Websites for Lawyers: Design That Respects Advertising Bans

A question lawyers often ask us is whether a website is any use given the advertising ban. It is. The ban doesn't limit lawyers from introducing themselves; it limits advertising aimed at winning work. A measured, informative, trustworthy firm website can comply with the rules and is one of the places prospective clients look when choosing a lawyer.

A note before we start: advertising in the legal profession in Türkiye is governed by the Attorneyship Law, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations' professional rules and its regulation on the advertising ban; bar associations also issue interpretations and announcements from time to time. Below we draw a general framework. Check the current rules before launching, and consult your bar association about any wording you're unsure of.

How the ban affects your website

The generally accepted approach is that a lawyer may introduce themselves and their firm on a website, but must do so in a measured, truthful and informative way. Statements that solicit clients, praise, compare or promise fall within the ban.

This affects design too. Many elements that are normal on an online store, such as flashing 'call now' buttons, discount banners, customer reviews and success counters, can cause problems on a law firm site. The design language should be plain, professional and readable. The constraint is also an advantage: someone with a legal problem tends to trust a calm, clear site rather than one that shouts.

Paid promotion, such as search engine and social media ads, is also assessed under the advertising ban and is generally considered problematic for lawyers. So for law firm sites, the main source of visibility is organic search, meaning the site's own informative content.

Sections the site needs

The skeleton of a law firm site is usually simple. The homepage says briefly and clearly who the firm is, which areas it works in and how to get in touch. Instead of a slogan like 'Your trusted address in law', an informative sentence such as 'A law firm in Ankara working in employment and commercial law' complies better with the rules and tells the visitor more.

The lawyers page is one of the most important on the site. For each lawyer you can include a real photo, bar registration details, faculty, any master's or doctorate, languages, academic work and professional memberships. These are factual and decisive for a prospective client's trust.

Practice areas can each have their own page. Then come an articles or publications section, a contact page and a KVKK privacy notice. If you use a contact form, avoid asking prospective clients for case details; that adds unnecessary burden for both confidentiality and KVKK. Name, phone and a short note are enough.

Knowing what shouldn't be on the site matters too. Client names or logos, client reviews and thank-you messages, numbers of cases won or success rates, and fee and campaign information top that list.

Practice area pages

A practice area page is where the visitor answers 'does this firm deal with my problem?' It's also the foundation of visibility on Google.

A mistake we see often is all areas listed one line each on a single page: 'Family Law, Criminal Law, Employment Law, Commercial Law, Real Estate Law.' That list tells neither the visitor nor Google anything. Instead, give each area its own page and describe, in an informative tone, the kind of work the firm takes on there. An employment law page might cover sub-topics like reinstatement claims, severance and notice pay, drafting workplace regulations and advising employers. It can also explain how the process generally works, preliminary steps such as mandatory mediation, and which documents are useful to bring to a first meeting.

Because this approach is informative, it is less likely to conflict with the advertising ban, and it can improve the chance of appearing for searches like 'reinstatement lawsuit'.

Visibility through legal articles

For law firm sites, the most compliant visibility tool is informative legal writing. When people face a legal problem, they search online first: 'how much can rent be increased', 'how long does a divorce case take', 'how is work accident compensation calculated'. An article that answers these questions accurately, currently and clearly genuinely helps the reader and shows the author's knowledge without claiming it.

A good legal article has a few features. It answers the question in the first paragraph, then goes into detail. If it cites legislation, the citation is accurate and current. It explains legal terms in plain language. At the end, it notes that every case is unique and that consulting a lawyer is necessary. It shows the author's name and the publication or update date. The aim of these articles should be to inform, not to solicit work; plain contact details at the end are enough, rather than calls like 'call us now'.

Currency matters especially here. An article not updated when legislation changes misleads readers and damages the firm's credibility. Writing one or two articles a month and reviewing older ones once a year is more effective than many irregular articles. We covered how to write an SEO-friendly blog post in detail in a separate article.

Wording to avoid

In practice, individual words cause the most trouble. Phrases seen on law firm sites that are generally considered to risk conflicting with the ban include claims of superiority like 'best', 'leading' or 'number one', promises like 'we win your case' or 'guaranteed results', fee-based hooks like 'free consultation' or 'affordable lawyer', and the title 'specialist lawyer'. Since, at the time of writing, Türkiye had no official specialisation title system for lawyers, using that phrase is considered contentious; simply saying 'works in employment law' is safer.

The same restraint applies to the domain name and page titles. A domain like 'cheapestlawyer' or a page title like 'Istanbul's Best Divorce Lawyer' can cause problems no matter how measured the rest of the site is.

We gathered the other elements of a trustworthy site in a separate article. Law firm sites usually have most of them naturally: real names, a real address, professional details and well-written content. Bringing them together in a plain design is usually enough.

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for legal advice. Check your bar association's current rules on whether the wording on your site complies with professional regulations.