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A client emails you after their file closes: "That was the best experience I've had with a lawyer. Where can I leave a review?" It feels like a gift. Then a small voice asks whether you are even allowed to say yes, and whether pointing them to Google will land you in front of your law society. That hesitation is the right instinct. The rules, happily, are more workable than the panic suggests.
Is asking for a review even allowed?
Yes, in general. Every Canadian law society regulates marketing and advertising, and none of them ban asking a satisfied client for feedback. What they regulate is how you present it. The recurring theme across the rules of professional conduct is that lawyer marketing must not be false, misleading, or likely to create unjustified expectations about results.
So the act of asking is fine. Directing a happy client to a public review platform is fine. Where lawyers get into trouble is the packaging: cherry-picked praise dressed up as a guarantee, or a testimonial that implies you win every case. "Devon was responsive and explained everything clearly" is a comment on service. "Devon got my charges dropped and can do the same for you" is a results claim, and results claims are where regulators pay attention.
Note. Marketing rules differ by province and they get updated. Treat this post as a way to think about the issue, then confirm the current wording with your own law society before you build a review process into your practice.
What counts as a misleading testimonial?
A testimonial crosses the line when it tells a prospective client something that isn't reliably true for them. The usual culprits are worth knowing by name.
- Guaranteed outcomes. Anything that promises or implies a specific result. Past success does not predict a future file, and every regulator knows it.
- Comparative superiority. "The best litigator in the city" is opinion presented as fact. If you can't substantiate it, don't publish it.
- Praise for work you can't legally do. A glowing review about an area you aren't licensed or competent in is its own problem.
- Edited quotes that change the meaning. Trimming for length is fine. Rewriting a client's words so they say more than the client meant is not.
A simple test: read the review as if you were a nervous person choosing a lawyer for the first time. If it would make them expect a result you cannot promise, it's a liability. Favour reviews that describe the experience of working with you over reviews that advertise the verdict.
Protecting confidentiality when a client praises you publicly
This is the part lawyers underestimate. Your duty of confidentiality does not switch off because the client said something nice. If a client posts "Thanks for helping me through my divorce and the custody fight," and you reply publicly with "So glad we got you the parenting time you wanted," you have just confirmed the existence and subject matter of a retainer, on a public page, forever.
The client can speak publicly about their own matter. Your duty of confidentiality applies regardless. The rule for public replies
Practical guardrails:
- Never confirm, deny, or add detail about a specific matter in a public reply. A generic "Thank you, it was a pleasure working with you" is plenty.
- Get consent in writing before you republish a client's words on your own site. They control the third-party platform; you control your website.
- Be careful with anonymized testimonials that are still identifiable. "A grateful widow in a small town estate dispute" can point to one person.
Careful. A five-star review you did not solicit can still create a confidentiality problem the moment you respond. Train everyone in the firm to keep public replies vague and human, never case-specific.
The right moment to ask, and the right way to phrase it
Timing does more work than wording. The best moment is when the client has just felt relief: a matter resolved, a deal closed, a hearing survived. Ask too early and it feels transactional; ask months later and the warmth has cooled. A good closing letter is a natural place for a soft, no-pressure line about feedback.
Phrasing should invite, not pressure. Compare:
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| "Please give us a 5-star review." | "If you have a moment and felt well looked after, an honest review helps other people find us." |
| "Reviews help our numbers." | "No pressure at all, only if it feels right to you." |
| Offering a discount for a review. | Asking for nothing in return. Incentives can make a testimonial misleading and taint its credibility. |
Make it easy. One link, one sentence, one click. If you use a tool like A1 CMS to send closing updates, fold the request into that flow rather than firing off a separate awkward email. The ask should feel like the last friendly note in a good relationship, not a campaign. The same principle applies to asking for referrals: warmth first, request second.
Handling the review you wish you could delete
Sooner or later you get one that stings. Maybe it's unfair, maybe it's from someone who was never your client, maybe it's a matter you remember differently. The instinct to set the record straight is strong. Resist it.
You cannot rebut a bad review by disclosing what really happened; that breaches confidentiality even if the client opened the door. Your options are narrower and calmer:
- Respond briefly, without confirming any details: "We take feedback seriously and would welcome a direct conversation." That's it.
- If the review is fake or defamatory, use the platform's reporting process rather than a public fight.
- Let your volume of genuine reviews carry the weight. One outlier among many honest ones reads as an outlier.
A pattern of complaints is a different signal. If unhappy reviews keep touching the same nerve, that is data, and the fix lives upstream in how you handle a difficult client conversation and how clearly you set response-time expectations at intake.
Where this leaves you
Asking for reviews is allowed, it's good for your practice, and it's easy to do ethically once you separate two ideas: the client can say whatever they want, but you have to stay quiet about specifics and honest about outcomes. Ask at the moment of relief, phrase it as an invitation, offer nothing in exchange, and keep every public reply warm and vague. Do that and reviews become what they should be, a byproduct of good work rather than a compliance headache. The wider client experience archive and my other posts pick up where this one leaves off.
