Take a belief an owner might reasonably hold: law is another local service, so a good agency from dentistry or retail will manage, and the rules are the compliance officer's problem. Half of it survives. The SRA, the regulator of solicitors and law firms in England and Wales, lets a firm advertise on radio, on billboards, in a local newspaper, online or on social media, provided the approach is non-intrusive and non-targeted. The channels are the ones any business uses. The other half fails. In a summary of its initial web sweeps published in November 2019, the SRA found the highest levels of compliance among firms offering probate and conveyancing, where around three quarters were at least partially publishing the required information. Under the Code for Firms, managers are responsible for their firm's compliance with the Code. That makes any page an agency builds the firm's own publicity.
The gate: six rules an agency should already know
Each rule below names where it binds; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules and sit outside this article. One failed rule ends the search, whatever the portfolio, and the matrix after the six says what to ask and what a pass looks like.
Cost pages (England and Wales). Under the SRA Transparency Rules, in the version in effect from 11 April 2025, a firm that publishes that it offers a listed service must carry cost information for that service on its website, unless the work is publicly funded. For individuals the list includes residential conveyancing, uncontested probate and immigration applications. The same rules ask for the firm's SRA number and its digital badge, displayed prominently.
Approaches and lead sources (England and Wales). Paragraph 8.9 of the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors rules out unsolicited approaches to the public to advertise legal services, current and former clients excepted. An SRA warning notice of 19 December 2024 says the ban also applies to any client referred by a third party, such as a lead generator. On re-marketing, it warns that when a third party tries to win back people who first enquired with that third party, a further approach to them may still be unsolicited. It also expects regular spot checks in which new clients are asked how, and by whom, they were contacted.
No win, no fee and compensation figures (UK). In advice on mass legal claims ads published on 15 January 2026, where an ad says "no win, no fee", the ASA wants the ad or at least its landing page to spell out, before any contract, the percentage taken from compensation and that costs could fall on the client in some circumstances. The ASA ruling on JLG Legal Ltd, published on 24 September 2025, upheld all three issues it investigated across paid search, paid social and the firm's website. On its "up to £10,000" claim, aimed generally at anyone who had owned or driven a diesel vehicle between 2008 and 2020, the ASA found that consumers would read it as likely that a significant share of claimants would get £10,000. The ruling concerns one firm's ads, not a ban on figures.
Referral fees for injury work (England and Wales). Under section 56 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, a statute for England and Wales, a regulated person is in breach if they refer prescribed legal business and are paid for it, or are referred it and pay for it. Prescribed legal business covers personal injury and death claims, plus whatever regulations add. The sources read for this article do not say whether a fee paid to a marketing agency falls inside the section, so take advice from your own regulatory adviser before any per-lead model.
Critical reviews (England and Wales). SRA consumer guidance says firms should not be aggressive with a reviewer or pressure them into removing a review.
The licensing state's rules (US). When the American Bar Association updated its model advertising rules, it named contradictory state advertising regulations as a brake on lawyers' online marketing. In New York, effective 1 June 2026, the "Attorney Advertising" label requirement has been eliminated. Florida's advertising handbook, thirteenth edition, effective 10 December 2025, still requires unsolicited direct mail to be marked "Advertisement", and says paid, sponsored and promoted internet search results are subject to the lawyer advertising rules. California Rule 7.4 says a lawyer shall not state that the lawyer is a certified specialist unless certified by the Board of Legal Specialization or another State Bar accredited body, named in the communication.
