Can a lawyer use WhatsApp to attract clients? OAB rules

You can, within clear limits — this summary is not legal advice, it is an informative reading of OAB Provision 205/2021 applied to WhatsApp, and it is worth confirming your specific case with your section or a lawyer specializing in professional law. As a rule, WhatsApp works well to serve those who have already contacted the office and to organize existing clients; The risk is concentrated in offering unsolicited services to those who have never asked for contact.

What OAB Provision 205/2021 says, in summary

Provision 205/2021 updated the advertising rules of the OAB Code of Ethics and Discipline to specifically address digital channels — website, social networks, search engines and, by extension, messaging applications such as WhatsApp. The central logic of the standard is relatively simple to state: advertising informative is allowed; customer acquisition and commodification of the legal profession are prohibited^[1].

In practice, this separates two behaviors. Informing means talking about areas of practice, clarifying how a type of process works, publishing educational content about rights — without promising results, without comparing yourself to other lawyers, without using the language of a commercial offer. Capturing is actively approaching a specific person, who did not request contact, to obtain a client — and this, according to the Provision, is what characterizes the commodification that the rule tries to avoid^[1]. The word that summarizes the criterion is initiative: whoever makes the first contact changes the reading of everything that comes after.

The difference in relation to a common business is intentional: the OAB treats law as an essential service, not a commodity, and professional advertising has historically had more restrictions in Brazil than marketing in other sectors. Provision 205/2021 is the update of this logic for the channels that replaced the printed advertisement and business card — WhatsApp included^[1].

On WhatsApp, what changes everything is who sends the first message

It is this distinction — the firm's initiative versus the person's initiative — that separates the safe use of WhatsApp from the risky use in law. When someone sends a message to the office, whether because they saw the number on the website, were referred by another client or arrived via a permitted institutional advertisement, responding and conducting that service is a normal service provision — it is not advertising, much less recruitment.^[1]. The scenario changes when it is the office that initiates contact with someone who did not ask for it: then the question that the Provision asks is whether that approach constitutes an active offer of service to a specific person, which is, as a rule, the core of what the standard prohibits^[1].

Status on WhatsApp	Who initiates contact	Reading, as a rule
Person sends message asking for guidance	Interested	Normal service
Customer already served returns with a new case	Customer	Normal service
Chatbot clarifies general doubts about a type of process	Visitor, via public link	Informational, as a rule permitted
Office sends deadline update to already hired client	Office	Communication of service already contracted
Office buys list of contacts and launches service offers	Office	Risk of attracting closed clientele
Office approaches victims of a specific accident offering compensation	Office	Classic example of sealed capture

A point that raises real doubts: publishing educational content on a public channel (Instagram, blog, a chatbot accessed via link) tends to be read as institutional advertising; sending the same message, but via WhatsApp, directly to a specific person who didn't ask for it, changes the framing. It is this reason, in fact, that explains why a common practice in other sectors — digital direct mail — is particularly risky in law.^[1].

The last two lines of the table are the most cited portrait of closed intake: contact directed at identified people, often in a vulnerable situation — victims of an accident, family members of a tragedy, people recently notified of a lawsuit —, offering the service before they have looked for someone. It is exactly this type of approach that the Provision qualifies as incompatible with law^[1].

Safe uses of WhatsApp in everyday office life

Outside the risk zone, there is plenty of space for legitimate use — and that's where WhatsApp helps an office more than it hinders:

• Organize assistance for those who have already contacted the office. Each person who sends a message becomes a card in a CRM Kanban, with column by stage of the case — first contact, analysis, fee proposal, active client. This is not advertising, it is management of the service that already exists.
• Book and reschedule appointments. Confirm time, remember a hearing, reschedule a meeting — operational communication with those who are already clients or have already initiated contact.
• Update active clients on case progress. Deadline met, petition filed, hearing date scheduled: information on services already contracted, sent only to those who contracted.
• Answer general questions with a keyword chatbot. A flow that explains opening hours, the office's areas of activity and answers frequently asked questions about a type of process is informative content — as long as it does not go on to offer an advantage, discount or promise results to those who ask.
• Standardize communication with quick messages. Ready-made texts for the most common questions — average deadline, necessary documents, fee values informed in a sober manner — avoid the temptation to "sell" the service in the middle of the conversation.
• Save history and tag by case type. Tags separating areas of activity (labor, civil, family) help organize the volume without mixing context — it's an archive, not advertising.

These uses are the core of what Zapext extension was designed to organize: customer service for those who have already contacted us, not sending messages to those who have never asked. For the complete picture of message flows and templates for law firms, Zapext guide for lawyers is the starting point; This article is the complement specifically focused on compliance with the OAB.

What to avoid: the classic closed capture scenarios

On the risk side, some patterns appear frequently — and it is worth treating them as a red line, not a gray area:

• Buy contact list for sending mass messages. Numbers of people who have never had a relationship with the firm, contacted with an offer of legal services, are the most direct portrait of prohibited digital direct mail^[1].
• sending cold messages offering service to those who didn't ask for it. Even with polite text and without the appearance of spam, the standard of contacting a specific person, not a client, offering legal action comes close to the capture that the standard prohibits.
• Address those who are in a specific and identifiable situation. Accident victims, people notified of a lawsuit, family members of a death — active contact in these cases is the most repeated example of closed capture, precisely because it exploits a moment of vulnerability^[1].
• Pay third parties to refer customers. Paid partnerships with those who refer people to the office move towards the same commodification territory that the Provimento tries to avoid^[1].
• Promise results or compare yourself with other lawyers. "I guarantee your compensation" or "best office in the region" falls outside the information record that the Provision authorizes.
• Use customer testimonials as proof of effectiveness. Even spontaneous, testimony as a sales tool is a historically sensitive point in law advertising — it is worth confirming the current understanding with your section before publishing something like this.

This summary does not replace guidance from your section

Everything above is a general and informative reading of Provision 205/2021 applied specifically to WhatsApp — it is not a legal opinion, it does not cover all the nuances of your situation and it does not replace the analysis of a lawyer specialized in professional ethics or a direct consultation with your OAB section, especially in case of doubt about a campaign, a chatbot or a specific approach. The safest rule of thumb, when in doubt: if the person came to the office, answering is normal; If the office is going after someone they didn't ask for, it's worth stopping and confirming before sending.

What WhatsApp solves well, within this rule, is organization — not demand generation. If your office already receives contact via WhatsApp and needs a place to not lose case history, deadlines and returns, the CRM Kanban within WhatsApp Web is where Zapext helps, with a 7-day guarantee for risk-free testing.

Sources

1. [1] Provimento 205/2021 — Publicidade na advocacia — OAB (2021). accessed 2026-05-19.