Advertisements by solicitors and barristers of their legal services are regulated by the LSRA under the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 (Advertising) Regulations 2020 which came into operation on 18 December 2020.

The issuing of the Advertising Regulations by the LSRA follows the commencement of section 218(1), (2) and (4) to (8) of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 on 16 December 2020. Other relevant sections of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 were commenced on 18 December 2020.

The Advertising Regulations apply to:

• Legal practitioners (practising solicitors, practising barristers or a person who formerly practised as a solicitor or as a barrister and a reference to a solicitor includes a reference to a firm of solicitors)
• Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP) who advertise their legal services
• Groups of legal practitioners who share a facility, premises or cost of practice, who advertise themselves as such a group
• Legal partnerships and multi-disciplinary practices, once these new business models have been introduced.

Under the Advertising Regulations, solicitors and barristers are now regulated under the same rules by the LSRA.
Advertising by solicitors was previously regulated by the Law Society of Ireland under the Solicitors Advertising Regulations 2019, which came into operation on 1 June 2019.  These regulations revoked the Solicitors (Advertising) Regulations, 2002 (S.I. No. 518 of 2002).

This is the first time that statutory rules for advertising have been set out for barristers.

Under the regulations, legal practitioners are allowed to advertise their legal services, with some restrictions on the content and form of the advertisements.

The regulations largely reinforce existing prohibitions on legal services advertising and create new limitations.

Please note that the LSRA does not provide a prior approval or vetting service for advertisements under the new Regulations.

The Advertising Regulations 2020 and other statutory provisions are available below.

The LSRA will keep the regulations under review at periodic intervals.

Consumers may notify the LSRA of a breach or alleged breach of the Advertising Regulations 2020.

Consumers may also complain to the LSRA where a consumer considers that the publication by a legal practitioner of an advertisement constitutes misconduct under the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.

The LSRA may carry out investigations into particular advertisements, either on foot of a complaint received or on its own initiative.

The LSRA monitors and regulates websites maintained by legal practitioners to ensure that those websites which advertise legal services are fully compliant with section 218 of the Act and with the Advertising Regulations. The LSRA also actively monitors the activities of “claims harvesting” websites. For further information please see this LSRA Notice.

Further information for legal practitioners on the LSRA’s Complaints Handling is available on the complaints page.

Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 (Advertising) Regulations 2020 S.I. No. 644 of 2020

Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 (Section 218) (Commencement) Order 2020 S.I. No. 604 of 2020

Legal Services Regulation Act 2015 (Commencement of Certain Provisions) Order 2020 S.I. No. 645 of 2020

Article 24 Directive 2006/123/EC provides that Member States must remove all total prohibitions on commercial communications by the regulated professions.

Article 24 Directive 2006/123/EC