Testimonials, Reviews and the ACL: Using Client Feedback Without Misleading Anyone

What the ACCC says

The ACCC's page on online reviews for products and services, last updated 15 July 2026, sets out the rules for businesses ^[1]:

• It is against the law for a business to create fake or misleading reviews or to arrange for others to do so.
• Reviews should be independent and reflect the genuine experience of the person who wrote them. Reviews written by relatives, staff or paid individuals can mislead unless the connection is disclosed, and reviews edited by someone else after they were written can also mislead.
• Suppressing or editing negative reviews, or removing genuine negative reviews, can mislead consumers. Businesses should clearly state their policies for publishing, editing and removing reviews.
• Incentives for reviews must be offered whether the review is positive or negative, and the incentive must be clearly disclosed.
• A business that knows, or should know, a review is fake and does not remove or correct it may breach the law, but it needs an adequate basis before concluding a review is fake.

These points flow from the Australian Consumer Law's ban on misleading or deceptive conduct, which applies to professional services as it does to any other business ^[2].

How Rule 36 adds to this

Rule 36.1 requires that advertising, marketing or promotion in connection with a solicitor or law practice not be false, misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive ^[3]. A testimonial that suggests a typical outcome ("they won my case and got me a great result") can mislead even if the client sincerely wrote it, because readers may assume the same result is likely for them. Context matters: a single comment about outcome, published without any note that every matter is different, deserves a second look.

State limits for some practice areas

In Queensland, personal injury advertising is limited to the practitioner's and practice's name, contact details and areas of practice, and the QLS notes that no pictures or "self-promotional statements" are permitted ^[4]. A client testimonial praising the firm's injury work is likely to be read as a self-promotional statement under that guidance, so the cautious course is to keep testimonials off Queensland personal injury pages. Our personal injury advertising guide has the detail.

Confidentiality

Before publishing anything a client wrote, remember your duty of confidentiality. Rule 9 prohibits disclosing information confidential to a client and acquired during the engagement, subject to its exceptions ^[3]. A testimonial that reveals the nature of someone's matter, even without a full name, may disclose more than the client realised. Get written consent that covers exactly what will be published and where, and keep it on file.

Practical rules for a firm website

1. Only real feedback. No reviews written by staff, family or anyone paid to write them, and no "composite" testimonials.
2. No selective editing. Fix spelling if the client agrees, but do not trim a review to change its meaning.
3. A published policy. A short note explaining which reviews you show, whether you show all of them, and how a client can ask for theirs to be removed.
4. Consent in writing. Covering the exact words, the name or initials shown and where it appears.
5. Outcome comments handled carefully. Prefer feedback about communication, clarity and care over comments about results.
6. Disclose any connection or incentive. If a reviewer is related to someone at the firm or received anything for reviewing, say so next to the review.
7. Respect area limits. Leave testimonials off Queensland personal injury pages.

Third-party review platforms

Many firms prefer to link to an independent review platform, such as their Google Business Profile, rather than curate quotes on their own site. That avoids accusations of cherry-picking, but the ACCC rules still apply to how you ask for reviews. Asking every client the same way, at the same point in the matter, regardless of how it went, is a sound approach. Asking only the clients you expect to be happy, or offering a reward only for positive reviews, is not ^[1].

Responding to negative reviews

A firm may want to reply to criticism. Keep replies short, courteous and free of any detail about the matter, because confirming even that someone was a client can raise confidentiality concerns. Removing a genuine negative review because it is unflattering can itself mislead ^[1]. A firm should only seek removal of a review it has an adequate basis to believe is fake or that breaches the platform's rules.

A short review policy you can adapt