Did You Slip? Call Now! NY Courts Clear the Way for a Flood of Legal Ads 

Did you slip? Call your lawyer. Injured? Call your lawyer. If you thought the thousands of aggressive lawsuit ads plastering New York’s media and billboards were bad enough, brace yourself: a quiet change by the state’s judiciary is about to make things much worse. 

In a structural shift that took effect in June 2026, New York’s Office of Court Administration implemented the most significant deregulation of attorney advertising and solicitation rules in decades, repealing and replacing the state’s Rules of Professional Conduct governing attorney advertising and solicitation (Rules 7.1 and 7.3). 

By stripping away detailed, prescriptive prohibitions and replacing them with a broad, largely vague “false or misleading” standard, the courts have fundamentally rewritten the playbook. The practical effect is simple: more personal injury ads, more aggressive tactics, and far less regulatory oversight, making it easier for plaintiffs’ lawyers to recruit clients and, in turn, encouraging more litigation that further burdens already overtaxed courts. 

What Changed? 

One of the most important changes made by the Court is the elimination of the prohibition on soliciting personal injury victims within 30 days of injury. This was an important safeguard put in place to protect victims from overly-aggressive predatory plaintiffs’ lawyers.   

The previous version of Rule 7.1 also contained pages of detailed advertising regulations for the substance of ads including client testimonials, endorsements, direct comparisons to other lawyers, statements about quality, depictions of results, and the use of actors. It also mandated rigid filing, data retention, and explicit labeling requirements. 

Similarly, the old solicitation rule was a vital shield for consumers, requiring firms to file targeted solicitations with disciplinary authorities, maintain explicit recipient lists, and disclose exactly how a lawyer obtained a recipient’s information. 

Under the new framework, these detailed provisions have been replaced with an abbreviated rule that essentially says lawyers may communicate through any media they please, so long as the communication is not explicitly false or misleading. 

Supercharging a $179 Million Machine 

This structural dismantling comes at the worst possible time for New York’s civil justice system. In 2025 alone, plaintiffs’ attorneys poured nearly $179 million into almost 1.2 million local legal service ads across New York’s media markets — a staggering 84% increase since 2023.  A massive 78% of those ads explicitly promoted personal injury and accident attorneys.  

Here is exactly what to expect on your screens and feeds moving forward: 

• Advertising Volume: Slashed filing fees and zero disclosure obligations is clearing the way for a tidal wave of new TV spots, streaming commercials, and hyper-targeted campaigns on Google and YouTube. 

• Aggressive Claims About Results: Prepare for more highlight reels of massive dollar figures, “Recovered Over $X Billion” taglines, and “Top Results in New York” claims flashing across screens statewide. 

• Weaponized Testimonials and Influencers: A massive surge in client success stories, video testimonials, influencer partnerships, celebrity endorsements, and social-media-driven marketing. 

• Competitive “Best Lawyer” Advertising: An explosion of bold, unverifiable branding claims like “New York’s Leading Injury Firm” or “The Lawyers Insurance Companies Fear Most.” 

A Recipe for Permanent Chaos 

New York City already sits comfortably at #2 on the Judicial Hellholes list, with local small businesses and communities suffocating under a growing “fraudemic” built on phantom accidents and fabricated injuries.  As of 2025, New Yorkers pay the second-highest “tort tax” in the nation due to this abusive legal environment. That tax has skyrocketed up 43% since 2022, now costing every resident $2,684 annually. 

Instead of reining in that chaos, the state judiciary has chosen to grease the wheels of the litigation machine. It is a dangerous recipe for a permanent, worsening crisis across the Empire State.