Louisiana rules
Does a Louisiana law firm have to file its ads with the LSBA, and what must every ad include?
Louisiana files ads at first use, $175 each, and prints the LSBA filing number in the ad. What's exempt, the disclaimers results need, and the 30-day letter rule.
By Santiago Alvarez, Founder, Ad Hoc Digital
Last updated
The short answer
If you read one part of this page, read this.
Louisiana lawyer advertising is governed by Rules 7.1 to 7.10 of the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct, administered by the Louisiana State Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct Committee. Filing is mandatory. Under Rule 7.7(c), every ad that isn't exempt is filed before or at its first use, for $175 (or $275 if late), and Rule 7.2(a)(3) puts the LSBA filing number inside the ad itself.
Three other rules shape most campaigns. Results and testimonials about past successes need a disclaimer such as "Results May Vary" (Rule 7.2(c)(1)(D)). Actors playing clients and staged scenes need a disclaimer too (7.2(c)(1)(I)). Websites skip filing under Rule 7.8(g), but must list every jurisdiction where the firm's lawyers are licensed and a bona fide office location (Rule 7.6(b)).
Targeted letters and emails about an accident wait until 30 days have passed (Rule 7.4(b)(1)(A)), and unsolicited emails carry "LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT" in the subject line. This is a plain summary for marketing planning, not legal advice. Check the current rule with your bar or law society. We work with law firms across the US and Canada, and also in Australia and the UK.
Which rules apply
Louisiana regulates lawyer marketing through Rules 7.1 to 7.10, with Rule 7.3 left reserved.
The disciplinary board's copy of the rules, which the LSBA's rules page embeds, is marked "With amendments through May 10, 2023". Its Part 7 text matches the LSBA's January 1, 2022 advertising extract.
| Rule | What it covers | Marketing effect |
|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | Permitted media; ads not disseminated in Louisiana; nonprofit communications | An ad run elsewhere under that state's rules, and not meant for Louisiana, falls outside these rules |
| 7.2 | Required content, safe-harbor content, prohibited content, payments for recommendations | A lawyer's name, a city and the filing number; disclaimers for results, actors and staged scenes |
| 7.4 | Solicitation and unsolicited written communications | Live solicitation banned; accident letters wait 30 days; "ADVERTISEMENT" marks |
| 7.5 | TV, radio and other electronic media that aren't computer-based | Only lawyers in the advertising firm may speak for it |
| 7.6 | Websites and unsolicited email | Sites list licensing jurisdictions and an office; emails carry a subject line label |
| 7.7 | Filing and evaluation | File at or before first use; 30-day review; keep copies five years |
| 7.8 | Exemptions from filing | Safe-harbor-only ads, websites, signs, law lists and a few others skip filing |
| 7.9 | Information given on request | Covers websites; verifiable past results allowed if not misleading |
| 7.10 | Firm names and letterhead | A trade name only if it's the name on the letterhead, signs and fee contracts |
Louisiana keeps its own ten-rule structure, so the numbers don't line up with the ABA baseline in our ABA Model Rules guide. For every jurisdiction's filing rule on one page, see our rules by state hub. How Florida and Texas run their own review systems is in our lawyer advertising rules comparison.
Filing and evaluation
Louisiana requires most ads to be filed by the day they first run, with the filing number printed on them.
Rule 7.7(c) says a lawyer "shall file a copy of each such advertisement" with the Committee "either prior to or concurrently with" first dissemination. The LSBA says a filing counts only once it's received and "clocked-in" by Ethics Counsel; the mailing date doesn't count.
Decide whether the ad is exempt
Rule 7.8 lists the exemptions, among them ads limited to required and safe-harbor content, mail only to clients or lawyers, requested communications, websites and office signs.
Pre-file online for the number
The LSBA's filing page lets members pre-file online to generate the application packet and obtain the filing number, which Rule 7.2(a)(3) requires in the ad.
Assemble the packet
Rule 7.7(d): the final ad, transcripts of any audio or video, a printed copy of the text, a translation if needed, a sample envelope for mail, and where, how often and how long it will run, with the application form.
Pay the fee
$175 for each ad filed before or at first use, $275 for a late filing. Newer lawyers (under three years, not in a firm of five or more) pay $100, or $200 if late.
Deliver it, not email it
Mail, courier or hand delivery to the Rules of Professional Conduct Committee, care of Ethics Counsel (Lawyer Advertising), at the LSBA in New Orleans. The LSBA accepts no filings by email or fax.
