Florida Bar Advertising Rules for Law Firm Websites, Reviews and Google Ads: A Plain-English Checklist

Short answer: Florida’s lawyer advertising rules live in Subchapter 4-7 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar, and they reach your website, your Google Business Profile, client reviews you republish, past results, “expert” language, Google Ads and social posts. Your own website doesn’t get filed with the Bar, but it still has to follow the content rules. Most paid ads do get filed, at least 20 days before first use, for $250 each. The rest of this page is the checklist version, with the rule numbers the Bar itself cites.

Which rules are we talking about?

Subchapter 4-7 is titled “Information About Legal Services.” In the October 1, 2026 edition of the rules, the table of contents runs from 4-7.11 to 4-7.22. There’s no Rule 4-7.23 in that edition, whatever older blog posts say. The titles, as the Bar lists them:

• 4-7.11 Application of Rules
• 4-7.12 Required Content
• 4-7.13 Deceptive and Inherently Misleading Advertisements
• 4-7.14 Potentially Misleading Advertisements
• 4-7.15 Unduly Manipulative or Intrusive Advertisements
• 4-7.16 Presumptively Valid Content
• 4-7.17 Payment for Advertising and Promotion
• 4-7.18 Direct Contact with Prospective Clients
• 4-7.19 Evaluation of Advertisements
• 4-7.20 Exemptions from the Filing and Review Requirement
• 4-7.21 Firm Names and Letterhead
• 4-7.22 Referrals, Directories and Pooled Advertising

The plain-language companion is the Bar’s Handbook on Lawyer Advertising and Solicitation (Thirteenth Edition, effective December 10, 2025). The Bar also publishes quick-reference checklists, which are the most useful documents on this topic for anyone writing copy. One caution: the Handbook predates the July 2026 fee change, so trust the department’s current pages over it on fees.

Every ad: name and office location

The Bar’s advertising FAQ says every advertisement “must contain the name of at least 1 lawyer or the law firm” (Rule 4-7.12(a)(1)) and the city, town or county of at least one bona fide office (Rule 4-7.12(a)(2)). The ad checklist adds three more under 4-7.12: disclose if the matter will be referred to another lawyer or firm (4-7.12(b)), put the required disclosures in the ad’s language if it isn’t in English (4-7.12(c)), and make disclosures legible, audible and conspicuous (4-7.12(d)). A disclaimer in 6-point grey text on a grey background is technically present in the way a smoke detector without a battery is technically installed.

Your website

Websites are exempt from filing. The Bar’s filing requirements page says “Lawyer and law firm websites are exempt from the filing requirement, including pop-ups on the lawyer or law firm’s own website,” citing Rule 4-7.20(g). Exempt isn’t the same as unregulated. The Bar’s checklist for websites, social media pages and video sharing channels says they must still comply with Rules 4-7.12 through 4-7.17 and 4-7.21.

You can’t file a whole website for review, but you can voluntarily file a specific page, statement, illustration or photo under Rule 4-7.19(d), with the $250 fee. That’s worth doing for the one page you’re least sure about. Walk each page against this list:

• Lawyer or firm name and a bona fide office city, town or county (4-7.12(a)(1), (a)(2)).
• No predictions or guarantees of success or specific results (4-7.13(b)(1)).
• No comparisons or characterizations of skills, experience, reputation or record unless objectively verifiable (4-7.13(b)(3)). “The most aggressive DUI lawyer in Orlando” fails this one before anyone reads the second sentence.
• Practice areas listed are ones the lawyer currently practices (4-7.13(b)(4)).
• Stock-photo people or actors who look like your staff need a clear disclaimer (4-7.13(b)(5), (b)(7)); dramatizations need one too (4-7.13(b)(6)).
• Nothing implies the Bar approved the ad or the lawyer (4-7.13(b)(10)).
• Quoted fees say whether the client owes additional costs, and “no fee unless we recover” says whether costs are owed without a recovery (4-7.14(a)(7)).
• A trade name, if you use one, appears on all firm advertising (4-7.21(c)).

If you’re rebuilding a site, bake this into the build rather than bolting it on after launch. That’s how we approach website design for Orlando businesses: the responsible attorney signs off on copy before a page goes live, not after a complaint.

Past results

The Handbook puts it plainly: “Information regarding past results must be factually verifiable and cannot omit facts that would make the results misleading,” citing Rules 4-7.13(b)(2) and 4-7.14. The ad checklist also flags results that are “literally accurate” but could reasonably mislead (4-7.14(a)(2)).

• Keep a file for every result you publish: the document that verifies the number, and the facts that would change how it reads.
• Don’t round up, and don’t let a settlement headline quietly drop the part that makes it less impressive.
• If a client’s testimonial mentions a result, the testimonial disclaimer below applies.

