Short answer: Almost every state requires your law firm website to name at least one responsible lawyer, state your office location, and avoid any claim you cannot substantiate. Some go further — New York wants the words “Attorney Advertising” on your home page, Florida regulates disclaimers on referrals and dramatizations, and New Jersey requires a specific line whenever you mention an award. Your website is an advertisement in the eyes of your bar, and it is governed accordingly.
Most of the law firm websites we audit fail their own state’s advertising rules in at least one place. Not dramatically — nobody is claiming to guarantee acquittals. It is usually a testimonial with no disclaimer, a “Super Lawyers” badge with no methodology reference, or a nine-page site with no physical office address anywhere on it.
None of those get you disbarred. All of them are grievance fodder, and all of them are trivially fixable before launch rather than after a complaint. This guide covers what your bar actually requires, state by state, and gives you a checklist you can run against your own site in about fifteen minutes.
First: yes, your website is an advertisement
Lawyers sometimes assume the advertising rules apply to billboards and TV spots, and that a website is just “information.” Every state that has addressed the question has landed the other way. Under ABA Model Rule 7.1 and its state analogues, a communication about a lawyer’s services is an advertisement regardless of medium — and a website whose purpose is to attract clients is squarely a communication about your services.
Practically, that means three things:
- Every factual claim on the site must be true and substantiable.
- Required identifying information must appear, usually on every page or at minimum on the home page.
- Certain content types — testimonials, case results, awards, comparisons, staged photography — carry their own disclaimer obligations.
The five requirements that apply almost everywhere
1. Name a responsible lawyer or firm
Nearly every state requires the name of at least one lawyer or the law firm responsible for the content to appear in the advertisement. California puts this in statute: Business and Professions Code § 6157.2 requires an advertisement to conspicuously display the name of at least one California-licensed lawyer, the firm, or the certified referral service responsible for it. Florida Rule 4-7.12 does the same.
A footer with the firm name satisfies this on most sites. A site branded entirely as “Injury Help Now” with no firm name anywhere does not.
2. Disclose your office location
Florida requires disclosure of the principal office location by city and state. Many other states require a geographic location or a physical address rather than a P.O. box. If your firm is virtual, this is the requirement most likely to catch you — check your rule before you launch a site with no address on it.
There is an SEO argument for the same thing. A consistent name, address and phone number in your footer and in your local search profile is one of the strongest local ranking signals you have, so the compliant version is also the version that ranks. Our law firm SEO audit guide covers how to check that your details are consistent everywhere Google looks.
3. Say where your lawyers are licensed
If you advertise into states where not every listed attorney is admitted — and a website advertises into every state — you generally have to disclose the jurisdictions where your lawyers are licensed. This matters enormously for firms running city landing pages across state lines. If you have a “Dallas personal injury lawyer” page and an “Oklahoma City personal injury lawyer” page, be explicit about who is admitted where.
4. Never guarantee an outcome
California Business and Professions Code § 6157.2 prohibits any guarantee or warranty of success, and Comment [2] to California Rule 7.1 makes an express guarantee a false or misleading communication on its own. Every state has an equivalent. The trap is not the word “guarantee” — most firms avoid that. The trap is copy like “we win” or “we get you the maximum compensation you deserve,” which implies the same thing to a lay reader.
California also prohibits statements or symbols implying the lawyer can generally obtain immediate cash or quick settlements — worth knowing if your homepage headline is about fast money.
5. Label dramatizations and impersonations
Stock footage of a “client” is an impersonation. California § 6157.2 requires disclosure of any impersonation or dramatization. Florida Rule 4-7.13 requires a clear and conspicuous “DRAMATIZATION. NOT AN ACTUAL EVENT.” on any re-creation or staging of an event.
This is the single most common violation we see in law firm video headers: a slow-motion shot of an actor in a neck brace, no label. Either label it or use footage of your actual office and actual lawyers — which converts better anyway, as we cover in our guide to trust signals that actually work.
State by state: the rules that go beyond the baseline
These are the states whose requirements most often surprise firms. Rule numbers are given so you can read the primary source — and you should, because these rules are amended more often than most lawyers expect.
