The following are prohibited under the Solicitor Advertising Regulations.

Disrepute

A practitioner’s advertisement may be considered one that may bring the profession into disrepute where it contains words or images that would lower the general public’s esteem for the profession. Examples include banner statements such as:

• ‘driven by compensation, focused on results’
• ‘nursing home abuse is on the rise. Don’t let granny get it - call today’
• ‘size matters. Call today to secure the biggest award possible’

Bad taste

Imposing meaning on an idiom such as ‘in bad taste’ might appear to be a highly subjective exercise, however words, phrases or images that are best avoided are those that might be considered:

• rude
• vulgar
• obscene
• inappropriate
• unseemly
• unsuitable

Common sense should prevail and when in doubt, err on the side of caution

Reflect unfavourably

This regulation may be breached when a firm of solicitors claims to be the best practice in its region, for example:

“Number one for family law in all of Sligo”

“Other firms can’t protect your interests like we can”

False or misleading

Care needs to be taken when referring to success rates, as they can only reflect a particular moment in time, with the percentage fluctuating at other times in the year, depending on a range of variables.

References to ‘expert advice’ may mislead insofar as they give the impression that a claimant is dealing with a qualified solicitor, when they may be dealing with a claims handler.

An inappropriate location

“inappropriate location” is defined as a hospital, clinic, doctor’s surgery, funeral home, cemetery, crematorium or other physical location of a similar character

Limitations on personal injury advertising

The regulations have clear rules set down on how practitioners can advertise in the area of personal injury.

Although an advertisement can list ‘personal injuries’ (and its sub-categories) as a professional service, it cannot expressly or impliedly solicit, encourage or offer any inducement to any person or group or class of persons to make claims for personal injuries or seek legal services in connection with such claims (as per regulation 4(a)(vi)).

Examples of inducements include ‘where there’s blame there’s a claim’, ‘claim your free case review’, ‘you don’t pay unless we win’.

No win no fee

• All references to “no win no fee”, “free first consultation”, or other words or phrases of a similar nature which could be construed as meaning that legal services in connection with claims for personal injuries would be provided by the legal practitioner at no cost to the client are prohibited (6(b)).
• Any reference to personal injury must carry a reference to the prohibition on charging costs in s149(1) of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015. This prevents a practitioner from charging a specified percentage or proportion of any damages in connection with contentious business (regulation 6(a)).
• An advertisement relating to personal injury may only refer to the quantum of a possible award of damages by reference to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Book of Quantum or other such guidelines (regulation 6(c)).
• An advertisement shall not suggest that there are circumstances in which legal services involving contentious business may be provided without there being any costs due to any other party unless that actually represents the legal position (regulation 7).
• An advertisement shall not, expressly or by implication, make reference to the success rate of the legal practitioner or include statements about the legal practitioner’s success rate (regulation 8).