| Rule (where it binds) | What to ask | What a pass looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Cost pages (England and Wales) | Which of our services sit on the lists, and can we see a cost page you built? | A named service list, a live cost page with the basis of charges, the badge in place |
| Approaches and lead sources (England and Wales) | How is each audience built, do you retarget people who enquired through a third party, and who at the firm signs that off? | Audiences described in plain terms, retargeting signed off by the firm, a source question at intake |
| No win, no fee and figures (UK) | Where do fee terms sit on a landing page you built, and what evidence stands behind any figure you have run? | Fee terms on the ad or landing page before any contract, a file of evidence for each figure |
| Referral fees (England and Wales) | How are you paid for injury work: fixed fee, share of spend or per lead? | Pay structure stated, with the firm's adviser consulted before any per-lead model |
| Critical reviews (England and Wales) | How would you answer a one-star review from a disappointed litigant? | A reply plan that leaves the reviewer and the review alone |
| State rules (each US state) | Which states' rules have you read, and what is the date on each checklist? | Named states, dated checklists, "specialist" only where certified |
Fit: how an enquiry becomes an instruction
Once an agency clears the gate, the question changes from what it knows to what it can move. A sole practitioner with one service and a small budget may do better with a freelancer or a part-time in-house marketer, or by waiting until someone can answer every enquiry within the day; the gate applies to a freelancer too.
The Legal Services Consumer Panel's 2026 tracker survey covered 3,802 people in England and Wales who had used legal services, with fieldwork from 23 February to 13 April 2026. Having a discussion with the provider was the most common way people first found out the price, at 63 per cent. Price was more important for will writing, at 90 per cent, and conveyancing, at 89 per cent. That suggests the call matters as much as the click, and more in some practice areas than others. Among those using will writing and conveyancing services, the share who discussed the price with the provider was higher still, at 72 and 70 per cent, so for a will or a house purchase the route from enquiry to instruction runs through whoever answers and how quickly a quote follows. A contested matter may need a meeting before anyone talks fees.
The same survey shows how differently clients arrive. Just over four in ten, 42 per cent, shopped around before choosing a provider in 2026. Shopping around was higher for family law, at 51 per cent, and lower for probate, at 31 per cent, and criminal charges, at 23 per cent. The most common routes to a provider were having used it before, the client or a family member, at 21 per cent, and a recommendation from family or friends, at 18 per cent. And seven in ten, 69 per cent, took a week or less to choose.
Read together, those figures describe three different jobs, and an agency good at one may be weak at another. A family team is more likely to be compared, so its page and its first call compete side by side with other firms. Here the agency's job is to make the cost page, the experience and the callback hold up in a comparison. A probate team is compared less. Some of its clients may already have a name in mind from a past matter or a relative, so its job is to be easy to find under its own name and quick to quote. Generic paid search may be the wrong spend for it. A firm with years of past clients has a third route, because paragraph 8.9 exempts current and former clients from the ban on unsolicited approaches. A conveyancing client may later need a will, and a family client may need a lasting power of attorney.
Price links the gate to fit. When people shopped around, the price was the main thing they compared, at 57 per cent. So the cost page the Transparency Rules require is also the page a comparing client reads before deciding whether to call. Ask the agency how that page will be found from a service search, what it offers next, whether a callback, a booking or a fixed-fee quote, and how it will count the calls the page produces. An agency that treats the cost page as a compliance chore has missed where the comparison happens.
So ask each shortlisted agency four things about fit. First, which of your practice areas it would start with, and why that one rather than another. Second, how it would separate enquiries from people searching your name from those searching for a service, because the two need different pages and different budgets. Third, what it would do for past clients, within the exemption, and who at the firm approves each message. Fourth, how it would measure speed: hours from enquiry to first call, and days from call to quote, by practice area. A quote sent on day eight may arrive after the choice has been made.
Then ask the agency to map the route for each practice area, from first enquiry to first call, quote and signed client care letter, and to report the drop at each step by source, using your intake question. If most enquiries die between the call and the quote, the fix is intake, not more ads, and a good agency will say so. The Social Target, which publishes this guide, offers its service on both sides of the Atlantic, and its marketing for law firms page describes what that service covers for solicitors in England and Wales and for attorneys in the US.
