Advertising Bar Regulations For Louisiana

When building digital marketing and SEO campaigns for law firm websites, it’s important to be mindful of your state’s bar regulations for advertising. In this article we’ll go over some of the high level points to look out for.

The RPCC and Ethics Counsel from October/November 2008 contains the guidelines to help attorneys and others develop websites and internet marketing strategy that comply with the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct. The Louisiana State Bar Lawyer Advertising Rules also contain mandatory filing requirements for advertisements and unsolicited written communications with the Louisiana State Bar Association Rules of Professional Conduct Committee through LSBA Ethics Counsel.

Here are list of lawyer advertising rules:

Rule 7.1: This section generally covers the guidelines for Permissible Forms of Advertising,  Advertisements Not Disseminated in Louisiana, Communications for Non-Profit Organizations, and Communications for Non-Profit Organizations.

Rule 7.2: Applies to any communication conveying information about a lawyer, a lawyer’s services or a law firm’s services, and what is the required content of advertisements and unsolicited written communications:

• Name of Lawyer: All advertisements and unsolicited written communications pursuant to these Rules shall include the name of at least one lawyer responsible for their content.  
• Location of Practice: All advertisements and unsolicited written communications provided for under these Rules shall disclose, by city or town, one or more bona fide office location(s) of the lawyer or lawyers who will actually perform the services advertised…The physical location shall have at least one lawyer who is regularly and routinely present in that physical location. In the absence of a bona fide office, the lawyer shall disclose the city or town of the primary registration statement address as it appears on the lawyer’s annual registration statement.

Rule 7.4: This rule regulates an attorney’s direct contact with prospective clients. The law prohibits soliciting “professional employment from a prospective client with whom the lawyer has no family or prior lawyer-client relationship, in person, by person to person verbal telephone contact, through others acting at the lawyer’s request or on the lawyer’s behalf or otherwise, when a significant motive for the lawyer’s doing so is the lawyer’s pecuniary gain.” This applies to the lawyer in question as well as agents acting on the lawyer’s behalf.