Watch for one of three letters
Within 30 days the Committee sends a compliance notice, a noncompliance notice or word that it needs more time (Rule 7.7(e)). Silence for 30 days means the ad is "deemed approved".
A noncompliance notice is serious: unless the lawyer certifies within ten days that the ad hasn't run and won't, the Committee reports it to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel (Rule 7.7(g)). Changing a filed ad beyond safe-harbor content makes it a new filing.
For comparison, our Texas guide covers a state that files within 10 days after first use. When we plan Louisiana search campaigns, we treat each distinct ad text that goes past the Rule 7.2(b) list as its own filing, so we write fewer variations and keep them running longer.
What every ad must include
A Louisiana ad names a responsible lawyer, a city and its LSBA filing number.
Rule 7.2(a) sets the required content for advertisements and unsolicited written communications, and Rule 7.2(c) adds disclosures for fees, referrals and language.
- A name (7.2(a)(1)): "the full name of at least one lawyer responsible" for the content. That lawyer thereby certifies the ad was filed and given a filing number.
- A location (7.2(a)(2)): the city or town of a bona fide office of the lawyers who will do the work, or the parish if the office is outside a city. A bona fide office has at least one lawyer "regularly and routinely present". A phone number tied to an area with no office needs "appropriate qualifying language".
- The filing number (7.2(a)(3)), unless the ad is exempt under Rule 7.8. Exempt ads may be filed anyway to get a number.
- Costs (7.2(c)(6)): any ad mentioning fees, including "no fee" without a recovery, says whether the client will owe costs or expenses. An advertised fee is honored for 90 days, or a year for annual directories (7.2(c)(7)).
- Language and legibility (7.2(c)(9) and (10)): required words appear in every language the ad uses, legible and on screen long enough to read.
- Records (7.7(j)): a copy of each ad kept five years after last use, with when and where it ran.
Rule 7.2(b) is the safe harbor: an ad limited to its listed items (names, offices, contact details, admissions, fields of law, consultation fees, a photo "against a plain background" and similar facts), if true, is presumed not misleading and needs no filing. Our ad copy rules guide shows how short formats carry required lines.
Results, testimonials and dramatizations
Louisiana allows results and testimonials with a disclaimer, and labels for actors and staged scenes.
Rule 7.2(c)(1) lists what makes a communication false, misleading or deceptive. Several items are bans; others are conditions a disclaimer satisfies.
| Content | Louisiana's rule | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Past results or testimonials about them | Allowed with a disclaimer such as "Results May Vary" or "Past Results are not a Guarantee of Future Success" | 7.2(c)(1)(D) |
| Promising results | Banned | 7.2(c)(1)(E) |
| Comparisons with other lawyers | Only if the comparison "can be factually substantiated" | 7.2(c)(1)(G) |
| Paid testimonials or endorsements | Only if the payment is disclosed | 7.2(c)(1)(H) |
| A non-client portraying a client | Needs a disclaimer; the handbook's example is "Non-Client Paid Actor" | 7.2(c)(1)(I)(i) |
| Staged scenes other than still images | Need a disclaimer; the handbook's example is "Dramatization" | 7.2(c)(1)(I)(ii) |
| A non-lawyer playing a lawyer | Banned | 7.2(c)(1)(J) |
| A nickname, motto or trade name implying results | Banned | 7.2(c)(1)(L) |
| Implying LSBA approval | Banned; a filing number isn't approval | 7.2(c)(4) |
Websites follow a different rule. Rule 7.6(b)(3) treats a firm's site as information provided on request under Rule 7.9, and 7.9(b)(3) lets that information contain "factually verifiable statements concerning past results" that aren't misleading. The handbook says no disclaimer is required there, though "best practices may warrant" one. Our testimonials guide compares other states' approaches.
Specialist and certified
Louisiana lets a lawyer say "specialist" if it's true, but "certified" needs a named certifier.
Rule 7.2(c)(5) applies the misleading standard to "specialist" and "specializes in". The handbook adds that "expert" is judged the same way. "Certified" and "board certified" are allowed in only three cases.
- Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization (7.2(c)(5)(A)): the communication identifies the Board as the certifier. The LSBA's specialization page lists its certified areas, among them family law, estate planning and administration, and tax law.
- Other organizations (7.2(c)(5)(B)): the lawyer complies with Section 6.2 of the Plan of Legal Specialization and names the organization in full. An organization accredited by the American Bar Association isn't subject to Section 6.2.