| State | Rule | What your website must do |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 22 NYCRR 1200, Rule 7.1(f) | The words “Attorney Advertising” must appear on the home page of the website. In email, the notation “ATTORNEY ADVERTISING” must appear in the subject line. Certain media — radio, television, billboards, directories, newspapers and periodicals and their related websites — are carved out, but a firm’s own marketing site is not. |
| Florida | Rules 4-7.12, 4-7.13 | Identify the responsible lawyer or firm and the principal office city and state. Disclose the states of licensure if you advertise beyond them. If you know you intend to refer some resulting cases out, say so — the Bar’s example language is “Your case may be referred to another lawyer.” Label dramatizations. Required disclaimers must appear in every language used in the advertisement, and must be “clear and conspicuous.” |
| Texas | Rules 7.01, 7.04, 7.05 | The whole site must comply with Rules 7.01 and 7.02, but only the home page may need to be filed with the State Bar Advertising Review Committee — and even that is exempt if its contents fall within Rule 7.05’s exemptions. Filing, where required, is due within 10 days of dissemination. The 2021 amendments broadened these exemptions considerably; do not rely on pre-2021 advice. |
| California | Rules 7.1–7.5; B&P Code §§ 6157–6159 | Name a responsible California-licensed lawyer or the firm. No guarantee or warranty of outcome. No implication of immediate cash or quick settlements. Disclose any impersonation or dramatization. |
| New Jersey | Committee on Attorney Advertising guidance; Opinion 48 | Any reference to an award, honor or accolade must be accompanied — in proximity to the reference — by the name of the issuing organization, a description of the methodology (or a reference to a convenient, publicly available source for it), and the line “No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.” Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers are recognised as having bona fide methodologies, so the badge is permitted with the accompanying language. |
Other states worth checking before launch include Louisiana and Missouri, both of which have historically imposed filing obligations broader than Texas’s, and Pennsylvania and Ohio, which have specific requirements around past-results advertising.
The three content types that cause most of the trouble
Case results
A results page is one of the highest-converting things on a law firm website and one of the most heavily regulated. The general pattern across states is that prior results are permitted if they are truthful, not misleading in context, and accompanied by a disclaimer that results depend on the facts of each case.
Two practical rules keep you out of trouble in most jurisdictions:
- Report recovery honestly. A “$1.2 million verdict” that settled post-trial for $300,000 is misleading even though the verdict number is technically true.
- Put the disclaimer next to the results, not only in the site footer. Several states use language like “clear and conspicuous” or “in proximity to” — a link at the bottom of the page is not proximity.
Client testimonials and reviews
Testimonials are permitted in most states now, but with conditions: they must be genuine, unpaid unless the payment is disclosed, and must not create an unjustified expectation of a similar result. If a review says “he got my charges dropped,” that is a past-results claim and picks up your state’s past-results disclaimer obligation, even though it came out of a client’s mouth rather than yours.
Embedding a live Google reviews widget does not exempt you. You chose to publish it on your advertisement.
Awards, badges and “top lawyer” logos
The badge row under the fold is nearly universal on law firm sites, and in New Jersey it is nearly universally non-compliant. The requirement is not that you drop the badges — it is that you name the issuing organisation, explain or link the methodology, and carry the Supreme Court disclaimer near the badges themselves.
Even outside New Jersey, an award badge with no year and no issuing body is an unsubstantiated comparative claim under Rule 7.1. Add the year. Link the methodology. It takes ten minutes.
A fifteen-minute compliance audit for your own site
Open your site and work through this list. Anything you cannot answer yes to is a fix.
- Does the firm name or a responsible lawyer’s name appear on every page, typically in the footer?
- Does a real physical office location — city and state at minimum — appear on the site?
- Is it clear which states each listed attorney is licensed in?
- If you practise in New York, do the words “Attorney Advertising” appear on your home page?
- Does any headline, hero line or page title imply a guaranteed or typical outcome?
- Is every stock photo or video of a “client” or an “event” either genuine or labelled as a dramatization?
- Does each case result carry a results-vary disclaimer immediately adjacent to it?
- Does each testimonial that describes an outcome carry the same?
- Does every award badge name the issuer and the year and link to the methodology — plus the New Jersey line if you practise there?
- Do your contact and intake forms make clear that submitting the form does not create an attorney-client relationship?
- If you run city or state landing pages, is each one accurate about where you are admitted?
- Do you have a dated record of what the site said, in case you need to substantiate a claim later?
That last one is underrated. Several states require lawyers to retain copies of advertisements for a set period. A website changes continuously and most firms keep no record of what it said last year. A monthly archive — even a Wayback Machine snapshot you trigger yourself — solves it.
Where compliance and conversion actually agree
Firms treat the advertising rules as a tax on marketing. In practice the compliant version of a law firm website is usually the better-performing one, because the rules push you toward specificity and away from the generic superlatives that make every firm’s site read identically.
- “We fight for maximum compensation” is a compliance risk and a line every competitor uses. “We have tried 41 cases to verdict in Maricopa County since 2015” is safer and more persuasive.
- A dramatized stock video is a compliance risk and converts worse than footage of the actual lawyer the client will meet.
- A required office address is a compliance obligation and a local ranking signal.
The pattern holds across almost every rule in this article. Substantiable, specific and local is what your bar wants and what your prospective client responds to. If you want the broader version of that argument, our law firm website content guide covers how to write pages that are specific enough to be believed, and our guide to law firm website conversion rates covers what that specificity does to your intake numbers.
Frequently asked questions
Does my law firm website need to say “Attorney Advertising”?
