A law practice’s website is advertising, so the professional rules that apply to an advertisement apply to its pages. In Western Australia those rules sit in the Legal Profession Uniform Law, which WA joined on 1 July 2022, the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules made under it, the Australian Consumer Law and, for personal injury work, Part 3 of the Civil Liability Act 2002.
This guide is about what that means for the pages themselves: practice areas, lawyer profiles and titles, specialist wording, personal injury pages, reviews, costs and the enquiry form. Each section says what to show and where, and links the source. The Legal Practice Board of Western Australia’s pages are the place to confirm the current rules.
General information, not legal advice
This guide is about what to show on a website. Check the current requirements with the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia ((08) 6211 3600) or your own adviser before you publish.
The rules a WA law firm’s website sits under
Five topics come up on every WA practice’s website. The table shows where the rule for each one sits and which part of the site it touches.
| Topic | Where the rule sits | What it touches on the site |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising generally | Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules, rule 36.1 | Every page: advertising, marketing or promotion must not be false, misleading or deceptive, offensive, or prohibited by law |
| Specialist expertise | Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules, rule 36.2 | Practice area pages, profiles and taglines that describe expertise, and the words "accredited specialist" |
| Titles | Legal Profession Uniform Law (WA) and the Uniform General Rules, with the Board's use of titles page | The team page: lawyer, solicitor, principal, partner, director and counsel |
| Personal injury | Civil Liability Act 2002 (WA), Part 3, and conduct rule 34.2 | Any page about personal injury claims, and how instructions are sought from people after an injury |
| Testimonials and costs | Australian Consumer Law; conduct rule 9 on confidentiality; the Uniform Law on costs disclosure | Reviews, case results and the costs page |
Every source is listed at the end of this guide. The Law Council of Australia, which developed the conduct rules, notes in its commentary on the rules that solicitors should also have regard to misleading or deceptive conduct legislation, personal injury legislation and direct marketing law such as the Spam Act 2003. A newsletter sign-up on the website is where that last one comes in.
Practice area pages
Clients search for their problem, not for a firm by name: a family lawyer near their suburb, how long probate takes, what to do about a contract dispute. A page for each practice area gives each of those searches somewhere to land, and it is where rule 36.1 matters most, because it is where a firm describes what it can do.
What a practice area page covers
The work, described plainly
- What the practice does in that area, and the kinds of matters it takes on.
- Who does the work, linked to their profiles.
- How a matter usually runs, from the first meeting to the end.
- What a first meeting covers, and what to bring to it.
- How the work is charged, linked to the costs page.
What it leaves out
Claims a client can't test
- Outcome promises, win rates and "we always get results".
- "Specialist" as a label for the firm or the area.
- Copy borrowed from another firm or another state's rules.
- Pressure to act now, such as countdowns or "limited time" offers.
Plain language does more for a client than legal terms of art. A page that explains, in general terms, what usually happens in a property settlement or an estate dispute helps a reader decide whether to call. Keep those explanations general, and say that the first meeting is where their own situation is looked at.
“Specialist” and “accredited specialist”
Rule 36.2 of the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules does two things. It bars a solicitor from conveying a false, misleading or deceptive impression of specialist expertise, whatever words create it. And it reserves the words “accredited specialist”, their derivatives and post-nominals to a solicitor who is accredited by the relevant professional association. The Law Council’s commentary adds that the entitlement to refer to specialist accreditation “attaches to solicitors and not to law practices”.
On the website, that means:
- The words go beside the person. “Accredited Specialist (Family Law)” sits under the name of the solicitor who holds it, on their profile and on the practice area page where they do that work.
- The firm describes its work, not its status. “We act in family law matters” rather than “family law specialists” in the header or the page title.
- Logos follow the body’s rules. The Law Society of Western Australia runs a specialist accreditation programme and provides accredited specialists with a logo and branding for their marketing. Use it the way the Society says, beside the accredited solicitor.
The Society’s accreditation page lists the areas it accredits. Check the current list with the Society before a profile names one.
Titles on the team page
A client choosing a lawyer wants to know who they will deal with. A profile for each lawyer, with their title, where and when they were admitted, and the work they do, answers that. The titles themselves have rules: the Legal Profession Uniform Law (WA) controls who may say they can engage in legal practice, and the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015 set out who may use titles such as lawyer, solicitor, counsel and Senior Counsel.
The Legal Practice Board’s use of titles page covers the titles a practice puts on its team page.
