Bar Council Rules for Advocate Websites: What’s Allowed (2026 Guide)

What do the Bar Council of India rules say about advocate websites?

Rule 36 of the Bar Council of India Rules says an advocate shall not solicit work or advertise, either directly or indirectly. A website is permitted only because a 2008 proviso carves out a narrow exception for a fixed set of particulars.

Rule 36 sits in Part VI, Chapter II, Section IV (Duty to Colleagues) of the Bar Council of India Rules, made under the Advocates Act, 1961. The text published by the Bar Council of Delhi lists the forbidden channels: circulars, advertisements, touts, personal communications, interviews not warranted by personal relations, furnishing or inspiring newspaper comments, and producing photographs to be published in connection with cases the advocate has handled.

The same rule says a sign-board or name-plate should be of a reasonable size, and that it, or the advocate's stationery, should not indicate that the advocate is or has been President or Member of a Bar Council or of any association, or has been a Judge or an Advocate General. The rule speaks of sign-boards and stationery, but a website does a similar job online, so many advocates apply the same restraint there.

What did the 2008 amendment allow on an advocate's website?

The 2008 proviso lets advocates publish website information as prescribed in a Schedule, and treats anything beyond those particulars as a breach of Rule 36. In practice, the website is a verified visiting card, not a brochure.

According to itatonline.org, the Bar Council of India passed the resolution on 30 April 2008. The proviso says Rule 36 will not stand in the way of advocates furnishing website information as prescribed in the Schedule "under intimation to and as approved by the Bar Council of India". Any additional input is deemed a violation, and the advocate can be proceeded against for misconduct under Section 35 of the Advocates Act. Summaries of the Schedule, such as the one by iPleaders, list these particulars:

• Name, address, telephone numbers and email ID
• Enrolment number and date of enrolment
• The State Bar Council where you were originally enrolled
• The State Bar Council on whose roll your name currently stands
• The bar association of which you are a member
• Professional and academic qualifications
• Areas of practice

What can and cannot go on an advocate website?

Facts from the Schedule can go on the site; anything that praises, compares, promises or invites work should stay off. The table below is a conservative reading of Rule 36 and its proviso.

Fee figures, discounts and offers also read as a sales pitch. Leave fee discussion to the chamber, where it belongs.

Has anything changed in 2025 or 2026?

We found no amendment to Rule 36 or its website proviso in 2025 or 2026, but the Bar Council of India has repeatedly warned against online promotion. These steps tighten enforcement around the website rather than widen what it may show.

• July 2024: after a Madras High Court ruling, the BCI asked State Bar Councils to start disciplinary proceedings against advocates advertising or seeking work through online portals, as reported by ThePrint.
• March 2025: a BCI press release dated 17 March 2025 condemned promotion of legal services through social media, promotional videos and celebrity or influencer endorsements, and warned of disciplinary action, according to Bar & Bench and MediaNama.
• July 2026: a BCI circular on social media use dated 17 July 2026 was reported by SCC Online. According to that report, it bars using social media for advertising, solicitation or client acquisition, names fabricated client testimonials and deepfake content as concerns, and allows accurate legal awareness content that is not promotional or sensational.

As reported, none of these rewrites the list of permitted particulars. They do show that the BCI reads "directly or indirectly" broadly, so a site built strictly on the Schedule is the safer choice.

Do you need a disclaimer or "I agree" pop-up?

Rule 36 does not mention a disclaimer, but many Indian law firm websites show one that visitors accept before reading. It records that the visitor came of their own accord and that the site is not an advertisement or solicitation.

• What it usually says: the BCI does not permit advocates to solicit work or advertise; the visitor is seeking information on their own initiative; the content is general information, not legal advice; using the site creates no advocate-client relationship.
• Keep it short: four or five plain sentences that fit on a phone screen.
• Make it usable: a real button that works with a keyboard and screen readers, with nothing flashing behind it.
• Ask once: remember the choice for the visit so people are not asked on every page.
• Keep a full page: link the complete disclaimer from the footer as well.

A disclaimer is a courtesy layer, not a legal shield. It does not make testimonials or result claims acceptable, so the content underneath must already follow the Schedule.

How should advocates handle Google Business Profile and social media?

Keep both factual: one accurate Business Profile for a real chamber, and social posts that inform rather than promote. Rule 36 applies to every channel, not only the website.

Google's Business Profile guidelines treat lawyers as individual practitioners and ask for the real-world name, without added keywords. Use the name on your name-plate, the chamber address, the hours you actually keep, and the same practice areas as on your website. Our Google Business Profile guide explains the setup; for advocates, apply only the parts that stay within these limits.

• Do not ask clients for reviews, and do not reply to reviews with case details.
• Do not buy listings or leads from portals; the 2024 directive targeted advertising through such portals.
• Do not run search ads or boost posts for your practice.
• On social media, share neutral legal awareness posts, not case wins, client stories or reels shot in court premises.
• Do not use AI-generated images of courts, judges, clients or proceedings.

How do you check an advocate website before it goes live?

Go page by page and remove anything that is not a listed particular or neutral information. A short checklist catches most problems before a complaint does.

1. Every fact matches your enrolment certificate and State Bar Council records.
2. No testimonials, ratings, review widgets or client logos anywhere, including the footer.
3. No result claims, success percentages or counts of cases won.
4. No superlatives, ranking claims or comparisons with other advocates.
5. No "free consultation" banners or chat pop-ups that push visitors to engage.
6. The contact form asks only for name, phone and type of matter, with a privacy note.
7. The disclaimer works on a phone and links to the full text.
8. Legal information pages are dated and end with "general information, not legal advice".
9. Page titles and search descriptions are factual too, because search snippets are part of the site.

For a worked example of court and chamber pages, see our Gurgaon advocate website guide. If you are deciding how to build the site, our website builder vs custom comparison for advocates covers the trade-offs.

How DVM Techno Can Help

DVM Techno is a web and software company in Gurgaon, Haryana. We build fast, mobile-friendly advocate and law firm websites limited to the permitted particulars, with a disclaimer page, a courts and chamber page and an accurate Business Profile, and you approve every word before launch. Our website development in Haryana page explains how we work.

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