Can lawyers pay for leads? Rule 7.2(b) by state

Yes, in most states, as of October 25, 2026: you may pay for a lead, but not for a recommendation. The safe pattern is a set price per lead that stays the same whether or not the person hires you, from a vendor that never says it picked, vetted or recommends you. Missouri, Texas, California, Florida and Illinois add extra steps, so check your state before you sign.

Key facts

• Georgia’s rules, in force since March 1, 2026, use the ABA model wording: a lawyer “shall not compensate, give or promise anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer’s services” (Supreme Court of Georgia).
• New York’s ethics committee said on March 11, 2026 that per-lead payments are allowed if the platform doesn’t recommend the lawyer, uses neutral, disclosed criteria, and charges the same whether or not the person hires the lawyer (NYSBA Opinion 1294).
• Missouri’s ethics counsel said on July 25, 2025 that a lead vendor which sends particular clients to particular lawyers is a referral service, and lawyers may use it only if it is registered with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel (Informal Opinion 2025-05).
• Since July 1, 2025, Illinois covers lead generators, directories and matching sites as “intermediary connecting services”, whose fees can’t depend on the outcome or be a percentage of legal fees (Illinois Rule 7.2).
• In Texas, a person may not operate a lawyer referral service without a certificate, whatever the service calls itself (Tex. Occ. Code §952.101, §952.002).

What does Rule 7.2(b) say?

Rule 7.2(b) bans paying anyone for recommending a lawyer, then lists what a lawyer may still pay for. The ABA model wording, which Georgia adopted word for word from March 1, 2026, allows the reasonable costs of ads, the usual charges of a qualified or nonprofit referral service, buying a practice, non-exclusive reciprocal referral deals the client is told about, and nominal thank-you gifts.

The ABA’s own site blocks automated reads, so we quote the same words from Georgia’s order. The rule opens: a lawyer “shall not compensate, give or promise anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer’s services except that a lawyer may” pay for the listed items (Georgia Rule 7.2(b)). The last exception lets a lawyer “give nominal gifts as an expression of appreciation that are neither intended nor reasonably expected to be a form of compensation for recommending a lawyer’s services” (same source). Alabama’s rules since January 1, 2026 carry the same nominal-gift exception (Alabama order).

Lead generators aren’t in the rule text. They are in the comments. Georgia’s comment 5 says “a lawyer may pay others for generating client leads, such as internet-based client leads, as long as the lead generator does not recommend the lawyer,” the payment is consistent with the fee-sharing and independence rules, and the vendor’s messages are consistent with Rule 7.1 (same source). Pennsylvania’s comment 4 and Texas’s Rule 7.03 comment 13 say the same thing in nearly the same words (Pennsylvania Rule 7.2; Texas rules).

What is the difference between a lead and a referral?

A lead is a contact you pay to receive. A referral is a recommendation you pay to get. The money can move the same way in both. What changes the answer is what the vendor tells the consumer. If it says, implies or suggests that it chose you on merit, it is recommending you, and paying it breaks Rule 7.2(b).

The comment language is specific. A lawyer “must not pay a lead generator that states, implies, or creates a reasonable impression that it is recommending the lawyer,” that it is making the referral without payment, or that it “has analyzed a person’s legal problems when determining which lawyer should receive the referral” (Georgia comment 5; the Texas and Pennsylvania comments use the same words).

New York applied this in 2024. A website promising lawyers who “have excellent qualifications and are carefully vetted” was advertising on the lawyers’ behalf, and their payments to it were “an improper payment for a recommendation in violation of rule 7.2(a)” (NYSBA Opinion 1267). Two months later, a bidding platform that “claims to vet and evaluate the skill of the participating lawyers” failed the same test (NYSBA Opinion 1271).

What are the four tests bars use?

Bars ask four questions about any paid lead source. Does it recommend you? Does it pick lawyers by neutral rules it discloses? Does the price depend on whether you’re hired, or on your fee? Must it be registered or certified in your state? A vendor that fails any one of them is a problem.

The table’s conclusion: a vendor can pass the first three tests and still fail the fourth in Missouri, Texas, California or Florida.

Test 2: New York’s neutral-criteria rule

New York’s March 2026 opinion is the clearest recent statement. A platform that shares anonymized workplace logs with employment lawyers, who pay for the user’s contact details with the user’s consent, is a lead generator, not a referral, “as long as (i) the platform does not recommend the lawyer, (ii) the platform uses neutral, disclosed criteria to select the lawyer making the contact, and (iii) the payment by the lawyer does not vary depending on whether a retention results or on the amount of any resulting fee” (NYSBA Opinion 1294).

The opinion also says consent can’t be “buried in terms and conditions.” The disclosure has to be clear before the user shares anything (same source). Opinion 1294 was written under New York’s old rules, before the June 1, 2026 rewrite; Rule 7.2(a), the ban on paying for a recommendation, didn’t change (our New York note).

