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Family law · New York

Family law ad rules in New York

People search quietly and often at night, and many are comparing two or three firms before they call. This page puts New York’s filing duty, the Google, Local Services and Meta policies, the state’s ethics opinions and its Spanish-speaking demand in one place for a family law firm.

Last reviewed by the Probative Growth editorial team

What are the key facts for family law 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.

Divorce is a named sensitive category, so ads cannot imply that the viewer is going through one.

How does New York sit on the basics a family law 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 1306 (2026-10-15), on unadmitted Law Graduate’s Signature Block and Law Firm Website Listing: A firm may list not-yet-admitted law graduates on its website and let them sign proper letters, if it clearly says they are not admitted to practice. What to do: Label unadmitted graduates on your website and emails clearly, for example "Law Clerk" or "Not yet admitted to practice."
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1301 (2026-09-03), on virtual law office; advertising a VLO as the lawyer’s office address: A New York lawyer may list a virtual office as the address in ads and online if mail reaches the lawyer there and clients can meet there on notice. What to do: If you list a virtual office address, make sure you get mail sent there and can meet clients there on reasonable notice.
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1298 (2026-08-11), on description of foreign lawyer who has passed bar examination but is not admitted: A candidate who passed the New York bar exams but is not yet admitted may describe himself as having passed the bar, with the words "passed not admitted." What to do: If you are not yet admitted, say so plainly next to any statement that you passed the bar exam.
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1295 (2026-03-12), on conflicts of interest; advertising; trust account; opening a solo law practice: A lawyer working at a New York firm while running a New Jersey firm must follow New York ad and solicitation rules for ads aimed at New York. What to do: If you advertise into New York, follow New York ad rules, show your practice limits, and avoid implying ties to another firm you work for.
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1286 (2025-09-29), on requesting former clients to write Google reviews: A lawyer may ask a former client for a Google review and give a small gift, but may not write the review or tie the gift to its content. What to do: Ask happy past clients for reviews, offer at most a small gift for any review, and never write it for them or reward only good ones.

Which Google, Local Services and Meta policies matter for family law ads?

  • Google Ads: Personalized advertising: Relationship hardships. Divorce services are a named example of a sensitive interest category, so family-law ads can't use advertiser-curated audiences such as Customer Match, remarketing or lookalike segments.
  • Google Ads: Personalized advertising: Abuse and trauma. A person's status as a victim of abuse, crime or another traumatic event is a sensitive interest category. Google's examples are domestic abuse shelters and victim advocate services.
  • 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 family law 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 family law ad runs, and ask your attorney to approve each ad.
  • Plan each family law 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 family law ads in New York

What must a family law 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 family law 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 family law 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, 1306Accessed October 25, 2026
  8. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1301Accessed October 25, 2026
  9. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1298Accessed October 25, 2026
  10. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1295Accessed October 25, 2026
  11. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1286Accessed October 25, 2026
  12. Google Ads: Personalized advertising: Relationship hardshipsAccessed October 25, 2026
  13. Google Ads: Personalized advertising: Abuse and traumaAccessed 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

Family law ads

Google, Microsoft, Local Services, Meta and YouTube ads for family law firms.

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