LPC Advertising Rules for Law Firm Websites | South Africa

You may advertise. You may describe yourself as a specialist if you have the qualifications or experience. What you may not do is compare yourself to another practitioner, name a client without prior written consent, or misrepresent the service you offer — and you carry an obligation for publicity about your firm even when you didn't write it.

Most firms are more cautious than the Code requires.

The rules are narrower and stranger than the folklore suggests. Here's what they actually say.

On sources: this refers to the Code of Conduct made under section 36(1) of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014, published in Government Gazette 42337. We build websites; we don't practise law. Read the paragraphs and form your own view — paragraph 4 runs to about two pages.

Marketing is permitted

Worth establishing first, because a surprising number of firms believe otherwise.

Paragraph 6.1 prohibits arrangements that secure professional work solicited by a non-attorney for reward — and then says expressly that this prohibition shall not in any way limit bona fide and proper marketing activities.

Marketing is allowed. The Code regulates how, not whether.

You may call yourself a specialist

Paragraph 5.1 permits attorneys, on the basis of specialised qualifications or experience, to advertise or hold themselves out as specialists or as offering specialist services.

There's a condition attached: the Council may require an attorney to show cause why he should not be ordered to stop, and may order him to cease if it considers the claim unjustified.

So the test is substantive rather than procedural. You don't apply for permission. You need to be able to justify it if asked.

Practically: "we specialise in family law" is available to a firm that does family law. It isn't available to a general practice that would like more of it.

What "publicity" covers

Paragraph 4.2.1 defines publicity as any direct or indirect reference to an attorney or firm, published or disseminated by any written, pictorial or oral means, in any medium — expressly including electronic and social media.

Your website, your LinkedIn, your Facebook page, your Google Business Profile, an article you're quoted in, and a client's review are all publicity within that definition.

The definition applies irrespective of whether the publicity was made or paid for at the instance, or with the knowledge or consent, of the attorney or firm.

That last clause is the one to remember. Publicity about your firm is publicity about your firm whether you made it or not.

The three prohibitions

Paragraph 4.3 requires that all approaches and publicity by or on behalf of an attorney meet several conditions. Three matter most for a website.

1. No comparison, no claim of superiority

Paragraph 4.3.5: publicity must not misrepresent, disparage, compare, criticise the quality of, or claim to be superior to, the service provided by any other legal practitioner — whether or not that practitioner is identified.

This is broader than most firms assume. "Whether or not identified" means you don't need to name anyone to breach it.

It's also widely ignored. On a single Google search for "divorce attorney Pretoria", on one afternoon, we found four superlative claims:

A paid Google ad headlined "Best Divorce Attorney Pretoria"
A firm's organic page title reading "Get Help from the Best Divorce Attorney Pretoria has to Offer"
A second paid ad for "Leading Divorce Lawyers In Gauteng"
A directory listing describing a firm as "one of the leading Divorce and Family Law practices in the country"

Two of those four are being paid for.

And the last one has a sting. When we asked Gemini who the best divorce attorneys in Pretoria are, it quoted that directory description back — almost word for word. AI systems are now amplifying comparative claims that the Code appears to prohibit, to people who asked a question phrased as a comparison.

Phrases that sit inside this prohibition:

"The best divorce attorneys in Pretoria"
"Unlike other firms, we return your calls"
"A more personal service than the big firms"
"Why choose us over other conveyancers"

Phrases that don't:

"We only practise family law"
"Admitted in 2004. Over 400 transfers registered."
"We answer the phone ourselves"
"Fixed fee, quoted before we start"

The distinction is straightforward once you see it: describe yourself, don't rank yourself. A falsifiable fact about your own practice is safe. A comparison is not — even an implied one.

That happens to be better copy. "We return your calls, unlike other firms" is weaker than "you'll get a response within one working day."

2. No naming clients without prior written consent

Paragraph 4.3.6: publicity must not refer to a client by name unless the client's prior written consent has been obtained. The only stated exception concerns advertisements relating solely to the sale or letting of a client's property.

Prior. Written.

This catches the ordinary testimonial. A named quote on your website — "Thanks for handling our transfer so well — J. Mokoena" — requires that consent, held on file, obtained before publication.

It also catches a Google review copied onto your own site. On Google it was published by the client. On your homepage it's published by you.

3. No misrepresenting the service

Paragraph 4.3.3: publicity must not misrepresent the nature of the service offered.

On a website this is usually accidental rather than dishonest — a practice area page for work the firm doesn't actually take on, or a template listing services nobody at the firm does. It's the same fault as the family law firm whose homepage advertised personal injury news.

The obligation for things you didn't write

Paragraph 4.4 does two things.

First, it says the responsibilities in paragraph 4.3 cannot be delegated. Handing your website to an agency doesn't transfer the duty. If the copy breaches the Code, it's your breach.

Second: where an attorney or firm becomes aware of publicity referring to it which conflicts with or infringes paragraph 4, the firm must immediately take appropriate steps reasonably necessary to have the publicity rectified or withdrawn, and to publish the rectification in the same medium.

Two practical consequences:

Read what your website says. Not once, at launch. It's your responsibility, permanently, and "the designer wrote it" isn't a position the Code leaves open to you.

Reviews and third-party listings count. A directory entry describing you as "the leading firm in Centurion", or a client review comparing you favourably to another attorney, is publicity referring to your firm.

→ Asking clients for Google reviews without breaching the rules

Firm names

Paragraph 9.3 restricts the style or name under which an attorney may practise: your own name, the name of a former proprietor, partner or director, the names of present or former partners or directors, a derivative of those, the name of a national or international practice you're part of — or any other name the Council has first approved in writing.

Relevant if you've been considering trading as something more marketable than the partners' surnames.

Paragraph 9.2 also governs how you describe people on your site. Where you name an employee, you must indicate clearly whether they're an attorney, and only specified words may be used without the Council's written consent: for attorneys, "consultant", "associate", "professional assistant" or "assisted by"; for non-attorneys, "candidate attorney", the appropriate professional status, or a descriptive management title.

"Legal advisor" and "senior legal consultant" are the kind of invented titles that sit outside that list.

What to check on your own site


1	Any superlatives — "best", "leading", "top", "premier"
2	Any comparison, including implied — "unlike other firms"
3	Named clients or testimonials, and whether you hold written consent
4	Practice areas listed that the firm doesn't actually take
5	Specialisation claims you could justify to the Council if asked
6	Staff titles against the permitted list in paragraph 9.2
7	Directory listings and reviews describing your firm
8	The description you wrote for any legal directory you pay for

Numbers 1 and 3 are where most firm websites fail, usually because a designer wrote the copy and nobody read it against the Code. Number 8 catches almost everybody — a description written once, years ago, and never read since.

The useful part

Almost everything genuinely persuasive is still available to you.

Facts about your own practice. Years admitted. Number of matters handled. What you charge. How quickly you respond. Which courts you appear in. Languages spoken. What happens at a first consultation.

None of that compares you to anyone. All of it is checkable. And specifics persuade better than superlatives do — a firm stating "over 400 transfers registered since 2011" is more convincing than one calling itself the best, and it's the version the Code permits.

We check all seven items above on every site we review, alongside the technical and POPIA checks. Send us your URL and we'll email you what we find — free, whether you hire us or not.

What the LPC rules let you say on your firm's website