Who, by name, does the work
Get the names and roles of the people who will write your copy, build your pages and run your ad accounts, and meet them before you decide. Ask which of them has read the six gate rules and checks every page against them. On your side, name one manager to approve pages and audiences. The Code for Firms says managers are responsible for compliance by the firm. In California, a comment to Rule 7.2 refers lawyers to rule 5.3 on supervising nonlawyers who prepare marketing materials. Named people and a named checker are the minimum; a pitch from one person and delivery by people you never meet is not.
Contract length, notice and exit
Get three terms on paper before work starts: how long you are committed for, how much notice either side must give, and what happens at the end. A short first term with a review date suits a firm still learning which practice areas respond. A longer term needs a reason you accept. Add two clauses that matter more in this trade. First, no new audience, lead source or ad wording goes live without the firm's written approval, because the SRA's standard on publicity includes marketing material used by third parties that the firm works with. Second, on exit the firm keeps its page copy, audience definitions and intake records, because the notice says firms need to keep and maintain records to demonstrate their compliance. For the wider clause list, see what should be in a marketing agency contract.
The checks in one table
The six rules above are a gate, and the matrix under them already records each one. This table holds the rest: once an agency passes all six, these rows sort the ones left.
| Check | A pass looks like | A fail looks like | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting practice area | One area named, with the reason | "All of them at once" | Any firm |
| Name searches against service searches | Separate pages, budgets and reports for each | One blended enquiry total | Any firm |
| Past clients | A plan inside the current and former client exemption, approved by the firm | Bought lists or cold approaches | England and Wales |
| Speed to quote | Hours to first call and days to quote, by practice area | No timing reported | England and Wales survey evidence |
| Enquiry to instruction | Drop-off mapped per practice area, from call to client care letter | Enquiry totals only | England and Wales survey evidence |
| Who does the work | Named people and a named rules checker | Delivery by people you never meet | Any |
| Manager sign-off | One named manager approves pages and audiences | Pages go live on the agency's say-so | England and Wales, California |
| Term, notice and exit | Approval clause, records kept by the firm | Copy and audiences stay with the agency | Any |
If you want a view on whether your firm is ready for an agency at all, tell us about your business and we will reply with what we would check first.
↳ Frequently asked
01Does the SRA's ban on unsolicited approaches cover clients sent to a law firm by a lead generator?
Yes, according to the warning notice the SRA issued on 19 December 2024, which says the prohibition also applies to any client referred by a third party, such as a lead generator business or a claims management company. The same notice asks firms to keep records that show their compliance and to spot check new clients on how, and by whom, they were contacted. Before an agency buys or supplies leads for your firm, ask how each person was first approached, and keep that answer on file.
02Can a law firm's ads still say "up to £10,000" after the ASA's JLG Legal ruling?
Not without care. In its ruling on JLG Legal Ltd, published on 24 September 2025, the ASA found that consumers seeing an "up to £10,000" claim aimed generally at past diesel owners and drivers would expect a significant proportion of claimants to receive that sum, and it upheld all three issues it investigated. The ruling concerns one firm's ads and is not a ban on compensation figures. Ask the agency what evidence stands behind any figure before it runs, and check that the landing page explains the fee deducted from compensation before a contract is signed.
03Does the Attorney Advertising label still matter after New York's change on 1 June 2026?
In New York, the requirement to label advertisements "Attorney Advertising" was eliminated with effect from 1 June 2026. That does not settle other states. Florida's handbook still requires unsolicited direct mail to be marked "Advertisement". An agency should hold a dated checklist for each state where your attorneys are licensed, rather than carrying one label rule across all of them.
04Does the Florida Bar treat a law firm's paid search ads as lawyer advertising?
Yes. The Florida Bar's Handbook on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation, thirteenth edition, effective 10 December 2025, says paid, sponsored and promoted internet search results are subject to the lawyer advertising rules. If your attorneys are licensed in Florida, ask the agency for its Florida checklist and the date it was last revised before any search campaign goes live.