What we couldn’t find: a standard disclaimer wording the Bar requires for a results page that isn’t a testimonial. The pages we read state the verifiability and omission standard, not a template. Ask the department before you invent one.

Google reviews and testimonials

When your own ad or website quotes a client, that’s a testimonial, and Rule 4-7.13(b)(9) applies. According to the Handbook:

• The person giving it must be qualified to evaluate the lawyer.
• It must be their actual experience.
• It must be representative of what clients of the lawyer or firm generally experience.
• The lawyer may not write or draft it.
• The person may receive nothing of value for it.
• If it mentions results, the ad needs a clear and conspicuous disclaimer that prospective clients may not obtain the same or similar results.

So pasting your five best Google reviews into a homepage slider isn’t a neutral design choice. Each one has to clear that list, and “representative” is the line that rules out cherry-picking the outlier.

Asking for reviews. A 2008 Bar News article reported a committee view that asking clients to review you was soliciting a testimonial. The page now carries an editor’s note saying the rules were substantially amended in 2013, and that under current rules a lawyer may ask a client to leave a rating or review if it otherwise complies with the advertising rules, including the testimonial requirements and Rule 4-7.19. (That note cites the testimonial rule as 4-7.13(b)(8); the Bar’s current checklists list testimonials at 4-7.13(b)(9).) Google’s side is simpler: its review guidance suggests sending customers a review link or QR code, and says offering incentives to post, change or remove reviews is fake engagement and “strictly prohibited.” Its incentivized reviews policy covers payments, discounts, free services or any other benefit. No gift cards, no discounts, no “review us and we’ll waive the consult fee.”

Replying to a bad review. Florida Bar Ethics Opinion 20-1 (October 9, 2020) says a lawyer “may not disclose information relating to a client’s representation in response to a negative online review.” It allows a short, general reply and offers sample wording, including: “As an attorney, I am constrained by the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar from responding in detail.” The opinion covers current and former clients, not reviewers who were never clients, and the page notes that advisory ethics opinions are not binding.

Your Business Profile itself. None of the Bar pages we read mention Google Business Profile by name. A 2022 Bar News article says the rules cover “all forms of communication in any print or electronic forum” (Rule 4-7.11(a)), so we’d treat the business description, services list and posts with the same care as the website. Whether a profile or its posts ever need filing isn’t something we found addressed. That’s a question for the department, not for us.

“Expert,” “specialist” and board certification

The FAQ and Handbook cite Rule 4-7.14(a)(4), and the Bar’s checklists cite 4-7.14(a)(4) through (a)(6) for these claims:

• Only a lawyer who is board certified in an area can say “certified” or “board certified,” and only in that area.
• A certification claim names the certifying organization and the area of certification.
• A firm can’t say or imply that the firm is board certified.
• “Specialist,” “expert” and variations are allowed only if objectively verifiable through board certification, education, training, experience or substantial involvement. A firm can make the claim only if it can verify it for at least one lawyer, and if not every lawyer qualifies, it needs a disclaimer that not all lawyers in the firm specialize or have expertise in that area.
• Awards, honors, ratings and memberships must come from an organization generally recognized in the legal profession as bona fide and selecting on objective, uniformly applied criteria (4-7.14(a)(3)). The Handbook says the exact name of the rating and the organization should be used.

You can always list the areas you actually practice, and say you limit your practice to them. That’s the safe sentence most practice-area pages actually need.

Google Ads and Local Services Ads

Search ads are covered. The Handbook says “Paid, sponsored, and/or promoted internet search results are subject to the lawyer advertising rules” under Rule 4-7.13(b)(12), which also bars methods that falsely state or imply affiliation with another lawyer or firm. That matters if you bid on a competitor’s name. Per the comment to the rule, a triggered result isn’t misleading if the first text displayed is the name of the advertising lawyer or firm. How that maps onto a particular Google ad format is a fair question to put to the Bar before you launch.

Filing. The filing requirements page says internet ads other than lawyer or law firm websites must be filed 20 days before first use unless the content is limited to presumptively valid “safe harbor” content under Rule 4-7.16. The 2022 digital advertising article said the same about “ad words.” In May 2025 the Bar News reported a proposal to exempt sponsored search results without images, audio or video beyond presumptively valid content; final approval was up to the Board and then the Supreme Court. We couldn’t confirm whether that proposal is what the October 22, 2026 amendment to Rule 4-7.20 adopted. Check before you assume either way.

Two practical snags. First, the FAQ says any change to an ad, including wording, layout or color, needs a new fee unless the revision only fixes a noncompliance notice. Google’s responsive search ads mix and match headlines automatically, and we didn’t find Bar guidance on how those combinations are counted. Second, fee language: a quoted fee or a “no fee unless we win” line triggers the cost disclosure in 4-7.14(a)(7), and a 30-character headline doesn’t leave much room for it.

