In Birmingham, ChatGPT named 4 injury firms. Is yours one of them?

Alabama no longer makes you file ads, but since Jan. 1, 2026 you must keep a copy of every ad for six years, show an Alabama office location and the required disclosures, and wait 21 days before soliciting injury or accident clients.

Who enforces it

Alabama State Bar (Office of General Counsel), under rules set by the Alabama Supreme Court

The rules

Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3 (rewritten by Supreme Court order of May 13, 2025, effective Jan. 1, 2026); Rules 7.4 to 7.6 unchanged

Filing or review

No general filing requirement found in the official rules. Ads no longer have to be submitted to the Bar (the old three-day filing rule ended Jan. 1, 2026). Instead the lawyer must keep a copy of each communication, with its date, recipient and how it was sent, for six years and hand it to the Office of General Counsel on request (Rule 7.2(a)).

Required labels

No general disclaimer is required any more. Specific disclosures apply: city, town or county of at least one bona fide office; a clear statement if a lawyer shown is not licensed in Alabama or the firm has no Alabama office; "MOST CASES OF THIS TYPE ARE NOT HANDLED BY THIS LAWYER/FIRM BUT ARE REFERRED TO OTHER ATTORNEYS" when cases are usually referred out; "DRAMATIZATION -- NOT (THE) (AN) ACTUAL EVENT" for dramatizations; a paid-platform and advertisement disclosure for paid content that looks like legal advice. Paid testimonials must be disclosed.

Contacting accident victims

21 days after the accident, event or disaster before any solicitation about a personal injury or wrongful death claim (Rule 7.3(b)(1)). Also 7 days after a criminal defendant is served with a warrant or information (Rule 7.3(b)(3)).

Testimonials, results, specialist

Testimonials are allowed if the speaker is a real client with direct experience and any payment or gift is disclosed. A stated result must name the type of case, be objectively verifiable and not suggest the same result for others. Promising a specific result is banned, and so is comparing the quality of your services to other lawyers' services (Rule 7.1(c)). Certification claims are limited to what Rule 7.4 allows.

Online ads

Short online ads (banner ads, X posts, other social posts) may put required disclosures behind a link if it is reachable in one click (Comment to Rule 7.2). Bidding on a competitor's name as a keyword is allowed only if the search engine labels sponsored links, and you may not manipulate or buy search results so people reach you instead of the lawyer they searched for (Rule 7.2(r)). Every lawyer shown or named in an ad is responsible for its content (Rule 7.2(c)). A client review on a page the lawyer can edit or delete counts as the lawyer's own communication. Nothing on AI found.

ChatGPT Ads

OpenAI accepts US law-firm ads from firms licensed where the ad runs, after business verification and ad review. A ChatGPT ad aimed at Alabama needs your Alabama license, and it is still lawyer advertising under the rules above.

Sources: alabar.org, alabar.org.

More on how the rules work across states: law firm advertising rules and can lawyers advertise on ChatGPT.