Mistakes to Avoid: Hiring marketers that don’t know the rules governing attorneys
In every state, there are a variety of rules governing what marketing for lawyers and what they can and cannot do in their legal marketing and advertising activities. One of the mistakes to avoid is hiring marketers who don’t know the rules. While every state is different, the core unifying principle in every state is that legal marketing cannot mislead the consumer.
For example, there was a case where Exclusive Legal Marketing purchased keywords on Google which were the names of prominent personal injury attorneys. They also incorporated the names of prominent attorneys into their SEO. They then conducted marketing for lawyers that lured people in (based on the prominent attorneys’ names) and ultimately directed them to different (less prominent) attorneys. That is the definition of misleading the consumer.
The sad thing is that the attorneys who hired Exclusive Legal Marketing probably had no idea that they were doing this, but it’ll still be their license on the line because of it. For example, under the Texas rules of professional responsibility an attorney has to approve every ad in writing and has to submit a copy of the same to the ethics board so they have a copy. My guess is that this company (Exclusive Legal Marketing – based in Texas) was not restricting their advertising based on the ethical rules of each state where they marketed. So maybe ask your next marketing consultant how many lawyers they’ve served who ended up with ethics complaints.
Additional considerations about Ads
There are a variety of rules about advertising and again, they vary from state to state. There are restricted terms in some states. For example, in Illinois an attorney cannot claim to be an “expert,” have a “specialty,” or make a “promise” or “guarantee” about an outcome.
In Florida, lawyers cannot use celebrities to advertise their firm and cannot create a false sense of urgency to advertise with words like “alert.” Depending on the state you are in, that Bar Association dictates what you can and cannot do when marketing. When you hire a marketing or advertising agency, you need to ask if they have experience in your state and if they know the legal rules for legal advertising in the state.
AI and Mistakes to Avoid
With the increased use of AI to generate copy for your website and social media it is even more important to ensure that your marketers are able to adhere to the rules governing the state. AI uses information that has been published all over the web, so if an article is generated for an attorney in Ohio, but has used information from articles in California, you could be in trouble.
Time and time again we have worked with attorneys who have an abundance of AI generated content and have always found violations of the rules. We’ve found claims about specialization and results. We’ve seen firms with blog posts about an area they don’t even practice. You have enough to deal with managing your clients and running your business, you don’t need the added stress of worrying about rules violations on your website or social media.
Marketing for lawyers | Hire someone who knows the rules
Our founder, Drew Vaughn, was an Illinois attorney with vast experience and accolades. He started his legal career at Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck (the largest divorce firm in the county). He handled divorce for celebrities and multi-millionaires. While there he became a Professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He was then poached away to Katz & Stefani to become the youngest Partner in firm history (at 30). He then left to found NuVorce, where he created the algorithm that predicts the cost of divorce; a firm that he sold in only 4 years after it doubled in revenue every year.
During his legal career, Drew was honored by SuperLawyers, Leading Lawyers, became the only divorce attorney ever named an Innovator by Crain’s Business, and was named one of the Top 10 Attorneys in Illinois. He was also featured in CNN Money Magazine, CNBC, the Chicago Tribune, Yahoo Finance, and other publications as an expert on divorce and finance. His experience and legal skills are utilized to ensure that our clients adhere to the legal rules of their State and the governing Bar. That is why we have been trusted by numerous attorneys to implement their marketing for lawyers.