Rule Library · Pennsylvania
Attorney advertising rules in Pennsylvania
What follows is what Pennsylvania’s published rules require of a law firm’s own advertising, in the order it usually matters: the label, past results, what you may claim about specialization, testimonials, fee statements, and filing.
This is a reading of published rules, not legal advice. Your bar, and you, decide what may be published.
The rule areas
- Advertising labelnot yet verified
- We have not read Pennsylvania’s text on this rule area yet, so we will not cite a rule number for it. The bar’s own URL is in the margin.
- Prior resultsnot yet verified
- We have not read Pennsylvania’s text on this rule area yet, so we will not cite a rule number for it. The bar’s own URL is in the margin.
- Specialization claimsCleared
- A lawyer shall not state or imply specialization except that a lawyer certified by an organization approved by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania as a certifying organization may advertise that certification while both the lawyer's certification and the organization's approval remain in effect. Pa. R. Prof'l Conduct 7.2(c)-(d). Pennsylvania does not run its own state-bar certification board; it approves outside certifying organizations.
- Bar filingnot yet verified
- We have not read Pennsylvania’s text on this rule area yet, so we will not cite a rule number for it. The bar’s own URL is in the margin.
- TestimonialsCleared
- An advertisement or public communication containing a paid endorsement must disclose that the endorser is being paid or otherwise compensated; no advertisement or public communication may contain an endorsement by a celebrity or public figure. Pa. R. Prof'l Conduct 7.2(e).
- Fee statementsCleared
- Advertisements stating or indicating that no fee will be charged in the absence of recovery must disclose that the client will be liable for certain expenses in addition to the fee, if that is the case. Pa. R. Prof'l Conduct 7.2(g)(1).
What changed recently
Pennsylvania's Rules of Professional Conduct page shows a long history of amendments through November 2024, and other sources referenced a pending 'In re Rules 5.5, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, & 7.7' proceeding, suggesting further changes to the advertising rules may be in progress; the geographic-office-disclosure and fee-advertisement-honoring provisions (Rule 7.2(f), (h)) were verified but the full text of Rule 7.1 (governing false/misleading claims and any prior-results language) was not completely retrieved, so prior_results and ad_label are left null.
Check your firm’s site against Pennsylvania’s rules.
We read your home page and up to 4 more, then name each place your copy is missing something these rules require.