Lawyer advertising checklist: six signatures a release should collect first

What to take away

Run the checklist on the final render and live path.
Assign each decision to a reviewer who can judge it.
Any material change requires a focused recheck before release.

A lawyer advertising checklist should tell a team when to stop. Apply it to every creative variant, audience, placement, landing page, form, phone script, and follow-up. A master campaign approval does not cover unreviewed automated combinations.

Complete the release gate

Area	Pass condition
Jurisdiction	Admissions, audience, placement, and governing rules are mapped
Identity	Responsible lawyer, firm, vendor, and relationship are clear
Service	Scope, location, availability, and capacity are current
Claims	Express and implied meanings have prior support
Fees	Prices, conditions, costs, and comparisons are complete
Results	Accuracy, consent, selection, context, and limits are approved
Targeting	Data, distress, age, geography, search terms, and exclusions pass review
Platform	Current product, format, and content rules are met
Accessibility	Text, contrast, audio, captions, alternatives, and controls are tested
Destination	Identity, promise, disclosures, links, forms, and mobile view match
Intake	Scripts, conflicts, privacy, routing, and escalation are ready
Evidence	Final render, settings, approvals, dates, and expiry are preserved

Mandatory stops: privacy, security, data quality, accessibility, correction. All other areas are advisory but must be cleared before release.

Require six signatures

Substantive lawyer approves service and legal claims
Ethics reviewer approves professional-rule treatment
Privacy owner approves data and targeting
Accessibility reviewer tests the final experience
Technical owner confirms accounts, destinations, and measurement
Campaign owner confirms live monitoring, correction, and expiry

A failed item needs a documented correction and a new review. Preserve the checklist beside the exact released files and settings. Randomly reproduce active ads after launch because platforms can change crops, extensions, combinations, and destinations.

Worked example: A Google search ad claimed "no fees unless we win," but the landing page added a filing fee. The ethics reviewer failed the Claims item. The team corrected the landing page and the campaign owner re-reviewed the final render. The re-check passed two days later.

Check state rules

New York's published Rule 7.1 on lawyer advertising contains detailed provisions on misleading claims, permitted information, testimonials, portrayals, fees, labels, websites, and records. It is a state rule and should not be treated as the checklist for another jurisdiction. Teams that map state rules still face common lawyer advertising questions about disclosures, testimonials, and records.

The State Bar of California's Chapter 7 professional rules address communications, advertising, solicitation, specialization, and firm names in that state. Comparing the two sources shows why teams must map rules instead of copying one national template.

Beyond New York and California, these states have filing or retention requirements worth mapping:

State	Filing or retention requirement	Rule
Florida	File certain advertisements with The Florida Bar and keep copies	Florida Bar Rule 4-7.19
Texas	File advertisements with the State Bar Advertising Review Committee	Texas Rule 7.07
New Jersey	File advertisements with the Committee on Attorney Advertising and retain copies for three years	New Jersey Rule 7.1(f)
New York	Retain advertisements for three years	22 NYCRR 1200.0, Rule 7.1

Layer platform ad policies

Google, Meta, and LinkedIn each publish advertising policies that layer on top of state bar rules. Google restricts legal advertising by location, specialty, and claims. Meta requires verification and restricts sensitive targeting. LinkedIn limits audience targeting and requires accurate professional credentials. A state rule can be stricter than a platform policy, so apply both.

The platform policy does not replace bar review. The bar rule does not excuse a platform violation.

Example of a completed gate record

Field / Value

Item: Claims
Result: Fail
Evidence: Final render v3, landing page snapshot, ad copy
Reviewer: Ethics partner
Decision date: 12 March 2025
Correction: Landing page updated to include the filing fee
Re-review: Passed 14 March 2025 by the same ethics partner
Next review: 12 June 2025

The W3C Privacy Principles statement gives web-system designers shared privacy concepts and warns against shifting privacy work to individuals. For a lawyer advertising checklist, use it when a form collects intake data: decide who sees the data, how long it is kept, and what the firm tells the client.

The CISA software acquisition fact sheet covers development practice, supply-chain exposure, deployment, and vulnerability management. In a lawyer advertising decision, apply it when a vendor hosts the landing page or tracks conversions: ask who can access the data and how a breach would be handled.

For every checklist item, record pass, fail, not applicable, or accepted exception. A checked box without proof cannot protect a release. Stop the work when a mandatory privacy, security, data-quality, accessibility, or correction condition fails, even if the remaining score looks favorable.

Record rejected options and the chosen path, because the original constraint may later change. Use the same definitions in the interface, export, meeting note, and correction log. Close unused reports and permissions after the decision cycle ends.