Employment law ad rules in Texas

What are the key facts for employment law ads in Texas?

• Ad filing. File each non-exempt ad with the State Bar of Texas Advertising Review Committee within 10 days after first use, with a $100 fee. An unfiled non-exempt ad can draw a $250 fine plus the $100 fee. Optional pre-approval at least 30 days ahead; a finding of compliance binds in the lawyer’s favor (Rule 7.04).
• What each ad must include. The name of a responsible lawyer and that lawyer’s primary practice location (Rule 7.02(a)).
• Results and “specialist” claims. Saying a lawyer “practices”, “focuses” or “concentrates” in an area is fine if objectively true.
• Referral services and lead generators. Anyone who refers potential clients to lawyers is a lawyer referral service and needs a certificate; only a government body or a qualifying nonprofit can be certified (Occupations Code ch.

Job-related ads face their own audience limits on the platforms, so check the targeting before you launch.

How does Texas sit on the basics a employment law firm runs into?

• Ad filing in Texas: Filed after first use
• Call recording in Texas: One-party consent
• Texting law in Texas: State law with private suits
• Privacy law in Texas: Comprehensive law in force

What have Texas’s ethics opinions said?

• State Bar of Texas, Professional Ethics Committee, opinion 706 (2025-02), on paying a nonlawyer support-services vendor a percentage of firm revenue: A Texas lawyer may not pay a nonlawyer-owned services company a percentage of firm revenue, because that shares legal fees. What to do: Pay vendors flat or usage-based fees, never a percentage of your firm's revenue.
• State Bar of Texas, Professional Ethics Committee, opinion 702 (2024-08), on paid educational presentations marketed by a private company; later contact by viewers: A lawyer may be paid for general legal education videos a company sells; the talk is not solicitation, so the lawyer may represent viewers who later call. What to do: Give educational talks with a not-legal-advice warning, and let viewers contact you rather than pitching them during the talk.
• State Bar of Texas, Professional Ethics Committee, opinion 689 (2020-09), on using a nonlawyer employee to staff an advertising booth after hail storms: A staffer may run a booth with signs and brochures, but neither lawyer nor staffer may start conversations about hiring the firm, and no bonus per new client. What to do: At events, let people come to you, train staff not to start the pitch, and never pay staff per signed client.
• State Bar of Texas, Professional Ethics Committee, opinion 663 (2016-09), on using the name of a multi-firm organization (verein) as a Texas firm name: A Texas firm may not use a multi-firm network's name that includes people who were never lawyers in the Texas firm; disclaimers do not cure it. What to do: Do not practice or advertise under a network or affiliation name that lists lawyers who were never in your firm.
• State Bar of Texas, Professional Ethics Committee, opinion 654 (2016-03), on offering free bail bond and warrant information to attract visitors to a law office: A lawyer may advertise and give free bail-bond and warrant-check information to office visitors; it is not paying to solicit, but the offer must be honored. What to do: If you advertise free information, give it to everyone who asks, never make it depend on hiring you, and supervise staff who hand it out.
• State Bar of Texas, Professional Ethics Committee, opinion 573 (2006-07), on paying to join an internet service that forwards potential clients' information to paying lawyers: A Texas lawyer may pay an online service that forwards potential clients' problems to paying lawyers only if it meets the opinion's conditions, which the lawyer keeps checking. What to do: Before buying leads from an online service, confirm it does not pick lawyers for clients, charges a reasonable advertising fee, does not cap participants, and label your first contact as advertising.

Which Google, Local Services and Meta policies matter for employment law ads?

• Google Ads: Personalized advertising: Housing, Employment and Consumer finance (US and Canada). In the US and Canada, ads in housing, employment or consumer finance can't target by gender, age, parental status, marital status or ZIP code. Radius targeting of at least 1 km is allowed. Housing covers real estate services; employment covers job ads and hiring.
• Local Services Ads: Local Services Ads: service categories (US). Google's US list has 17 lawyer categories: bankruptcy, business, contract, criminal, disability, DUI, estate, family, immigration, IP, labor, litigation, malpractice, personal injury, real estate, traffic, and a general 'Lawyers' category. Unlike some other categories, none of the lawyer categories is limited to certain states.
• Meta: Special Ad Category: Financial products and services. US advertisers running financial products and services ads must choose the 'Financial products and services' special ad category, which replaced 'Credit'. These ads (and housing and employment ads) lose age, gender and ZIP targeting, lookalike and saved audiences, and need at least a 15-mile radius.

The full list for every platform is in the ad platform policy tracker.

What else in Texas touches employment law marketing?

• Ads in Spanish and other languages. Required statements appear in each language the ad uses.
• Call recording. One-party consent: a person on the call may record it.
• Privacy and health data. The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act covers businesses above the SBA’s small-business size.

How much Spanish-speaking demand is there in Texas?

• Texas: about 7,932,949 (±30,524) people aged 5 and over who speak Spanish at home. ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.
• Texas: about 3,034,861 (±21,917) Spanish speakers aged 5 and over who speak English less than "very well". ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.
• Texas: about 271 (±26.3) Spanish speakers with limited English (less than "very well") for every Spanish-speaking lawyer, judge or judicial worker. ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.

Test Spanish pages and ads next to English ones.

Which Texas metros do we cover?

Each metro page covers how clients there find a lawyer, what AI answers show and the local courts:

• Austin law firm SEO, AI search and Google AdsHow Austin clients and tech workers find a lawyer, Spanish demand, Western District venue and Texas ad filing for firms of any size.
• Dallas-Fort Worth law firm SEO, AI search and adsTwo cities, one metro: search habits, the strongest Spanish-access gap in our data, three federal venues and Texas ad filing for DFW firms.
• Houston law firm SEO, AI search and Google AdsHow Houston clients find a lawyer, what AI answers show, Spanish demand, Southern District venue and Texas ad filing for firms of any size.
• San Antonio law firm SEO, AI search and Google AdsHow San Antonio clients find a lawyer, military and Spanish-speaking clients, Western District venue and Texas ad filing for firms of any size.

What does this mean for your firm?

• Check the Texas filing duty before the first employment law ad runs, and ask your attorney to approve each ad.
• Plan each employment law campaign around the platform’s own policies, so ads are not disapproved after launch.
• Test Spanish and English side by side where the Spanish-speaking audience is large.

Not legal advice. Probative Growth is a marketing firm, not a law firm. Rules change; your attorney decides what runs.

Questions firms ask about employment law ads in Texas

Does a employment law firm have to file its ads in Texas?

File each non-exempt ad with the State Bar of Texas Advertising Review Committee within 10 days after first use, with a $100 fee. An unfiled non-exempt ad can draw a $250 fine plus the $100 fee.

What must a employment law ad say in Texas?

The name of a responsible lawyer and that lawyer’s primary practice location (Rule 7.02(a)).

Can a employment law firm in Texas run Local Services Ads?

Google's US list has 17 lawyer categories: bankruptcy, business, contract, criminal, disability, DUI, estate, family, immigration, IP, labor, litigation, malpractice, personal injury, real estate, traffic, and a general 'Lawyers' category. Unlike some other categories, none of the lawyer categories is limited to certain states.

How much Spanish-speaking demand should a employment law firm plan for in Texas?

Texas: about 7,932,949 (±30,524) people aged 5 and over who speak Spanish at home. ACS 2020-2024 survey estimate.