Dated October 24, 2026. Filing a lawyer ad with The Florida Bar now costs $250, or $750 if it is filed late. Florida is one of the few states that reviews many ads before they run, so the fee is part of the cost of every Florida campaign. This note covers what changed, what it does to a firm’s budget, and how to keep late fees off the bill. State-by-state filing rules are in our lawyer advertising rules guide.
What changed
The Bar’s filing page now lists two fees, each per advertisement (Florida Bar):
- $250 for an ad filed at least 20 days before its first use; and
- $750 for an ad filed less than 20 days before its first use.
The same page says that, effective July 2026, filings may be submitted through the MyFloridaBar member portal. Mailed filings still need a check.
Before this, the fees were $150 for a timely filing and $250 for a late one (Florida Bar News, 2014). In May 2026 the Bar described the change as the first increase in 20 years, meant to make the review program cover its own costs, and tied it to a July 1 start subject to the Florida Supreme Court’s approval of the budget (Florida Bar News; Board summary). The Bar’s live filing page now shows the new amounts.
The new math
The late penalty is the part that grew most. A late filing used to cost $100 more than a timely one. Now it costs $500 more, three times the timely fee.
| Ads filed in a year | All timely | All late |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | $2,500 | $7,500 |
| 25 | $6,250 | $18,750 |
| 50 | $12,500 | $37,500 |
These are ILLUSTRATIVE counts, using the fees above. The count rises faster than many firms expect, because Florida treats a changed ad as a new ad (Handbook). A firm that rewrites its search ads every month, or tests new headlines each week, can file far more often than it plans to.
What to check this week
| Check | Where | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Filing calendar | Your marketing plan | Every new ad filed at least 20 days before launch |
| Ad changes | Agency change log | Copy changes batched, so each round is one filing |
| Safe-harbor content | Ad copy review | Ads that can stay within safe-harbor content kept there |
| Translations | Spanish and Creole ads | An accurate English translation with each filing |
| Portal access | MyFloridaBar | The filing lawyer can log in and see past submissions |
What this means for your firm
- Plan copy in batches. Fewer, planned rounds of ad changes cost less than constant small edits, and they are easier to approve.
- Late filing is a budget leak. Three late filings cost $2,250, against $750 if the same three ads were filed on time. Put the 20-day clock in your agency agreement.
- Ask the hard question early. How responsive search ads are counted for filing is worth settling with Bar staff before launch. Our Google Ads guide explains how those ads are built, and our Florida page covers the rest of the state’s rules.
- Spanish ads cost the same. Each language version is filed with a translation, so budget for both. Our Spanish guide has the details.
If the Bar changes its fees or filing system again, we will add a dated update to this note.
Marketing information, not legal advice. Your firm’s lawyers answer to The Florida Bar for every ad; confirm fees and filing rules with the Bar’s ethics and advertising staff or your own counsel.