MESSAGING RULES · ANALYSIS
Texting consent for law firms: what has to be true before the first text
A law firm that texts prospective clients is under three sets of rules at once: the TCPA, Florida’s Telephone Solicitation Act, and the carriers’ A2P 10DLC registration. None of them is satisfied by a checkbox nobody reads. Here is what consent means at intake and how it is captured.
We are not attorneys and this is not legal advice. The TCPA (47 U.S.C. section 227) and the FTSA (Florida Statutes section 501.059) have exceptions and definitions this piece does not cover, and how they apply to your firm’s messages is a question for counsel. This is the operational side.
Three regimes, one form
- The TCPA governs automated calls and texts to mobile numbers and turns on consent, with the standard rising for marketing messages. A reply to a person who just texted you is one thing; a scheduled follow-up two weeks later is another.
- The FTSA is Florida’s own law, with its own consent standard for telephonic sales calls and texts, its own hours (it restricts calls before 8 AM and after 8 PM), and a private right of action that has made it a busy statute.
- A2P 10DLC is not a law but the carriers’ requirement: a business texting from a regular number has to register its brand and its campaign, describing what it sends and how it gets consent, or the carriers filter the messages. Unregistered texts do not bounce; they vanish, which looks like a broken system rather than a compliance gap.
WHAT "CONSENT" HAS TO LOOK LIKE
What the intake form does
The consent language sits directly under the phone number field on every intake form, in the language of the form, and describes the messages: a reply to this inquiry, appointment confirmations and reminders, and follow-up about this matter, from the firm, with STOP to end. The person’s answer is stored with a timestamp on the record. If a consent question ever comes up, the firm can show the field, the wording, and the time.
What the sequences do
- The immediate reply to an inbound message goes out at any hour, because it is a response to the person who just wrote.
- Scheduled sends hold between 9 PM and 8 AM, tighter than the FTSA’s 8 PM to 8 AM window, and go out at 8.
- STOP ends every sequence for that contact at once, not only the one they replied to. So do ALTO and PARE, because a Spanish speaker should not have to know the English word.
- Nothing sends to a number that was not entered by the person on the form or given by the person on a call. There is no list upload and no way to message a stranger.
Registration happens during setup
A2P 10DLC brand and campaign registration is completed before the firm’s first text, as part of setup, on every plan. It is the usual reason go-live is days away rather than hours: the carriers review the campaign description, and the description has to match what the firm actually sends. A firm that skips it and texts anyway finds out from silence.
Where the Bar rules meet the messaging rules
Consent to receive a text is not permission to say anything in it. The content of each message is still advertising under Rule 4-7.11, and each template is approved by the firm’s attorney. Two different questions, two different reviews: may we send this, and may we say this. The intake system captures the first and enforces the second.
Questions we get asked about this
Is a phone number on a form enough consent to text?
No. Consent has to be a clear statement of what messages the person will receive, from whom, with a way to say no, and a record of what they agreed to and when. The intake form carries that language under the phone field and stores the answer with a timestamp.
What is A2P 10DLC and why does it delay go-live?
It is the carriers' registration for businesses texting from regular numbers. The brand and campaign are reviewed before the first text; unregistered texts are filtered silently. Registration is done during setup on every plan and is the usual reason go-live takes days rather than hours.
Related
See the consent field and the record behind it
A 30-minute demo, with the form, the timestamp on the contact, and STOP tested live.