What the generic law firm marketing guide leaves out in Florida

We are not attorneys and this is not legal advice. It points to the rules that bear on common marketing advice, so your firm knows what to ask its Bar counsel before it acts.

Why a national guide misses it

Most states build on the ABA Model Rules (7.1 to 7.3). Florida added more. Every ad must carry certain facts. Past results and testimonials have limits. Many ads are filed with the Bar first. Some written contact must wait 30 days. A guide written for 50 states cannot stop for one. So it gives the advice and leaves the rule check to you.

The rule check is not optional. Rule 4-7.11 applies the ad rules to everything a firm says about its services. The lawyer answers for ads made on the lawyer’s behalf. ABA Model Rule 5.3 says the same about vendors a lawyer supervises. If an agency writes it, your firm still owns it.

1. “Define your niche and highlight your expertise”

Focus is good marketing. The words are the problem. A lawyer may be called a specialist, an expert, or certified only with a real board certification. It must come from The Florida Bar or an accredited body, and the ad must name that body (Rule 4-7.14; ABA Model Rule 7.2(c)).

Describe the work instead of the title. “We handle immigration cases” says the same thing to a client and needs no certificate. If an attorney at the firm is board certified, say so, and name who certified them.

2. “Show your history of success”

A list of big verdicts is the first thing a generic guide suggests. It is also the first thing a Florida reviewer checks. Past results must be provable. They also cannot suggest the reader will get the same result (Rules 4-7.13 and 4-7.14; ABA Model Rule 7.1). A page of your five biggest settlements, with no context, does exactly that.

Before a results page goes up, have Bar counsel read it. Most firms find it safer to explain how they work a case than to list what cases paid.

3. “Publish testimonials and case studies”

Testimonials are allowed in Florida, with conditions. The words must be the client’s own, about their own experience. The firm may not write them. Nothing of value may be given for them (Rule 4-7.13; ABA Model Rules 7.1 and 7.2(b)). If a testimonial mentions a result, treat it like a results page.

A case study is a past result with a story around it. Treat it the same way: verifiable, not a promise, read by counsel first.

4. “Get more Google reviews”

Ask for reviews. Never pay for one. A gift card, a discount, or an entry in a drawing for a review is giving something of value for a recommendation (Rule 4-7.17; ABA Model Rule 7.2(b)). The same goes for referrals.

The trap most guides miss is the reply. If the firm answers a bad review by explaining the case, it has shared confidential facts. Rule 4-1.6 still applies. ABA Formal Opinion 496 says a lawyer generally may not reveal client information to answer online criticism. A short, polite reply that does not discuss the case is the safe choice.

5. “Add a live chat or an AI chat”

A chat the visitor starts is a response, and that is fine. The line is what the chat says. If it tells someone they have a strong case, or what the case is worth, it is predicting results (Rule 4-7.13). If it answers legal questions, it is giving legal advice through software. The Florida Bar wrote about lawyers and generative AI in Ethics Opinion 24-1. Read it before you add one.

Keep the chat to contact details and scheduling, say that it is automated, and hand anything about the case to a person.

6. “Automate your follow-up”

This is the most useful tip in any guide, and the one most firms never act on. Following up with someone who wrote to the firm first is a response, not a solicitation. Three rules keep it that way:

• • Only people who reached out. Texting an imported list is targeted solicitation. That kind of contact must be labeled. In accident and wrongful-death matters, it must also wait 30 days (Rule 4-7.18; ABA Model Rule 7.3). Texting laws add their own consent rules.
• • Name the firm and the city. Every ad must name a lawyer or the firm, and the city or county of a real office (Rule 4-7.12; ABA Model Rule 7.2(d)). An automated text is not exempt because it is short.
• • Stop means stop. No written contact may go to someone who has said they do not want it (ABA Model Rule 7.3). STOP, ALTO, and PARE should end every sequence.

7. “Outsource it to a marketing partner”

A good partner saves a small firm real time. But the duty does not move with the work. Ask any vendor three things before you sign. Who approves each message before it goes out? Where is the record of that approval? How is the vendor paid? The Bar looks closely at a vendor paid per lead or per signed case (Rules 4-7.17 and 4-7.22).

The step no national guide mentions: filing

Most Florida ads are filed with the Bar for review before they run (Rule 4-7.19). Some are exempt, like the firm’s own website (Rule 4-7.20). The ABA Model Rules have no filing step, so a national guide never brings it up. Before a TV spot, a billboard, a mailer, or a paid social campaign, check whether it must be filed.

Where this meets intake

Every tip above ends the same way. Someone calls, texts, or fills in a form. What the firm says next is advertising too. When we build LegalCRM.pro for a firm, we write every message to fit Chapter 4-7 and the ABA Model Rules. Each one names the firm and its city. None predicts a result. STOP always works. The firm’s attorney reviews and approves all of it before we turn anything on. A self-serve firm writes its own messages and reviews them against the same rules.

Questions we get asked about this

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