Law firm advertising rules in plain English, from the ABA rules to Google, Meta and AI.

Law firm advertising regulations were mostly written before search ads, social feeds and AI assistants existed. Firms get into trouble when they assume an online ad is too small to count, or that a vendor's copy is the vendor's problem. Neither is true. This guide covers the attorney advertising rules that apply everywhere, how the big states differ, and how both apply to modern channels. For the ChatGPT side, see Can lawyers advertise on ChatGPT?

The three ABA rules behind most lawyer advertising rules

The ABA's Model Rules aren't law on their own. Each state adopts its own version, often with changes, but most US rules start from these three.

• Rule 7.1: nothing false or misleading. It covers every communication about you or your services, not just paid ads. A true statement can still break it if it leaves out a fact needed to keep it from misleading. The comment gives two common examples: a past result presented so readers expect the same outcome without regard to their own facts, and an unproven comparison with other firms. An appropriate disclaimer can help, but it doesn't cure a statement that is false.
• Rule 7.2: you can pay for ads, not for recommendations. Paying the reasonable cost of advertising is fine, and the comment lists online ads, search engine optimization and marketing vendors. Paying someone to recommend you is not, apart from narrow exceptions like approved referral services and small thank-you gifts that aren't payment for a referral. You can't claim to be a "certified specialist" unless an approved or ABA-accredited body certified you and the ad names it. Every communication must include the name and contact information of at least one responsible lawyer or firm.
• Rule 7.3: no live solicitation. You can't solicit a specific person you know needs legal help by live, person-to-person contact for money: in person, live phone or real-time video. Ads aimed at the general public, like a billboard, a banner ad, a website or results generated by a search, are not solicitation under the comment. Neither are texts or other written messages people can easily ignore, though some states disagree.

Two more rules sit behind all of this. Rule 8.4(a) says you break a rule if you break it "through the acts of another," and Rule 5.3 makes you responsible for the nonlawyers you work with. Your agency's copy is your copy.

Where states go further

Some states have moved closer to the ABA model, while others keep detailed restrictions of their own. Here is how four reference points compare.

New York changed the most. From June 1, 2026, New York adopted the ABA's advertising rules and comments. Ads no longer need the "Attorney Advertising" label, the mandatory "Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome" line is gone, and so is the 30-day ban on soliciting personal injury and wrongful death victims. The state bar association still suggests a results disclaimer where differences in facts could mislead.

California applies the same misleading test to testimonials, and its bar's ethics committee says an appropriate disclaimer often avoids unjustified expectations. Pennsylvania went the other way from the ABA on texting: since November 2024 its rule counts text messages as live person-to-person contact. Several other states have their own filing rules; the table in our ChatGPT advertising guide lists them.

Five claims that cause most of the trouble

1. "Expert," "specialist" and "best"

"Certified" is the strictest word in most states: use it only with a real certification and the certifier's name. "Specialist" and "expert" vary by state, from allowed-if-true in New York to objectively verifiable in Florida. "Best" is the easiest to get wrong. Florida's handbook says words like "the best," "second to none" and "the finest" will generally break its rules because nobody can verify them. Awards are fine in Florida only with the award's exact name, the organization and the year.

2. Past results

A settlement number is the most persuasive thing a personal injury firm can show, and the most regulated. Use only results your firm earned, state them accurately, and put enough context next to them that nobody assumes their case is worth the same.

3. Testimonials

Florida's rules are the strictest example. The person must be qualified to judge the lawyer and speak from their own experience, the experience must be typical, the lawyer can't write it, the person can't be paid or given anything for it, and a testimonial about results needs a clear disclaimer that others may not get the same result. You also need the client's informed consent. Even where the rules are looser, those conditions are a safe standard to write to.

4. Comparisons

"We settle faster than the big firms" is a comparison, and under the ABA comment it needs to be provable. If you can't produce the evidence, cut it.

