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Personal injury · New York

Personal injury ad rules in New York

People search right after a crash, a fall or a workplace accident, often from a phone. 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 personal injury firm.

Last reviewed by the Probative Growth editorial team

What are the key facts for personal injury 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.

Ads that name an injury or imply the viewer was hurt are where the platform limits bite hardest.

How does New York sit on the basics a personal injury 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 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 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 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.
  • New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, opinion 1131 (2017-08-08), on lead generation; lawyer paying for-profit company for leads: A lawyer may pay a for-profit website for leads if lawyers are picked by clear mechanical methods, the site recommends no lawyer, and the site follows the ad rules. What to do: Use lead services only if they pick lawyers mechanically, never recommend you, and their site follows the ad rules.

Which Google, Local Services and Meta policies matter for personal injury ads?

  • Google Ads: Healthcare and medicines: Restricted drug terms. In the US you may use prescription drug names in ad text and landing pages without certification, but you must be certified by Google to keyword-target those drug names.
  • Google Ads: Personalized advertising: Health. Personal health content is a sensitive interest category. Google's definition includes disabilities and invasive medical procedures. Ads that fall in it can't use advertiser-curated audiences.
  • Local Services Ads: Local Services Ads: what each legal category covers. Google's descriptions place workers' comp, SSA claims, SSI and veterans' disability under 'Disability lawyer'; dog bites, product liability and wrongful death under 'Personal injury lawyer'; and foreclosure and repossession under 'Bankruptcy lawyer'.
  • 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 personal injury 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 personal injury ad runs, and ask your attorney to approve each ad.
  • Plan each personal injury 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 personal injury ads in New York

What must a personal injury 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 personal injury firm in New York run Local Services Ads?

Google's descriptions place workers' comp, SSA claims, SSI and veterans' disability under 'Disability lawyer'; dog bites, product liability and wrongful death under 'Personal injury lawyer'; and foreclosure and repossession under 'Bankruptcy lawyer'.

How much Spanish-speaking demand should a personal injury 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 State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1294Accessed 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, 1232Accessed October 25, 2026
  9. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1227Accessed October 25, 2026
  10. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1208Accessed October 25, 2026
  11. New York State Bar Association, Committee on Professional Ethics, 1131Accessed October 25, 2026
  12. Google Ads: Healthcare and medicines: Restricted drug termsAccessed October 25, 2026
  13. Google Ads: Personalized advertising: HealthAccessed October 25, 2026
  14. Local Services Ads: Local Services Ads: what each legal category coversAccessed 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

Personal injury ads

Google, Microsoft, Local Services, Meta and YouTube ads for personal injury firms.

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