Test 3: no share of the fee, no price per case

Four states we read at the source reject outcome-linked pay:

• New York. Paying a percentage of a fee to a nonlawyer bidding platform breaks Rule 5.4(a) (Opinion 1271). A promise to pay a referrer for “administrative” work on each matter referred is a reward for the referral and breaks Rule 7.2(a) (Opinion 1279).
• Texas. “A lawyer may not agree to pay a nonlawyer-owned vendor based on a percentage of the revenues of the lawyer or the lawyer’s firm” (Opinion 706).
• Illinois. A connecting service’s charges must not be “contingent on the outcome of the matter” or “calculated as a percentage of the lawyer’s anticipated or actual legal fees” (Rule 7.2(c)(8)). Illinois does allow “a reasonable connecting fee for every connection that results in a potential client hiring the lawyer” (comment 7), which makes it more permissive on per-hire fees than New York.
• Florida. The Rule 4-7.22 comment says “a fee calculated as a percentage of the fee received by a lawyer, or based on the success or perceived value of the case, would be an improper division of fees” (Florida Bar handbook). A 2018 draft advisory opinion listed “a flat charge per case accepted by a participating lawyer” among charges that would generally be impermissible (draft Opinion 18-1). The document we could fetch is the October 2018 draft, so check the Bar’s adopted text before relying on its wording.

The District of Columbia is the outlier. Its 2007 Opinion 342 concluded that “a flat fee for transmittals, or for each client secured, does not violate either d.c. rule 7.1 or 5.4” (D.C. Bar Opinion 342). That is a minority view, and it doesn’t travel: a firm that advertises in D.C. and Maryland answers to both.

Test 4: when the vendor must be registered or certified

• Missouri. The rule on referral services “is applicable to all services that refer particular potential clients to particular lawyers, regardless of the name or characterization of the activities or fees used by the service.” Using an unregistered one breaks Rules 4-7.2(c) and 4-9.1(b), and the lawyer “should contact ocdc” before using it (Informal Opinion 2025-05). Missouri says its informal opinions are advisory, not binding.
• Texas. A lawyer referral service is anyone who “refers potential clients to lawyers regardless of whether the person uses the term ‘referral service’” (§952.002), and none may operate without a certificate (§952.101). Texas still allows paying a lead generator that doesn’t recommend the lawyer (Rule 7.03, comment 13).
• California. No nongovernmental entity may operate to refer potential clients to attorneys, “and no attorney shall accept a referral of such potential clients,” unless the statute’s conditions, including State Bar certification, are met (Cal. B&P §6155).
• Florida. Lead generators are “qualifying providers” under Rule 4-7.22, and each must have “lawyers from at least 4 different law firms participating” (Florida Bar handbook). A lawyer who joins one reports it to the Bar within 15 days, unless the provider reports for the lawyer (Rule 4-7.22(e), same source).
• Illinois. Before and while using a connecting service, the lawyer takes reasonable steps, “such as obtaining written verification from the ics,” and may rely on the service’s written certification for most of the checks (Rule 7.2(c)-(d)).

Can lawyers pay for leads in my state?

In 12 states our library rests on the rule or opinion itself (status P), and the answers differ in the details. In the remaining jurisdictions our library hasn’t yet checked the state’s own text, so the ABA model default applies until it does: pay for ads and leads, never for a recommendation, never a share of the fee.

P = we read the rule, statute or opinion. S = secondary summary only. U = unresolved. D = ABA default until checked. The full cell for each state, with its sources, is in our state rules library.

ABA default (not yet checked at the state’s own text): Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, plus the D.C. and New Jersey rule cells.

What about Local Services Ads and pay-per-call?

Paying Google per lead is an advertising cost, not a referral fee. Google charges by the lead, but it doesn’t take a share of your fee, and the price doesn’t change if the caller hires you. What Local Services Ads do require is that you don’t resell leads: Google’s policy bars advertisers from selling or passing leads to other businesses (Google; see our Local Services Ads guide and missed-call billing note).

Pay-per-call networks that route a caller to “the right lawyer” are a different case. If the network decides which lawyer gets the call based on its reading of the caller’s problem, the comment language on lead generators that have “analyzed a person’s legal problems” applies, and in Missouri, Texas or California the network may be a referral service that needs registration.

A checklist before you sign with a lead vendor

1. Read its consumer pages. Look for “vetted”, “top”, “best”, “screened by our attorneys”. Any of these implies a recommendation.
2. Ask how it chooses the lawyer for each lead and whether that method is shown to consumers. Keep the answer in writing.
3. Check the price terms. A set price per lead or a flat monthly fee. No percentage, no price per signed case, no price by case value.
4. Ask for proof of registration or certification in Missouri, Texas, California and Florida, and for the written compliance statement Illinois expects.
5. Check consent. For any data the vendor collects, the person agreed, clearly and up front, to be contacted by a lawyer.
6. Measure it by new clients, not leads. Count what each new client from the vendor cost you. Our cost-per-signed-case guide shows the method.

What this means for your firm

• The contract matters less than the vendor’s website. Read what it tells consumers about you before you read its price sheet.
• Fixed prices are the safe default. Per lead or flat monthly, never a share of the fee or a price per case.
• Your state may add a registration check. Missouri, Texas, California and Florida all do in some form; see your state page.

We are a marketing firm, and we never refer, recommend or route people to lawyers, sell leads, or price per lead or per case: our fee is a flat monthly price. We handle your state’s ad rules for you, on Google ads and on getting found on Google and in AI answers. See where your firm stands, or get a free review of your current lead sources and ads.

Last reviewed October 25, 2026 by the Probative editorial team. Marketing information, not legal advice. Confirm every rule with your state bar and your own counsel before you sign with a lead vendor or run an ad.

Data. The opinions behind this page are in the ethics opinions dataset.