Local Services Ads. Google’s US screening requirements for legal categories include business owner identity verification and state bar license checks for each lawyer in the firm, plus professional liability insurance where applicable by local law. None of the Bar pages we read address Local Services Ads by name. Open questions to put to the department, not answers:

• Does an LSA listing need filing, given it’s a paid search placement assembled from your profile details?
• How should the reviews shown on an LSA listing be treated under the testimonial rule?
• Does a pay-per-lead platform fall under Rule 4-7.22? The Bar’s qualifying providers page says that rule covers referral services, matching services, pooled advertising, directories, and tips or leads generators. It doesn’t mention Google.

Our Google Local Services Ads management handles the setup, verification paperwork and lead tracking. It doesn’t replace the attorney’s answer to those three questions. If you’re still deciding between the two ad types, see Google Ads vs Local Services Ads.

One more for anyone hiring an agency: the ad checklist flags ads “paid for by a nonlawyer” under Rule 4-7.17(c). If your agency pays ad spend on its own card and bills you back, ask the Bar how that’s viewed. Having the ad account billed to the firm avoids the question.

Social media

• Personal accounts used for family and close friends aren’t subject to the advertising rules (FAQ).
• Pages that promote the practice must follow the rules but don’t have to be filed. Same for your own video channels.
• Boosted or sponsored posts must be filed unless the content is limited to Rule 4-7.16 information. Banner ads on someone else’s page must be filed too.
• Posts targeted at people who self-identify as having a specific legal issue follow the direct-mail rules in 4-7.18(b): the Handbook says the post must begin with the word “Advertisement,” include a statement of qualifications and disclose how the lawyer got the information, and be filed at least 20 days before use.
• No economic incentives to hire you or view the ad (4-7.15(d)). The Handbook’s example: no gift card for liking the firm’s Facebook page.

Rule 4-7.15 also covers emotional appeals in place of rational evaluation (4-7.15(a)), judges or law enforcement officers (or actors playing them) as spokespeople (4-7.15(b)), and celebrity voices or images (4-7.15(c)). The ominous-music car crash reel can stay in the drafts folder.

How filing works

From the Bar’s filing requirements, department page and FAQ:

• When: at least 20 days before first use (Rule 4-7.19(a)). Staff have 15 days from a complete filing to respond (4-7.19(b)). Expedited opinions aren’t available.
• Cost: $250 per ad filed on time, $750 filed late, for filings submitted on or after July 1, 2026. Identical ads can share a fee; changed ones can’t.
• How: online through the MyFloridaBar Member Portal (launched July 2026), or by mail to the Ethics and Advertising Department in Tallahassee. The Bar doesn’t accept initial filings by email.
• What to include: a copy of the ad, a transcript of any audio, all on-screen and spoken text, the media and expected frequency and period of use, the name of the responsible lawyer, the fee, and an English translation if needed.
• Exempt from filing (still subject to the content rules): websites (4-7.20(g)), tombstone ads limited to 4-7.16 content (4-7.20(a)), communications only to other lawyers or current and former clients (4-7.20(d)), and communications a prospective client requested (4-7.20(e)), among others.

Keep a simple log: ad, version, date filed, Bar response, first-use date. Filing is boring until someone asks for proof. Then it’s the only thing that matters.

Directories and lead-gen services

Under Rule 4-7.22, the qualifying providers page says a lawyer can take referrals only from a provider that complies with the rule. Among the checks it lists: the provider doesn’t share fees, its ads follow the advertising rules, it has lawyers from at least four different firms, and it doesn’t hold itself out as a law firm. A lawyer must report to the Bar within 15 days of joining or leaving a qualifying provider (4-7.22(e)(1)).

The before-it-goes-live checklist

• Name and office location on every ad, legible.
• No guarantees, no unverifiable “best,” no practice areas you don’t handle.
• Every result backed by a file; every testimonial cleared against 4-7.13(b)(9), with the results disclaimer where needed.
• “Certified,” “specialist” and “expert” only where verifiable, with the right names and disclaimers.
• Fee language discloses costs.
• Paid search, boosted posts and banners: filed 20 days ahead, or confirmed exempt in writing.
• No incentives for reviews, likes or hiring.
• Review replies stay general.
• Responsible attorney approved it, and the log says so.

Where a marketing agency fits

An agency can make compliance easier: draft copy against the checklist, keep the filing log, flag the questions above before launch, and stop a well-meaning designer from adding a “#1 Rated” badge. It can’t sign off. That’s the lawyer’s job, and questions about how a rule applies go to the Ethics and Advertising department. The Bar’s contact page lists the Ethics Hotline for members at 800-235-8619.

For how we build the marketing side, see our law firm marketing systems, the Fab Law Firm case study (lead magnets, landing pages, CRM automation and Google Local Services Ads built into one system), and our guide to content marketing for Orlando law firms. Or send us the page you’re unsure about, and we’ll tell you which of these questions it raises for your attorney.