News Post

Alabama Moves to Modernize Lawyer Advertising Rules: A Look at the Changes

Under the leadership of the Supreme Court of Alabama, the Alabama State Bar is on the cusp of implementing a significant update to its rules governing lawyer advertising — rules that have remained largely unchanged for decades despite sweeping shifts in technology and public expectations. After years of deliberation, study, and public input, the Supreme Court of Alabama has approved a comprehensive rewrite of Rules 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3 of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct. These provisions are the primary rules of professional conduct that establish the appropriate standards for how a lawyer can ethically communicate and market his or her legal services. In contrast, Rules 7.4, 7.5 and 7.6 governing other forms of communication, remain unchanged.

A Long, Deliberate Drafting Process

Work on modernizing the state’s advertising rules began in earnest back in 2017, when the Alabama State Bar created a special subcommittee (“Rule 7 subcommittee”) of the Disciplinary Rules and Enforcement Committee (“DREC”) to study the issue. The DREC is a standing committee that has an advisory role over the operations of the Office of General Counsel. The Rule 7 subcommittee was co-chaired by Michael Upchurch of Mobile and Harlan Prater of Birmingham. The Rule 7 committee drew members from every corner of Alabama’s legal community: big firms, solo practitioners, lawyers who advertise heavily, and those who do not advertise at all. The group studied not only Alabama’s existing rules but also the American Bar Association’s Model Rules and advertising rules from other states.

The drafting process was marked by extensive debate, multiple drafts, and broad outreach. Part of the outreach included two public comment periods and a survey of the citizens of Alabama. At one point in the process, the Rule 7 subcommittee brought together a diverse group of lawyers who were not on the committee for an intensive day-long session to gather additional feedback. After revisions, the Board of Bar Commissioners reviewed and approved the proposed rules. Throughout, the drafters were guided by United States Supreme Court precedents that protected truthful lawyer advertising under the First Amendment but also recognized that rules were needed to protect the public from false or misleading statements related to a lawyer’s services.

The ABA’s Approach to Revising the Rules

In 2018, the American Bar Association (“ABA”) undertook its own significant revision of the lawyer advertising rules. The final product resulted in a more streamlined framework than before but did not seek to address specific areas of possible misconduct that had arisen with the modern times. Generally, the ABA revised rules can be summarized as:

• Model Rule 7.1 retains the broad prohibition against false or misleading communications about a lawyer’s services.

• Model Rule 7.2 consolidates detailed advertising provisions into a single rule. It updated the rules to allow lawyers to advertise through any media while prohibiting false or misleading statements. This rule did address paying for recommendations, requiring that certain referrals comply with existing rules on fee splitting and solicitation.

• Model Rule 7.3 continued to address the solicitation of clients – distinguishing between permissible advertising and direct, in-person, or live solicitation that risks undue influence or coercion. The ABA’s version does clarify permissible forms of contact and reinforces that unsolicited real-time contact with prospective clients for pecuniary gain is presumptively impermissible.

The ABA revisions aimed to eliminate outdated distinctions and inconsistencies, focusing the rules on clear, enforceable prohibitions against misleading conduct and undue influence while preserving lawyers’ constitutional right to communicate truthful information about their services. Importantly, the ABA chose to eliminate all the Rule 7 series rules and consolidate them all into just these three. While the ABA’s 2018 rule changes provided an excellent starting point, the Alabama rule changes are more granular and seek to address specific concerns that were expressed in the citizen survey and public comments offered by other Alabama lawyers.

