This article provides key (abridged) considerations to review when checking your law firm’s website copy and materials, email advertisements, and banner or pop-up ads for compliance. Be sure to review the comprehensive information in Rules Regulating the Florida Bar, Subchapter 4-7 prior to sending your advertising copy to the Florida Bar for filing and review. Let’s check out some law firm marketing compliance tips from your Cyberlicious experts.
Key Compliance Tips for Law Firm Websites, Email Campaigns, & Banner or Pop-Up Ads
Websites are special in terms of Law Firm advertising since firms do not have to file them with the Florida Bar for review. All other types of advertising forms, including email and any type of online ads, must be submitted for review. While your website copy and materials do not need to be submitted, they still must be compliant with the state requirements.
For more in-depth information regarding compliance rules for different avenues of advertising, be sure to check out:
Some regulations to keep in mind for all types of advertisements, including your firm’s website, are:
Actors & Dramatizations
If your website, email, or advertisements include actors or a dramatization of an event (regardless if it actually happened), you need a disclaimer. In the event of the former, the disclaimer could be, “ACTOR. NOT ACTUAL LAWYER.” If the former, the disclaimer could state, “DRAMATIZATION. NOT AN ACTUAL EVENT.”
Emotional Appeal
The copy for the website, emails, and/or banner or pop-up ads should express through rational means the fitness of the attorney to represent clients, rather than using emotional appeal.
What is Meant by “Objectively Verifiable”?
There are several references in the advertising rules to objective verifiability of information you state. Unfortunately, this concept is not specifically defined within the rules. Many Florida lawyers are concerned that they could discuss the results of cases, but fail to include all facts the Florida Bar might determine to be “pertinent,” then be found in violation for being misleading.
You can actually voluntarily file a page of your site for review with the Florida Bar. Unfortunately, you cannot file the entire site. Additionally, you do have to pay the typical $150 filing fee. However, this would be a way to ensure the page is acceptable to the state if you are concerned about non-compliance.
3 Standards of Required Information
Note that all the necessary disclosures or other mentions made in the ad should meet three standards:
- Legibility — The information should be clear enough to read.
- Prominence — The information should be reasonably prominent.
- Same language — Key information should always be stated in the same language as the rest of the ad.
Additional Marketing Compliance Resources
For more information on law firm marketing compliance, download the Handbook on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation. Updated on July 7, 2022, it is an annual publication by the Standing Committee on Advertising. You also visit the Florida Bar website which has links to checklists, the handbook, and more. Use these to quickly reference general information on lawyer advertising including:
- How to file your ads with the Florida Bar
- Up-to-date rules regarding your advertising
- Sample ads
Marketing You Can Trust
It can be difficult for attorneys to select marketing agencies because they need to know they can trust the organization to ensure credibility and compliance. At Cyberlicious®, we know how important integrity is to our legal clients. This is why it is imperative we stay up to date with the rules and regulations the Florida Bar enforces on its associated members to ensure moral and ethical conduct.
In a review of us, Lakeland attorney Art Fulmer wrote, “I can rely on them to be honest and straightforward, which is absolutely necessary in my work.” See our law firm marketing approach.
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