- Another state bar (7.2(c)(5)(C)): only if the Board finds that program's standards reasonably comparable, and the ad names the state bar.
Direct contact and paying for clients
Louisiana bans live solicitation, and accident letters and emails wait 30 days.
Rule 7.4 covers solicitation and unsolicited written communications, Rule 7.6(c) applies the same limits to email, and Rule 7.2(c)(13) controls payments for recommendations.
- Live solicitation (7.4(a))
No soliciting a prospective client with no family or prior lawyer-client relationship in person, "by person to person verbal telephone contact" or through others, when money is a significant motive. Employment gained that way earns no fee. Letters and emails that miss the rules count as solicitation.
- The 30-day rule (7.4(b)(1)(A))
No unsolicited letter about personal injury, wrongful death or an accident or disaster involving the recipient or a relative unless the accident or disaster "occurred more than thirty days prior to the mailing".
- Letter requirements (7.4(b)(2))
A responsible LSBA member's full name, "ADVERTISEMENT" on each page and the envelope, the filing number, who will handle the case and how the lawyer learned of it; no certified mail, nothing resembling a legal document, and nothing on the envelope revealing the legal problem.
- Email (7.6(c))
The same limits, plus a bona fide office location and "LEGAL ADVERTISEMENT" in the subject line, except for emails sent only to lawyers.
- Paying for recommendations (7.2(c)(13))
Nothing of value for recommending the lawyer, except the reasonable cost of advertising and the usual charges of a lawyer referral service run by the LSBA, a local bar or a not-for-profit that refers everyone, bars fee increases and rotates cases. Rule 7.2(c)(11) also bars paying for another firm's ad.
The rule text doesn't name lead generators or pay-per-lead platforms, so a for-profit service that recommends you sits outside the 7.2(c)(13) exceptions; that's a question for LSBA Ethics Counsel before you sign. Our paying for leads guide compares other states. The handbook also points to Louisiana statutes on solicitation, including La. R.S. 14:356.1 on wrecker drivers and 37:219 on unlawful solicitation of employment for lawyers.
Our Alabama guide covers a nearby state whose solicitation rules changed on January 1, 2026, with a 21-day wait after accidents.
Channel by channel
What Louisiana's rules mean for search ads, Local Services Ads, social and AI search content.
Rule 7.1(a) lists "computer-accessed communications" among the media lawyers may use, subject to every requirement in the rules, including filing. Of those, only websites appear on the Rule 7.8 exemption list.
| Channel | What the rule means there | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| Google search ads | An ad beyond the safe-harbor list is filed and shows the filing number, lawyer's name and city; pinning keeps those lines in every combination | 7.2(a), 7.7(c), 7.8(a) |
| Local Services Ads | No Louisiana rule or LSBA page we read mentions the program; Google charges for each valid lead, so the payment rule is the test | 7.2(c)(13) |
| Facebook and Instagram ads | Paid social ads aren't on the exemption list; results need the disclaimer, and actors and staged scenes need labels | 7.2(c)(1)(D), (I); 7.8 |
| Social media posts | Organic posts aren't addressed in the rules we read; a message to someone known to have a matter is targeted contact | 7.4(a), 7.6(c) |
| Website and AI search content | No filing; pages, FAQs and profiles that AI search tools may quote must list licensing jurisdictions and an office, and verifiable results are allowed | 7.6(b), 7.8(g), 7.9(b)(3) |
Because websites are exempt from filing, the site is where a Louisiana firm can explain its work in full, which is the content our AI search service builds. How Local Services Ads charge is in our Local Services Ads vs Google Ads guide.
What we check
Our Louisiana review: the filing calendar first, then the words.
When we review a Louisiana firm's ads, we start by sorting every ad into exempt or filed, because a late filing costs $100 more and starts the record on the wrong foot.
Sort each ad
Safe-harbor only and exempt, or filed. Anything with a slogan, a result, an image beyond a plain-background photo, or a dramatization is filed.
Get the number before launch
The filing number is pre-filed online and placed in the ad, and the packet is delivered so it's clocked in by the first day the ad runs.
Place the required lines
A responsible lawyer's full name and the city of a bona fide office in every ad, pinned in search ads so they show in every combination.
Attach the disclaimers
Results get "Results May Vary" or similar next to the claim; actors and staged scenes get their labels on screen long enough to read.
Keep the five-year file
Each version, its filing number, the LSBA's letter, and where and when it ran, kept five years after last use.