- Principal. A principal has greater responsibilities and liabilities than an employed practitioner. The Board says misuse of the title by a practitioner who is not a principal may be misleading or simply untrue, and asks practitioners who are not principals not to use it.
- Partner and director. The Board gives them their natural and ordinary meaning: a partner practises law in common with other practitioners, and a director is an officer on the board of an incorporated legal practice.
- Senior legal counsel. The Board’s view is that the word senior with counsel may mislead, and that the term should not be used by a practitioner in private practice.
- Special counsel. The Board decided not to restrict it, but cautions firms not to mislead anyone about the skill or expertise of the solicitors they employ.
- Overseas-admitted lay associates. The Board’s policy lists the titles they may be held out under, such as Associate with “(Admitted in [place of admission], not admitted in Australia)”.
Each profile can link to the Board’s Find a Lawyer search, which covers anyone who has been admitted as a lawyer in Western Australia. A client who checks finds the same name there as on the site.
Personal injury pages
Personal injury work has a WA rule of its own, outside the Uniform Law. Part 3 of the Civil Liability Act 2002 restricts statements by a lawyer that may encourage a person to make a personal injury claim or to use a lawyer’s services for one, and it names internet websites. The Act allows a lawyer’s own website to carry statements limited to:
On the lawyer's own website, statements limited to
- How the law of negligence operates.
- A person's legal rights under that law.
- The conditions under which the lawyer is prepared to provide personal injury services.
For the website, that shapes the personal injury pages more than any other section:
- Explain, don’t encourage. The pages explain how negligence law works and the terms on which the practice takes the work, such as how fees are charged.
- No testimonials or results. A testimonial or a case result is not a statement about the law or the practice’s conditions, so those stay off the personal injury pages.
- No claim buttons. Calls to action such as “start your claim” or “find out what you’re owed” belong nowhere on these pages. A plain contact link is enough.
- No pressure. Conduct rule 34.2 bars seeking instructions in a manner likely to oppress or harass a person who, because of recent trauma or injury, may be at a significant disadvantage. Pop-ups, chat prompts and countdowns that push someone to act sit badly with that.
- Approved by the practice. The personal injury pages are written for the practice to approve before they go live, like every other page.
Reviews, testimonials and results
Reviews help a client choose a lawyer, and three rules shape how they appear on the site.
The Australian Consumer Law, Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, bars false or misleading representations that purport to be a testimonial, and in proceedings a testimonial is taken to be misleading unless evidence shows otherwise. Rule 9 of the conduct rules protects a client’s confidential information, with an exception where the client authorises disclosure. And the personal injury rule above keeps testimonials off those pages.
- Ask, and keep the yes in writingA testimonial tells the public that someone was a client. Get their written authority first, and keep it on file.
- Quote it as writtenVerbatim and attributed, with no editing that changes what it says.
- Nothing about the matterNothing that identifies the client's matter beyond what they agreed to share.
- Not on personal injury pagesKeep reviews on the home page, the about page or the other practice areas.
Google reviews raise the same confidentiality point in the replies. A reply that thanks the reviewer and invites them to call the office keeps their matter private.
Costs on the website
Under the Uniform Law, a law practice gives a client written disclosure of the basis on which legal costs will be calculated, and an estimate of total costs, when or as soon as practicable after instructions are given, subject to thresholds the Board’s FAQ sets out. A costs page on the website is not that disclosure, but it answers the question clients ask before they call. The Board’s costs disclosure FAQ explains the disclosure itself.
A useful costs page says how the practice charges, such as hourly rates, fixed fees for defined work or conditional arrangements, and what is in and out of each. It then says that the client receives written costs disclosure once instructions are given. Any figure on the page should match the practice’s disclosure documents, because the Uniform Law lets a costs assessor have regard to any relevant advertisement as to the practice’s costs or the skills of its lawyers.
The enquiry form
An enquiry form can be the first thing a client sends a practice, so its wording does a lot of work.
- Say what the form is notA line above the button: "Sending this form doesn't make us your lawyers. We'll confirm in writing if we can act for you." The practice's own engagement terms decide when someone becomes a client, and the line should match them.
- Names first, detail laterAsk for the other parties' names before the detail, so the practice can check for a conflict before reading about the matter.
- No documents yetAsk people not to attach documents until the practice has confirmed it can act.
- An auto-reply that gives no adviceIt confirms receipt, says when the practice will be in touch, and gives the phone number for anything urgent.
- Matter type as a choiceA short list of the practice areas, so the enquiry reaches the right lawyer without the client having to name the law.
