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In 2021, the State Bar of Texas updated its attorney advertising rules so they would be more closely aligned with how lawyers actually promote themselves in today’s market. Websites. Social media. Digital campaigns. Lead generation. While changes have been made to each of these areas, there’s a lot that legal professionals will still recognize.
As before, Rule 7.01 of the Texas State Bar Advertising Rules is the Zeus’s forehead from which all other rules spring forth. The same foundational rule that has always governed attorney advertising in Texas, it prohibits false, misleading, and deceptive communications, along with anything that creates unjustified expectations. And the defining principle behind it is this:
It’s not about what you meant to say – it’s about what someone takes away.
The gap between intent and perception is where most compliance issues begin.
The 2021 updates didn’t reinvent the rules. They made them more reflective of how marketing actually works. Now, the rules are more clear on the distinction between:
That distinction matters more than most firms realize. It affects:
As targeting becomes more precise, especially with digital tools, many attorneys run the risk of crossing that line without even realizing it.
Firms now have more flexibility to reference verdicts and settlements, including total recovery amounts, but there are some important caveats.
Where firms run into issues is rarely the number itself, but how the number is presented. A large result without context doesn’t just inform, it implies something more. And that implication is what gets evaluated.
Trade names are now allowed, which opens the door to more creative branding. Firms have been cautious about adopting this, because while the rule has changed, the standard hasn’t.
Trade names are still evaluated under Rule 7.01. If a name creates a misleading impression about a firm’s size, capabilities, reach, or affiliations, it creates risk. This includes names that:
A name isn’t judged by what you meant, it’s judged by what it suggests.
This is where the rules feel most “modern” and where we see the most confusion. Today, many firms rely on:
The updated rules don’t prohibit these relationships, but they make one thing clear: You are responsible for your marketing even if you didn’t create it.
That includes:
There may not be anything wrong with a firm’s core messaging, but in the layers around it can easily become problematic. Firms that manage this well stay involved. They review messaging, set boundaries, and understand how their brand is being presented across platforms.
The filing process itself is more streamlined than it used to be.
That last point is important. The Bar wants attorneys to succeed and has designed a system to help them fix issues early, before they become problems.
Testimonials remain one of the most effective tools in legal marketing, but also one of the easiest to overextend. They must:
The risk is in letting testimonials say more than they should.
The same standards apply across every platform:
And once content is promoted, boosted, sponsored, or distributed, it’s treated as advertising. Digital hasn’t created more flexibility. It’s created more visibility and scrutiny.
Some of the most common issues are still the simplest:
Michael Jordan once said, “Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.” As it is in basketball, so too in legal marketing.
If Rule 7.01 governs what you say, Rule 7.03 governs how, and to whom, you say it. Communication becomes solicitation when it is:
The phrase, “in a particular matter” is critical. It means the outreach is tied to something specific, not general. That’s the dividing line:
As marketing becomes more targeted, firms are taking on risk without even realizing it.
There’s a perception that the Advertising Review Committee is restrictive. Not so. In reality, it operates more like a checkpoint.
Issues are rarely escalated and when they are, it’s because they’ve gone unaddressed. The system is designed to help firms stay compliant, not to cause problems or trip you up.
This isn’t about marketing less. It’s about marketing more precisely. The firms that do this well aren’t the most conservative. They’re the most disciplined in how they present information.
They:
They recognize that, in the long run, clarity and credibility will only help them.
The 2021 updates made the rules easier to navigate, but they didn’t lower the bar. If anything, they made expectations clearer and more consistently applied. That’s a good thing. When the standard is clear, the path forward is too:
