Short answer: Louisiana attorney advertising is governed by the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct, where the advertising provisions run from Rule 7.1 onward and are considerably longer and more prescriptive than the 7.1–7.5 structure most states use. Louisiana is the other strict state — it belongs alongside Florida rather than in the middle of the pack, and like Florida it operates a mandatory filing and review process. This guide sets out the Louisiana attorney advertising rules that apply to a law firm website, and where firms most often fall short.
Most national guidance treats Florida as the outlier and lumps everything else together. That is wrong about Louisiana, and it is the kind of error that gets a firm into trouble, because a website built to a generic national standard will not clear Louisiana’s requirements.
Why Louisiana is drafted the way it is
Louisiana’s advertising rules have a substantial history of constitutional litigation. Earlier versions were challenged on First Amendment grounds and parts did not survive. The current rules are the product of that history, which has two practical consequences.
The first is length. Rather than relying on a broad prohibition on misleading communications and leaving application to judgement, Louisiana enumerates. That makes the rules longer to read but more mechanical to apply.
The second is that older commentary is actively misleading. Articles and templates written against superseded versions may describe requirements that were struck down or provisions that have since been renumbered. Work from the current text.
The filing requirement
Louisiana requires advertisements to be filed for review through the Louisiana State Bar Association. Only a handful of states do this — Florida and Texas being the others covered in this series.
The distinction that matters for a website is the same one that matters in Florida: whether a particular page is an advertisement subject to filing is a different question from whether it must comply with the content rules. Everything complies. Not everything files. Campaign landing pages built for paid search are the most likely to be treated differently from your main site, and they are usually produced outside the main build by whoever runs the ads.
Fees and deadlines apply and have changed. They are deliberately not quoted here. The LSBA will confirm the current figures, and that call is worth making before a launch rather than after.
What Louisiana is prescriptive about
Because the rules enumerate, the list of things to check is longer than in a principle-based state. The recurring themes on law firm websites:
Past results. Treated with particular care. Expect context and qualifying requirements, and expect them to be more specific than the general “results vary” language that suffices elsewhere.
Testimonials and endorsements. Constrained, with attention to whether a speaker is an actual client and whether any payment is disclosed.
Dramatisations and portrayals. Louisiana addresses the use of actors, re-enactments and scenes that could be mistaken for actual events — relevant to video content and hero imagery, not just copy.
Promises and predictions. Anything implying an outcome is high risk in a jurisdiction that lists prohibited content rather than inferring it.
Louisiana alongside the strict-tier states
| Louisiana | Florida | Texas | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drafting style | Long and enumerated | Detailed and strict | Rule-based with exemptions |
| Mandatory filing | Yes | Yes, for many ad types | Yes, with broad exemptions |
| Dramatisations addressed | Yes, explicitly | Restricted | Less prescriptive |
| Litigation history shaping rules | Substantial | Some | Less |
| Risk of relying on old guidance | High | Moderate | High, post-2021 |
If you practise in Louisiana and anywhere else, Louisiana is the standard to build to. It is the only state in this series where that is true of Florida’s equal.
Louisiana attorney advertising rules: frequently asked questions
Does Louisiana require attorney advertising to be filed for review?
Louisiana operates a mandatory filing and review system administered through the Louisiana State Bar Association, and it is one of the few states that does. Fees and deadlines apply and change over time, so confirm both directly with the LSBA rather than relying on a secondary source.
Which rules govern attorney advertising in Louisiana?
The Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct, where the advertising provisions run through Rules 7.1 and following. Louisiana’s advertising rules are considerably longer and more prescriptive than the standard 7.1 to 7.5 structure most states use.
Is Louisiana stricter than Florida?
They are the two strictest advertising jurisdictions in the country and are best treated as a pair. Louisiana’s rules are unusually detailed about what an advertisement may contain, and unlike most states it pairs that detail with a mandatory review process.
Do Louisiana’s rules apply to my website?
Websites are communications about legal services and fall within the rules. Whether a particular page triggers the filing obligation is a separate question from whether it must comply with the content rules, and the answer differs. Confirm with the LSBA.
Have Louisiana’s advertising rules been challenged in court?
Louisiana’s rules have a notable history of First Amendment litigation, and parts of earlier versions were struck down. That history is why the current rules are drafted the way they are, and it is a reason to work from the current text rather than older commentary.
Louisiana attorney advertising rules: the short version
If you take one thing from this guide, take this: the Louisiana attorney advertising rules apply to every page a prospective client can reach, including campaign landing pages built outside your main website. That is usually where the gaps are.
Official source: the Louisiana State Bar Association.
Legal Web Agency is a marketing agency, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. Louisiana’s rules are long, have been amended, and have been litigated; no provision, fee or deadline is quoted here. Confirm current requirements with the Louisiana State Bar Association or your ethics counsel before publishing.
Related reading: Attorney Advertising Rules by State, plus the Florida, Texas and Georgia guides.
