The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has dealt a blow to Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, upholding a complaint over a full page advertisement that appeared in the national press.

The advert appeared on 3 May and listed the names and companies of 250 in-house counsel, stating: “If you’d like your name kept out of the legal pages, take a note of ours.”

The ASA received complaints from senior lawyers named in the advertisement, leading it to conclude that the firm had breached advertising regulations protecting privacy.

“Because the ad could be seen by some readers as a list of people who were involved in litigation and had benefited from BLG’s services, we considered that BLG should have obtained prior permission from those named in the ad,” said the ruling.

Barlow Lyde & Gilbert released a statement saying the firm was “disappointed that the ASA Council upheld a complaint about one of our recent advertisements.”

The ASA asked the firm not to use the same approach again in future.