In New York, yes — Rule 7.1(f) requires the label on the home page of a website, and “ATTORNEY ADVERTISING” in the subject line of marketing email. Most other states do not require that exact phrase, though many require an advertisement to be identifiable as one. Adding the label voluntarily is harmless if you have any New York presence.
Do I have to file my website with my state bar?
Usually not, but check. Texas requires filing of advertisements with the Advertising Review Committee within ten days of dissemination, but Rule 7.05(b) exempts everything on a law firm website except the home page — and exempts the home page too if its contents fall within the rule’s exemptions. A handful of other states retain broader filing regimes.
Can I put client testimonials on my law firm website?
In most states, yes, provided the testimonial is genuine, any payment or incentive is disclosed, and it does not create an unjustified expectation about results. If the testimonial describes an outcome, treat it as a past-results claim and add the same disclaimer you would use on a results page.
Can I use a Super Lawyers badge on my website?
Yes, and New Jersey’s Committee on Attorney Advertising has specifically recognised Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers as having bona fide methodologies. In New Jersey you must name the issuing organisation, describe the methodology or reference a publicly available source for it, and include “No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey” in proximity to the badge.
Do the rules apply to my social media and Google Business Profile too?
Yes. Anything you publish to attract clients is a communication about your services. The same substantiation and disclaimer obligations follow you onto LinkedIn, YouTube, your Google Business Profile description and any third-party directory listing you control.
State-by-state guides
The rules below differ enough that a single national checklist will not keep you compliant in all of them. These guides cover what each state actually requires on a law firm website, and where the requirement most often gets missed.
| State | Governing rules | Pre-filing required | The requirement most often missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | Rules 4-7.11–4-7.25 | Yes, for many ad types | Paid landing pages assessed separately from the site |
| California | RPC 7.1–7.5 | No | Privacy policy for intake forms, with no revenue threshold |
| Texas | Disciplinary Rules, Part VII | Yes, with broad exemptions | Guidance predating the 2021 revisions |
| New York | 22 NYCRR Part 1200, Rules 7.1–7.5 | No | “Attorney Advertising” label on the home page |
| Illinois | Illinois RPC 7.1–7.5 (ARDC) | No | Chicagoland city pages implying offices you do not have |
| Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania RPC 7.1–7.5 | No | One site inheriting the rules of every state it targets |
| Georgia | Georgia RPC 7.1–7.5 | No general queue | Contingent fee qualification placed too far from the claim |
| New Jersey | New Jersey RPC 7.1–7.5, plus Committee guidance | No | Award badges with no methodology disclosure |
| Ohio | Ohio RPC 7.1–7.5 | No general queue | Splitting three co-equal markets across separate domains |
| North Carolina | North Carolina RPC 7.1–7.5, plus Formal Ethics Opinions | No | Replying to a bad review and breaching confidentiality |
| Arizona | ER 7.1–7.5 (note the ER prefix) | No | Nonlawyer ownership via ABS licence, unique in the US |
| Washington | Washington RPC 7.1–7.5 | No | Consumer health privacy law reaching PI intake forms |
| Louisiana | Louisiana RPC, Rule 7.1 onward | Yes, mandatory | Being treated as a mid-pack state when it is strict-tier |
| Virginia | Virginia RPC, consolidated in 2017 | No | Deregulation removed the safe harbour, not the standard |
| Nevada | Nevada RPC 7.1–7.5 | Yes, submission and review | Las Vegas clients are structurally out-of-state |
| Michigan | Michigan RPC 7.1–7.5 | No | Well-ranking pages describing superseded no-fault law |
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts RPC 7.1–7.5 | No | Consumer protection statute with a private right of action |
| Utah | Utah RPC 7.1–7.5 | No | Regulatory sandbox authorisations carry their own conditions |
| South Carolina | South Carolina RPC 7.1–7.5 | Yes, filing required | The most consistently overlooked strict state |
| Maryland | Renumbered scheme, not 7.1–7.5 | No | Checklists keyed to Rule 7.1 skip it and report nothing |
| Tennessee | Tennessee RPC 7.1–7.5 | No | Rule 7.5: offices, admissions and “of counsel” on multi-state sites |
| Missouri | Rule 4-7.1 onward, not 7.1 | No | Prescribed disclaimer wording that cannot be paraphrased |
| Colorado | Colorado RPC 7.1–7.5 | No | Copy collapsing state legality into federal legality |
| Minnesota | Minnesota RPC 7.1–7.5 | No | Translated pages, and disclaimers left in English |
If you are licensed in more than one of these states, build to Florida’s content standard and then add New York’s two mechanical requirements — the home page label and a retention routine. That combination satisfies all four without maintaining separate versions of your website.
This article is general information for law firm marketing purposes and is not legal or ethics advice. Advertising rules change frequently and vary significantly between jurisdictions. Confirm the current text of the rules with your state bar, or with your firm’s ethics counsel, before relying on anything here.
If you would rather not run this audit yourself, we build compliance review into every site we launch. Tell us your states and we will tell you what your current site is missing.
