reproduction lawyer is advertising, not soliciting. What to do: Treat listings you request on third-party websites as ads and follow the ad rules.
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1227 (2021-08-26), on advertising, solicitation, targeted email to prospective clients: An out-of-state firm’s email to a list of specific New Yorkers seeking clients for future class actions is both an ad and a solicitation under New York rules.
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1208 (2020-11-16), on solicitation and Referral of Real Estate Matters by Real Estate Broker Employed by Lawyer as Paralegal: A lawyer may take closings referred by her paralegal-broker if the lawyer has no stake in the commission, handles conflicts, and keeps the paralegal from improper solicitation. What to do: Make sure staff who refer clients to you follow the solicitation rules.

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 New York touches criminal defense marketing?

  • Ads in Spanish and other languages. No state rule on ads in other languages found in the sources reviewed. Our default applies: every required statement appears in each language the ad uses.
  • Call recording. One-party consent: a person on the call may record it.
  • Privacy and health data. No comprehensive consumer privacy law in force.

How much Spanish-speaking demand is there in New York?

  • New York: about 2,772,893 (±13,482) people aged 5 and over who speak Spanish at home. ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.
  • New York: about 1,235,249 (±12,400) Spanish speakers aged 5 and over who speak English less than "very well". ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.
  • New York: about 214 (±30.8) 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 New York 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 New York 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 New York

What must a criminal defense ad say in New York?

The name and contact information of at least one lawyer or firm responsible for the communication (7.1(d)); the comment says contact information should include a phone number or a physical office address.

Can a criminal defense firm in New York 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 New York?

New York: about 2,772,893 (±13,482) people aged 5 and over who speak Spanish at home. ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.

Sources

  1. NYSBA, New York Rules of Professional Conduct as amended through July 1, 2026 (22 NYCRR Part 1200)Accessed October 24, 2026
  2. NYSBA, “The Amendments to the Advertising Rules” (Marjorie E. Gross, September 2026)Accessed October 24, 2026
  3. Recording laws by state, 2026 guideAccessed October 24, 2026
  4. State privacy law comparison chart, updated October 8, 2026Accessed October 24, 2026
  5. Rivkin Radler on New York and Connecticut geofencing bansAccessed October 24, 2026
  6. New York County Lawyers Association, Professional Ethics Committee, 748Accessed October 25, 2026
  7. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1049Accessed October 25, 2026
  8. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1294Accessed October 25, 2026
  9. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1232Accessed October 25, 2026
  10. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1227Accessed October 25, 2026
  11. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1208Accessed 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.

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