You meed to enable a setting for validation rule to work: Documentation [validation rule not firing when converting Leads](https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=000331020&type=1&mode=1) says- > To enforce a Validation Rule when converting leads, you need to enable > 'Require validation for Converted Leads.' > > Note: If the 'Require validation for Converted Leads' setting is not > available, please contact Salesforce Support to enable the 'Use Apex > Lead Convert' permission.