5. Paying for referrals and leads

The ABA comment lets you pay for leads if the lead generator doesn't recommend you, doesn't claim to have analyzed the person's legal problem to pick you, and the payment respects the fee-sharing and independence rules. Florida goes further: lead generators, matching services and directories count as "qualifying providers," and you can only take referrals from one that follows its rule, including no share of your fees. If you don't do your due diligence, you're responsible for their compliance.

The rules, channel by channel

Google Search ads and Local Services Ads

Search ads are short, but they are still ads. Florida says outright that paid search results are subject to its rules, and it bars ads that imply you're affiliated with another firm, which matters if you bid on a competitor's name. Google doesn't stop you from using a trademark as a keyword, but Florida's comment says the triggered ad isn't misleading if the first text shown is your firm's name. Put the firm name and city in the ad and the full disclosures on the landing page. For Google's Local Services Ads, Google runs a state bar license check on each lawyer in the firm.

Meta (Facebook and Instagram)

Paid and boosted posts are ads, and in Florida they must be filed unless they carry only safe-harbor content. Targeting is where social ads differ. Florida's Board of Governors has treated paid posts aimed at people who self-identify as having a specific legal problem as targeted solicitations. Those follow Florida's direct mail rules, which for personal injury and wrongful death include a 30-day wait after the accident and a statement of how you got the information. Meta adds its own rule: ads can't assert or imply personal attributes like health or criminal record. Its own examples allow "Services to clean up any previous offenses" but not "Are you a convicted felon?" Write about your service, not about the viewer.

ChatGPT Ads

Your bar's rules apply to a ChatGPT ad exactly as they do to a Google ad. Every advertiser goes through OpenAI's business verification and ad review. We set it up and handle it. Our guide Can lawyers advertise on ChatGPT? covers OpenAI's policy and the open questions, and our ChatGPT Ads page shows how we run campaigns.

AI-written ads, pages and images

The rules don't care who drafted the words. AI tools happily write "top-rated," "expert" or a made-up settlement figure, so read every draft against the five claims above. AI-generated people and voices raise the actor question: in Florida, someone who looks like they work at your firm but doesn't needs a disclaimer, and so does a dramatization a viewer wouldn't recognize as one. If your website runs an AI chatbot, Florida's Ethics Opinion 24-1 says you're responsible if it misleads prospective clients and that it should tell people they're talking to an AI program, not a lawyer or staff member. ABA Formal Opinion 512 adds that lawyers must understand the AI tools they use and supervise how staff and vendors use them.

Reviews

The FTC's 2024 rule bans fake reviews, including AI-generated ones, and paying for reviews that must be positive. Google goes further: no incentives of any kind for a review, and no asking only your happy clients. Your bar's rules apply once you use a review in your marketing. California's bar says that if you adopt a third-party directory profile or use it to market your practice, its content becomes your communication. When a review is negative, ABA Formal Opinion 496 says the review doesn't free you to reveal client information in your reply. Often the best response is none, or a short invitation to talk offline.

Checklist before any campaign

1. Name the responsible lawyer and a real office

   On the ad where it fits and on the landing page always, in the form your state requires.

2. Check every claim against the five above

   Specialist words, past results, testimonials, comparisons and anything that implies a recommendation. If you can't prove it, cut it.

3. Look at the creative, not just the words

   Actors, AI-generated people, stock photos used to tell a client's story and dramatizations may each need a disclaimer.

4. Match the landing page to the ad

   The page carries the full disclosures the ad has no room for.

5. File where your state requires it

   Build Florida's 20-day lead time and Texas's 10-day window into the launch plan, along with the fees.

6. Keep copies

   Save every version of every ad, with dates and placements. It's the easiest way to answer a bar inquiry.

How we work inside the rules

Bookedly runs ChatGPT Ads, AI SEO and Google and Meta ads for US law firms, with personal injury as our deepest specialty. We write from claims your firm can back up, and your firm approves every ad and page before it goes live. We aren't your lawyers, so the final call on your bar's rules stays with you. It's month-to-month, with no long-term contract.

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