The Alabama Approach: Key Rule Changes

While the three separate, revised rules supplant the older versions, most of the Committee’s attention was focused on significantly changing Rule 7.2, which governs lawyer advertising content. Here are some highlights:

• Clearer Disclosures on Licensure and the Lawyer’s Location: Lawyers featured in advertisements who are not licensed in Alabama must now clearly disclose that fact. Likewise, firms advertising in Alabama must disclose whether they have a bona fide office in the state or locality and provide the location of at least one actual office. This addresses survey results showing that over 90% of Alabamians believe lawyers in local ads should be licensed in the state, and over 75% want to know whether the lawyer has a local office.
• Accountability for Advertised Content: Any lawyer who appears in or is identified in an advertisement will be personally responsible for ensuring the advertisement complies with the rules.
• Plain and Visible Disclaimers: All required disclaimers and disclosures must be easy to see, read, or hear – ending the practice of burying fine print in fast-spoken voiceovers or tiny text.
• No Misleading Practice Areas: Lawyers should not advertise practice areas that they do not actively handle or intend to handle themselves. If a lawyer plans to refer a matter to another firm at the outset, he or she must disclose that fact. This responds directly to survey findings that nearly two-thirds of Alabamians expect the lawyer they see or hear in an ad to personally handle their case.
• Stricter Rules for Testimonials and Results: Testimonials can only come from real clients with firsthand experience. If someone is paid for their endorsement, that fact must be disclosed. Likewise, ads that tout specific case results must include enough detail to be objectively verifiable and not misleading — for example, advertised verdicts cannot be the result of a default judgment.
• Ban on Authority Figure Endorsements: Judges, police officers, and other authority figures may not endorse lawyers in ads unless they were actual clients – to prevent ads from misleadingly borrowing credibility.
• No Actors Playing Clients or Lawyers: Lawyers can no longer use actors to impersonate themselves or satisfied clients in advertisements. However, actors may be used in the background if not in speaking roles and not done in a way that is misleading.
• No Manipulation of Online Search Results: The new rules also prohibit lawyers from deceptively manipulating or buying search engine results in a way that misleads potential clients into thinking they are contacting a different lawyer.
• Copies of Advertisements Must be Kept for Six Years: Under the old rule, all advertisements had to be submitted to the Office of General Counsel within three days of dissemination. Under the new rule, advertisements do not have to be submitted as a matter of course but must be retained for a period of six years. Six years is the statute of limitation on a violation of the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct.
• Establishment of the “One-Click Rule”: If a lawyer advertises on a social media platform or online medium that does not provide enough room for a required disclaimer, the advertisement must contain a link, that within one click, will arrive at a landing page that does contain the required disclaimer.
• The General Disclaimer was Eliminated: However, the ban on comparison advertisements purporting to contrast one lawyer’s services to another’s, has remained.

How Public Surveys Shaped the New Rules

Importantly, the Rule 7 subcommittee did not work in a vacuum. At the Supreme Court of Alabama’s insistence, the Rule 7 subcommittee conducted a wide-ranging survey of Alabama citizens to gauge how the public perceives lawyer advertising and what information people consider important when choosing legal representation.

The results strongly supported the proposed changes. For example:

• Over 90% said it’s important to know if a lawyer in an ad is licensed in Alabama.
• Over 75% said it matters whether the lawyer has an office in their community.
• Around 80% want to know if a lawyer lives out of state.
• More than 80% want context about advertised verdicts and settlements.
• Nearly two-thirds want assurance that the lawyer in the ad will personally handle their case.

These figures provided empirical support for the new rules and advanced a substantial state interest in protecting the public from misleading or deceptive advertising. What these rules do not do – because constitutionally they cannot – is attempt to broadly ban lawyer advertisements simply because the content might appear unprofessional or undignified.

Next Step

The Supreme Court of Alabama issued an order on May 13, 2025, adopting the new rule changes. The Court has set an effective date for the new rules of Jan. 1, 2026. In the meantime, if you have any questions related to the new rules, please contact the Office of General Counsel via telephone or email at ethics@alabar.org.

Lastly, a Final Note

It cannot be understated how much work all the lawyers on the Rule 7 subcommittee performed in researching, editing, and analyzing material in an effort to arrive at the final product. A special thank you is extended to the Co-Chairs, Michael Upchurch and Harlan Prater, both of whom worked on this mission from the very beginning and were tasked with keeping a difficult project moving. The Supreme Court of Alabama also provided invaluable guidance and direction on important points throughout the process.