The short answer
Lawyer ads come in a few families: TV and radio, billboards and transit, search and Local Services Ads, social video, and letters. The memorable ones share a simple promise, a phone number and a face; the ones that draw bar complaints show results without context, actors without a label or testimonials the state rules out. Read each example below against your state’s rules before you copy it.
Most lawyer ads you remember share three things: a simple promise, a phone number and a face. The ones that end in bar complaints usually share one of three others: a result shown without context, an actor shown as a client without a label, or a testimonial the state rules out. Below, each family of lawyer ad with what a good example does and the rule it has to meet.
Since when can lawyers advertise?
Lawyers in the US have been free to advertise since 1977, when the Supreme Court decided Bates v. State Bar of Arizona (433 U.S. 350) and held that the reasons offered were inadequate to support suppressing all advertising by attorneys. States still regulate how lawyers advertise, which is why the same commercial can be fine in one state and need changes in the next.
TV and radio commercials
What a good example does: one lawyer on camera, one kind of case, one number on screen long enough to write down, and a reason to call now that is true (free consultation, Spanish spoken, open late).
Where they go wrong: actors playing clients without a “dramatization” label, a past verdict with no context, and voice-overs that promise results.
- 7 states file ads with the bar or its commission: Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Rhode Island and Texas.
- 4 more file only targeted solicitations (letters and messages to a named person), not TV ads: Indiana, Maryland, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
- 5 states have their own rule for drug- and device-lawsuit ads: Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and West Virginia.
See every state’s TV rule in lawyer TV advertising rules.
Billboards, buses and benches
What a good example does: five words or fewer, a face, a phone number or a short web address, and the practice in plain words (“Truck crash? Call …”).
Where they go wrong: nicknames and slogans that imply a guaranteed win. A rhyming slogan is not automatically misleading, as one of the opinions below found, but a slogan that claims a result can be.
Search ads and Local Services Ads
What a good example does: the practice and city in the headline, a real reason to choose the firm, and a landing page that answers the question the person typed. Search ads are lawyer ads too: the same rules on claims, results and specialist titles apply to the text. See our Google Ads guide and the ad copy checklist by state.
Social video and posts
What a good example does: a lawyer answering one real question in under a minute, with captions. A post that offers services is an ad; see social media marketing for law firms for the rules and the bar opinions on social media.
Letters, texts and other direct contact
Live, person-to-person contact with someone who has not asked for help, such as an unrequested phone call offering legal services, is treated as solicitation under ABA Model Rule 7.3. Letters and texts to people known to need a lawyer are allowed in most states, with labels and waiting periods:
- 16 states set a waiting period before targeted contact about an injury or accident.
- 13 of them use 30 days; the longest is Connecticut’s, at 40 days.
- 4 states file only targeted solicitations, such as letters: Indiana, Maryland, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
See every state in direct mail and targeted letter rules.
Testimonials and past results: what the ethics opinions say
The ABA’s comment to Model Rule 7.1 warns that a truthful report of a past result may be misleading if it leads a reasonable person to form an unjustified expectation that the same results could be obtained. The bars below have written about testimonials and case results in ads:
The ethics opinions in force on this topic in our ethics-opinions dataset, newest first:
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Kentucky · Kentucky Attorneys' Advertising Commission, AAC Regulation No. 1 ·
The Commission's regulation lists ad content it may treat as misleading, including actors posing as clients, misleading area codes, and verdict amounts without the case facts.
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New Jersey · Supreme Court of New Jersey, Committee on Attorney Advertising, CAA Opinion 49 · September 30, 2025
Testimonials are allowed if the client is identified, actors are labeled as a dramatization, results carry a 'Results may vary' line, and nothing is paid or called 'best'.
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Illinois · Illinois State Bar Association, Professional Conduct Advisory Opinions, 25-02 · February 1, 2025
A lawyer may not take clients from a for-profit referral service that splits a fixed fee, offers money-back guarantees, hides actors in ads, or controls lawyer-client messages.
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Oregon · Oregon State Bar, Board of Governors (Legal Ethics Committee), 2024-204 · November 1, 2024
A lawyer pitching a client or giving a talk may describe work for a current client only with informed consent, even if the case was publicly reported.
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California · Orange County Bar Association, Professionalism and Ethics Committee, 2022-01 · July 27, 2022
Without informed consent, a lawyer may not name a client or describe a matter in bios or marketing if it would embarrass or harm the client, nor misleadingly.
