Advertising and marketing have always played an important role in increasing a company’s brand awareness and in helping them acquire new customers to reach their corporate financial goals. Law firms are no exception. With the increasing competitiveness among law firms, it is extremely important that they understand the fundamentals of marketing in a competitive marketplace.
As early as the 1970s, most states didn’t allow lawyers to engage in any type of marketing efforts. In 1977, the US Supreme Court case of Bates v. Arizona, 433 US 350, changed all this and held that advertising regarding attorneys’ services was “commercially protected speech,” according to the First Amendment, and that truthful advertising should be allowed as a matter of public policy. The court held that lawyers serve society and that allowing them to advertise their services would provide consumers with valuable information about available legal assistance.
After this landmark case, attorneys could advertise to obtain clients. They relied on traditional marketing methods, like display ads, brochures, business cards, and word-of-mouth advertising. Although these marketing strategies are still effective in 2019 and beyond, lawyers must also combine them with other creative marketing strategies—including, but not limited to, pay-per-click; search engine optimization; email, article, video, and digital marketing; and social media marketing.
Additionally, attorneys who want to stay ahead of the marketing game must have stellar and properly optimized web content, engaging social media and blog posts, informative guest articles, engaging display ads, and more. However, unlike regular corporations, law firms are held to a higher standard of responsibility, in terms of marketing, than their corporate counterparts.
Law firms have to remain in compliance with rules and regulations concerning ethics and professional responsibilities, especially in advertising. This means that attorneys and their law firms have to be careful when treading the path of marketing their legal services. They have to engage in ethical and truthful marketing practices and have to steer clear of false or misleading marketing strategies.
That said, what are the ethics of marketing legal services? What should attorneys avoid to ensure that they don’t engage in any professional responsibility violations? Well, let’s have a look at the dos and don’ts of legal marketing.
Abide by Prospective Clients’ and Existing Clients’ Wishes
As an attorney, you have to be mindful when engaging in electronic marketing strategies. In my home state of Illinois, attorneys can’t continue to contact prospective and/or existing clients if they tell that attorney to not contact them. See Rule 7.3(b) of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct for details.
Basically, this regulation stipulates that you should never spam someone’s email or regular mail, even if they initially agreed to give you their email or physical mailing address in exchange for a free report or other offering. Therefore, if the individual asks you to “Take me off your list,” you must do so immediately. If you don’t, you will be in violation of Rule 7.3(b) or another professional conduct rule in your state.
Also note that certain state professional conduct rules, like Rule 7.3(c) in Illinois, require the words, “Advertising Material,” on the outside of every physical envelope mailed to everyone, as well as at the beginning and the end of every recorded or electronic solicitation—unless said contact person is exempt from this rule.
Avoid Making Misleading or False Claims
An important ethical element of legal marketing is that you practice honesty and refrain from making unsubstantiated or false claims that can’t be verified. Rule 7.1 of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct states that a law firm or an attorney cannot engage in misleading or false communication in reference to their service offerings. Any such miscommunication is a clear violation of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct.
One rule of thumb: Would a rational person read such statement and be misled by it? What would they believe to be true? If they would be misled by such statement, then you must alter the content so that you don’t violate any ethics rules. Always double-check facts before making any statements. Additionally, if you include any statistical information in your ads, make sure that it is correct.
Don’t Set Unrealistic Expectations in Your Ads
Whenever you create online and off-line marketing strategies, make sure that you maintain high ethical standards and don’t engage in any type of marketing efforts that might lead the reader to false assumptions. That is, set realistic expectations for your clients and be clear that “Results may vary.”
Yes, you can have a testimonial page but don’t include statements like “My lawyer got me more money than I ever dreamed of.” Although it might be true for this one client, this statement might create an expectation in the reader that you can do the same for all your clients. Instead, you should only include testimonials that share verifiable factual information and don’t forget to add disclaimers to keep client expectations in check.
-
Never Use Comparative Statements If Your State Disallows It
Some states have specific rules about using comparative statements in your advertising copy. So, if you’re in a state that disallows this wording, you should avoid it. For instance, in Illinois, you are not allowed to use comparative declarations, like, “We are the best bankruptcy law practice in Illinois.” The fact that such statements cannot be proven with verified facts leads them to fall under the category of “false and misleading communication.” On the other hand, you may be allowed to mention a few successes of your firm through statistical data, like recent court cases won. But make sure that such data is factual and verifiable and current. Either way, check your state’s professional conduct rules and then find a way to creatively convey your skills and instill confidence in prospective clients without violating any rules.
Avoid Claiming to Be an Expert
Several states have rules prohibiting attorneys from portraying themselves as an expert or a specialist. These rules have been created to ensure that no individual practicing law can make misleading claims in relation to themselves and/or their services.
I often recommend that law firms work with a marketing consultant that has legal experience for just this reason. I recently reviewed a prospect’s website and it stated among other things, that the firm specialized in family law. This is a big mistake in Illinois. Had the prospect worked with a marketing consultant who was also an attorney or who had legal experience, this could have been avoided.
In Summary
At the end of the day, effective marketing is the key to having a successful law practice. However, law firms must practice honesty in all their marketing and advertising efforts. By following the above-mentioned guidelines, firms can avoid ethics violations, can win the trust of clients, and can bolster long-term growth for their law firms, while assisting those who need the legal help the most.
Copyright © 2019 LawFull Marketing. All rights reserved.
Sherin and Lodgen’s Renewable Energy Team
Legal Technology company 
Consider your audience. The same message is not appropriate for every audience. As a private practicing lawyer, what you say to a referral source about your legal focus may be different then how you would explain it to a client or contact. The question to ask is “why would anyone care”? and “what is most important to my audience”? Let these questions guide your communications, both verbal and written.
The effects of stress on law firm staff has often been overlooked even though a number of 
As one respondent commented: “We aren’t surgeons, but we do carry a tremendous amount of our own stress as well as the stress of others… There are no resources and there are very few people who would ever admit to needing them anyway for fear of appearing weak — stigma is an issue for everyone in the legal industry, not just lawyers.”
Few factors are likely to prove as harmful to staff wellbeing. The divide between lawyers and staff is again a contributing factor. “It’s stressful”, one respondent commented, “when law firms hire ‘smart’ and ‘well-respected’ professionals who really want to do what’s best for the overall business, but then their ideas are brushed aside because they aren’t part of the partnership or don’t have a J.D.”
Bachman is the Chair of the discrimination and retaliation practices at Zuckerman Law, and prior to his work with Zuckerman he served in senior roles at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and in the U.S. Office of Special Counsel where he worked on class actions and whistleblower protection act settlements.
Bankruptcy Paralegal Janine Sickmeyer used her expertise in preparing bankruptcy cases to create NextChapter, teaching herself to code and building the application from the ground up, launching in 2016. The service became known as “the turbo tax for bankruptcy filings” and its success was built on the efficiency created by understanding the best workflows and practices into an easy to use, full-circle solution used by several thousand law firms across every district in the U.S. Upon Fastcase’s acquisition of NextChapter, Sickmeyer will become Managing Director and Founder of NextChapter and Director of Practice Workflow at Fastcase. She calls the acquisition “a dream come true” and she voices her admiration for Fastcase leadership. She says, “it’s invigorating to collaborate and continue to build NextChapter’s company and products alongside them. Fastcase and NextChapter share the same core beliefs on customer-focused products. I know this opportunity will allow us to continue serving our mission.”