In our client work, we write ads like the "after" version. One case study, $13,500 Generated From Just $600 in Advertising Spend, comes from Local Services Ads for a DUI practice; the amount is the firm's result, not an ad claim. Our Local Services Ads service sets up the profile and budget. For that practice area, see our DUI defense marketing page.
Common mistakes
Where firms go wrong.
Louisiana mistakes we look for in accounts firms bring to us.
Running first and filing later
Rule 7.7(c) requires filing before or at first use, and the LSBA counts the day it's clocked in, not the day it was mailed. A late filing costs $275 instead of $175.
No filing number in the ad
Rule 7.2(a)(3) requires the LSBA filing number in every non-exempt ad and unsolicited written communication.
Results with no disclaimer
Rule 7.2(c)(1)(D) treats a reference to past results without a disclaimer such as "Results May Vary" as misleading.
Unlabeled actors and reenactments
Rule 7.2(c)(1)(I) requires a disclaimer when a non-client plays a client or a scene isn't real.
Real results
What this looked like for real firms.
Published results from firms whose case studies don't name their state.
Identifying details are anonymized to protect our clients. Individual result, not a promise or prediction of any specific outcome for your firm.
FAQ
Questions lawyers ask us.
Straight answers to the questions that come up most.
Does a Louisiana law firm have to file its website with the LSBA?
No. Rule 7.8(g) exempts websites from filing, and the LSBA handbook calls the idea that sites must be filed "a relatively common misconception". The site still has to list every licensing jurisdiction and a bona fide office location (Rule 7.6(b)).
How much does it cost to file a lawyer ad in Louisiana?
$175 per separate ad filed before or at first use, and $275 if filed after. Lawyers admitted under three years and not in a firm of five or more lawyers pay $100, or $200 if late. Fees are payable to the Louisiana State Bar Association.
How long does the LSBA take to review an ad?
Rule 7.7(e) gives the Committee 30 days from receipt of a complete filing, unless it tells the lawyer in writing that it needs more time. If no written communication arrives within 30 days, the ad is deemed approved.
Can Louisiana lawyers use client testimonials?
Yes, with conditions. A testimonial about past results needs a disclaimer such as "Past Results are not a Guarantee of Future Success" (Rule 7.2(c)(1)(D)), a paid one must disclose the payment, and an actor portraying a client needs a disclaimer.
Can a Louisiana lawyer say they're board certified?
Only under Rule 7.2(c)(5): certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization and naming it, certified by another organization that meets Section 6.2 of the Plan and naming it in full, or certified by another state bar with comparable standards and naming that bar.
Do Louisiana's rules apply to ads from a firm in another state?
Rule 7.1(b) says they don't apply to an ad disseminated in another jurisdiction where the lawyer is admitted, if it complies with that jurisdiction's rules and isn't intended for dissemination in Louisiana. An ad aimed at Louisiana viewers is covered.
Where we do this
The services this guide touches.
What this looks like when we run it for a firm, with a demo for your practice on each page.
Sources
Where these facts come from.
Official pages we read when writing this page. We didn't open the Louisiana statutes the LSBA handbook lists on solicitation (La. R.S. 14:356, 14:356.1, 14:356.3 and 37:219), so the short descriptions here are the handbook's, not our reading of the statutes. Platforms and rules change, so check the current version before you act on any of it. This is marketing guidance, not legal advice.
- Louisiana State Bar Association, Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct, Rules 7.1 to 7.10 (with amendments through January 1, 2022)
- Louisiana State Bar Association, Rules of Professional Conduct (full rules, with amendments through May 10, 2023)
- Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct (with amendments through May 10, 2023)
- Louisiana State Bar Association, Lawyer Advertising
- Louisiana State Bar Association, Lawyer Advertising Filing (fees and pre-filing)
- Louisiana State Bar Association, How to File Advertisements/Unsolicited Written Communications
- Louisiana State Bar Association, How the Evaluation Process Works Under Rule 7.7
- Louisiana State Bar Association, Handbook on Solicitation and Lawyer Advertising in Louisiana (Second Edition, November 2022)
- Louisiana State Bar Association, Plan of Legal Specialization (Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization)
- Google Ads Help, About responsive search ads
- Google Local Services Help, How leads work
Written by
Founder of Ad Hoc Digital. Leads strategy and works directly with every client firm on AI search, Local Services Ads, Google Ads and Meta ads.
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