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Alaska · Alaska Bar Association, Ethics Committee (adopted by Board of Governors), 2020-2 · October 26, 2020
A personal-injury lawyer may run ads with client testimonials that state recovery amounts only if the clients give informed consent.
What Are Counsel's Ethical Duties Regarding Publicizing Client Recoveries?
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California · State Bar of California, Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), 2019-199 · January 1, 2019
A lawyer is not responsible for a directory profile until adopting or using it; then it must be truthful, with no fake reviews and care over misleading testimonials.
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North Carolina · North Carolina State Bar (Ethics Committee; adopted by the State Bar Council), 2019 FEO 6 · October 25, 2019
A lawyer may not offer prize entries for "likes" or follows when the platform shows that activity to other users, because it pays for what looks like a recommendation.
Offering Incentive to Engage with Law Practice’s Social Networking Sites
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Virginia · Virginia State Bar, Standing Committee on Legal Ethics, LEO 1750 · October 2, 2019
This compendium covers actors in ads, "no recovery, no fee", third-party praise, case results, referral services, "Best Lawyers" listings, and "specialist" claims under Virginia’s misleading-ads rule.
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Pennsylvania · Pennsylvania Bar Association, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, Formal Opinion 2016-300 · November 1, 2016
Lawyers may not publicize identifying facts of a client's case in marketing without consent, but may advertise the types of matters they handle.
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District of Columbia · District of Columbia Bar, Legal Ethics Committee, 370 · November 1, 2016
Promotional social media must follow the ethics rules; lawyers must fix false content on pages they control, answer reviews without confidences, and endorse others only truthfully.
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Rhode Island · Rhode Island Supreme Court Ethics Advisory Panel, Op. 2015-03 · November 19, 2015
Rhyming slogans like 'Win with [name]' are not false or misleading because a reasonable person would not read them as promising to win every case.
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New York · New York County Lawyers Association, Professional Ethics Committee, 748 · March 10, 2015
A LinkedIn profile listing only education and jobs is not an ad, but adding practice areas, skills or endorsements likely makes it one; lawyers must remove inaccurate endorsements.
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Pennsylvania · Pennsylvania Bar Association, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Committee, Formal Opinion 2014-300 · September 1, 2014
Lawyers may use social media, accept and answer reviews if they monitor accuracy, and give or ask for endorsements; practice-promoting posts are subject to the ethics rules.
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Nevada · State Bar of Nevada, Standing Committees on Lawyer Advertising, · November 21, 2013
Past results need a disclaimer and must reflect money the client received; actors and dramatizations must be labeled; only certified specialists may say 'specialist' or 'expert'.
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California · State Bar of California, Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC), 2012-186 · January 1, 2012
A lawyer's social media posts are advertising when they offer the lawyer's services, such as posting wins and inviting calls, and the ad rules still apply.
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Oklahoma · Oklahoma Bar Association, Legal Ethics Committee, 320 · October 15, 2004
Ads may state verdict or settlement amounts if accurate and not confidential, with an equally prominent disclaimer that each case is different.
[Listing jury verdict and settlement amounts in advertising]
Questions about this guide
Why do personal injury lawyers advertise so much?
Because people need an injury lawyer once, suddenly, and pick one in the days after a crash. A firm that is not already in front of them on TV, on a billboard or at the top of a search does not get the call. One signed case can pay for a lot of ads, so injury firms buy reach that other practices do not need.
Are funny lawyer commercials allowed?
Humor is not banned. The rules ask whether an ad is false or misleading, so a joke is fine until it implies a result, a promise or a fact that is not true. Some states also restrict dramatizations and actors, which many comic ads use.
Can a lawyer ad show a past verdict or settlement?
In many states, with care. The ABA comment warns that a true past result can mislead if it leads people to expect the same outcome, and several states ask for a disclaimer next to it. Check your state before you put a dollar figure in an ad.
When were lawyers first allowed to advertise?
Since Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, the Supreme Court case described at the top of this page. Before it, many state bars kept lawyers from advertising at all.
Sources
- Library of Congress, U.S. Reports: Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977)Accessed October 31, 2026
- ABA Model Rule 7.1 and comment (past results and unjustified expectations)Accessed October 30, 2026
- ABA Model Rule 7.3, solicitationAccessed October 30, 2026