Guide · Law firms
What a law firm
site may say.
A law firm website is marketing, and in Ontario marketing by lawyers is regulated by the Law Society's Rules of Professional Conduct. Most of the rules are common sense; a few catch out firms that copy the style of agencies from other industries. This is what they say, rule by rule.
Published 2026-09-21 · Formory Group
The core rule: true, accurate, verifiable.
Rule 4.2-1 requires that a lawyer's marketing be demonstrably true, accurate and verifiable, not misleading, confusing or deceptive, and in the best interests of the public and consistent with a high standard of professionalism. "Marketing" is defined broadly in 4.2-0 — it includes the website, the firm name, the logo and the business card.
Rule 4.2-1.1 adds that marketing must identify the person as licensed as a lawyer. A practical test for every sentence on the site: could you prove it, today, if the Law Society asked?
Past results and testimonials.
The commentary to 4.2-1 lists things that may breach the rule. Stating amounts recovered or past successes is one of them unless it comes with a disclaimer that past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. If your site lists settlements, the disclaimer belongs next to them, not in the footer.
Testimonials are not banned outright. What the commentary flags is testimonials or endorsements that contain emotional appeals. A client saying you returned calls promptly and explained the process is a different thing from a client saying you saved their family.
Superlatives, awards and rankings.
Claims of superiority over other lawyers, raising expectations and describing yourself as "aggressive" are all flagged in the commentary. Words like "best", "#1" and "top" are treated as awards or rankings, and citing an award or ranking breaches the rule if it is not bona fide, does not reflect your actual performance, did not come from a reasonable evaluation process, or was obtained in part by paying a fee.
That last point matters for directories that sell badges. If a listing or "award" came with an invoice, it should not appear on the site.
"Specialist" is a protected word.
Rule 4.3-1 says a lawyer may not advertise as a specialist unless certified by the Law Society. The commentary goes further: no designation that might reasonably suggest certification. You can list practice areas and describe your experience accurately; "family law specialist" without certification is not allowed. Watch page titles and headings as well as body text — "Toronto Employment Law Specialists" in a title tag is still marketing.
Publishing fees.
Rule 4.2-2 allows advertising fees, with conditions: be reasonably precise about which services each fee covers, say whether disbursements, third-party charges and taxes are extra, and honour the advertised fee strictly.
Residential real estate is stricter. Rule 4.2-2.1 requires an advertised price to be all-inclusive except HST and a defined list of disbursements such as land transfer tax and title insurance, and to say which are excluded. The rule expressly applies to prices on the lawyer's own website. "Closings from $899" with the disbursements discovered later is the pattern it exists to stop.
Other rules that come up on websites.
Marketing "second opinion" services is prohibited (4.2-1.2). "No win, no fee" style offers must comply with the contingency-fee rule 3.6-2.2. Bait-and-switch offers are out, and if you refer clients to others for a fee, that practice must be disclosed.
What this means for how a firm site is written.
In practice the rules push law firm sites toward what actually persuades clients anyway: plain descriptions of what you do, who you do it for, how the process works and what it costs. Among the GTA law firms in our own survey, the median has only a few dozen Google reviews, so the website does much of the persuading. Specific beats superlative.
This guide summarises the Rules of Professional Conduct as published by the Law Society of Ontario in September 2026. It is not legal or ethics advice; the Law Society's practice management helpline answers exactly these questions for licensees.
Questions
Straight answers.
Can we use client reviews from Google on our site?
Reviews are testimonials, so the same test applies: accurate, verifiable and not emotional appeals. Choose ones that describe the service factually, and do not edit their wording.
Can we call ourselves "experienced" or "trusted"?
Describing experience accurately is allowed — years in practice, number of matters, areas of work. Unverifiable adjectives add risk and little persuasion.
Does this apply to our Google Business Profile and ads too?
Yes. The definition of marketing is broad, and the same rules apply wherever the firm presents itself: the listing, paid ads, social media and directory profiles.
Two minutes
Where does your
own site land?
Everything above came from opening real websites. Yours takes ten seconds: we load it the way a customer would and say what we find, including when the honest answer is that nothing needs doing.
Start with a
straight answer.
Describe the business and where it works. We come back with what we would change, what it would cost and how long it takes — or with a reason not to bother.