Where each detail lives on the site
The practitioner details turn up in several places at once: the profiles, the practice area pages, the footer and the structured data. Keeping them in one place in the code means they change together when someone is admitted, made a principal or leaves.
- Profiles with admission detailsEach profile gives the person's title, the year of admission and the Supreme Court that admitted them, and any accreditation with the body that granted it. A link to the Board's Find a Lawyer search lets a client check.
- Principal, partner and director only where they fitOn the people they describe, and nowhere else.
- The practice's name and contact details in the footerOn every page, as text, matching the Google Business Profile.
- The same facts in the structured dataNames, titles and practice areas in the markup match the page, so search engines read what the client reads.
Sources
The WA legislation, the conduct rules and the Legal Practice Board’s own pages, each linked. Confirm the current version with the Board before you publish.
Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2022
How the Uniform Law and the Uniform Rules apply in WA.
Legal Profession Uniform Law (WA)
Who may advertise legal practice, titles and costs disclosure.
Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules 2015
Advertising, specialist expertise, confidentiality and seeking instructions.
Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015
Who may use each title.
Advertising personal injury legal services.
Competition and Consumer Act 2010, Schedule 2 (Australian Consumer Law)
Misleading conduct and testimonials.
Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules Commentary
Related legislation, and accreditation attaching to solicitors.
Uniform Law, Use of titles and Costs disclosure FAQ
WA and the Uniform Law, titles, and costs disclosure.
Practice management guidelines, Find a Lawyer and Contact us
Planning a practice's advertising, the admitted lawyers search and the Board's contact details.
The Society's specialist accreditation programme.
Where Kovus fits
A Kovus site for a law practice is built so the details the rules expect are easy to show: a page per practice area, a profile for each lawyer with admission details kept in one place, personal injury pages kept apart, and an enquiry form that doesn’t start a retainer. You, or your adviser, approve the final wording before launch. Website builds cost A$500 to A$1,000, with premium builds from A$1,000.
What else a law practice’s site needs is on the websites for law firms page, and the other professional fields are on professional services.
Frequently asked questions
What should a practice area page on a law firm website say?
What the practice does in that area, who does the work, how a matter usually runs, what a first meeting covers and what the client should bring. Keep it factual: no outcome promises or success rates, because the conduct rules require a practice's advertising not to be false, misleading or deceptive. One page per area gives each search a page that answers it.
Where does accredited specialist go on a law firm website?
Beside the name of the solicitor who holds the accreditation, on their profile and on the practice area page where they do that work. The conduct rules reserve the words accredited specialist, and post-nominals derived from them, for a solicitor accredited by the relevant professional association, and the Law Council of Australia's commentary says the accreditation attaches to the solicitor, not the practice. A firm-wide tagline such as family law specialists is the wording to avoid.
What can a personal injury page on a WA law firm website include?
An explanation of how the law of negligence works, a person's rights under it, and the conditions on which the practice takes personal injury work. WA's Civil Liability Act 2002 names websites and limits what a lawyer's own site can say about personal injury claims, so those pages leave out testimonials, case results and buttons such as start your claim.
How should a law firm website show client reviews?
Only with the client's authority, quoted as they wrote it, attributed, and with nothing that identifies their matter beyond what they agreed to. The conduct rules protect client confidentiality, and the Australian Consumer Law makes a false or misleading testimonial unlawful, so keep each client's written permission on file. Leave reviews off the personal injury pages.
Which titles can go on a law firm's team page?
The Legal Practice Board of Western Australia's use of titles page sets out how lawyer, solicitor, principal, partner, director and counsel are used. It says misuse of principal by a practitioner who is not a principal may be misleading, gives partner and director their natural and ordinary meaning, and says senior legal counsel should not be used in private practice. Give each person the title that describes their role, and keep the details in one place on the site.
Should a law firm website show its fees?
A costs page that explains how the practice charges helps a client before the first call: hourly rates, fixed fees for defined work or conditional arrangements, and what each includes. Say that the client receives written costs disclosure once instructions are given, and make sure any figure on the page matches the practice's disclosure documents, because a costs assessor can take the practice's advertisements about costs into account.
What should a law firm's online enquiry form say?
A line above the button that sending the form doesn't make the practice the person's lawyers, and that the practice will confirm in writing if it can act. Ask for the other parties' names first so the practice can check for a conflict, ask people not to send documents yet, and send an auto-reply that confirms receipt and gives no advice. The practice's own engagement terms decide when someone becomes a client.