Rule Text (verbatim from The Florida Bar)
A lawyer may not engage in potentially misleading advertising.
(a) Potentially Misleading Advertisements. Potentially
misleading advertisements include, but are not limited to:
(1) advertisements that are subject to varying reasonable
interpretations, 1 or more of which would be materially misleading
when considered in the relevant context;
(2) advertisements that are literally accurate, but could
reasonably mislead a prospective client regarding a material fact;
(3) references to a lawyer’s membership in, or
recognition by, an entity that purports to base the membership or
recognition on a lawyer’s ability or skill, unless the entity conferring
the membership or recognition is generally recognized within the
legal profession as being a bona fide organization that makes its
selections based on objective and uniformly applied criteria, and
that includes among its members or those recognized a reasonable
cross-section of the legal community the entity purports to cover;
(4) a statement that a lawyer is board certified or other
variations of that term unless:
(A) the lawyer has been certified under the Florida
Certification Plan as set forth in chapter 6, Rules Regulating The
Florida Bar and the advertisement includes the area of certification
and that The Florida Bar is the certifying organization;
(B) the lawyer has been certified by an organization
whose specialty certification program has been accredited by the
American Bar Association or The Florida Bar as provided elsewhere
in these rules and the advertisement includes the area of
certification and the name of the certifying organization; or
(C) the lawyer has been certified by another state
bar if the state bar program grants certification on the basis of
standards reasonably comparable to the standards of the Florida
Certification Plan set forth in chapter 6 of these rules and the
advertisement includes the area of certification and the name of the
certifying organization;
(5) a statement that the lawyer is a specialist or an
expert in an area of practice, or other variations of those terms,
unless the lawyer is certified under the Florida Certification Plan or
an American Bar Association or Florida Bar accredited certification
plan or the lawyer can objectively verify the claim based on the
lawyer’s education, training, experience, or substantial involvement
in the area of practice in which specialization or expertise is
claimed;
(6) a statement that a law firm specializes or has
expertise in an area of practice, or other variations of those terms,
unless the law firm can objectively verify the claim as to at least 1 of
the lawyers who are members of or employed by the law firm as set
forth in subdivision (a)(5) above, but if the law firm cannot
objectively verify the claim for every lawyer employed by the firm,
the advertisement must contain a clear and conspicuous disclaimer
that not all lawyers in the firm specialize or have expertise in the
area of practice in which the firm claims specialization or expertise;
or
(7) information about the lawyer’s fee, including those
that indicate no fee will be charged in the absence of a recovery,
unless the advertisement discloses all fees and expenses for which
the client might be liable and any other material information
relating to the fee. A lawyer who advertises a specific fee or range of
fees for a particular service must honor the advertised fee or range
of fees for at least 90 days unless the advertisement specifies a
shorter period; provided that, for advertisements in the yellow pages
of telephone directories or other media not published more
frequently than annually, the advertised fee or range of fees must
be honored for no less than 1 year following publication.
(b) Clarifying Information. A lawyer may use an
advertisement that would otherwise be potentially misleading if the
advertisement contains information or statements that adequately
clarify the potentially misleading issue.
Educational reference. This page summarizes a Florida Rule of Professional Conduct for educational purposes. The rule text and Comment are mirrored from the Florida Bar's official publication and are public domain. The plain-English summary and any commentary are the opinion of Phillips, Hunt & Walker and are general information only — not legal advice. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you believe a Florida lawyer has violated this rule, you can file a complaint with The Florida Bar at floridabar.org. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What this rule means in plain English
Some advertisements aren’t inherently misleading but are potentially so. The rule lists specific categories: comparisons to other lawyers, statements about the lawyer’s specialization or expertise when no Bar-recognized certification supports them, depictions of dramatic outcomes the lawyer may not have actually achieved. These ads must include disclaimers or other contextual information that prevents the average reader from being misled.
Florida Bar Ethics Opinions interpreting this rule
- Opinion 87-9 (1987)
<p>A former Florida judge or justice can indicate the former judicial position under their signature on letters to other lawyers about matters unrelated to the practice of law. Using the title in active legal practice — including law firm marketing, business cards, or stationery — runs into separate rules that limit how the Judge title can be used to attract clients.</p>
Read on floridabar.org → - Opinion 73-31 (1973)
<p>A former judge now in active law practice cannot use a Judge nameplate on the office door or desk. The lawyer can display documents and memorabilia of the former judicial service as long as they don't suggest the lawyer is presently a judge. Clients who address the lawyer as Judge don't need to be corrected on a one-off basis.</p>
Read on floridabar.org → - Opinion 75-34 (1975)
<p>A former judge who now practices law and also serves as a corporate officer cannot use the Judge title on the corporation's stationery, and corporate employees should not refer to the former judge as Judge in communications with third parties. The rule prevents lawyer-attached judicial credibility from being borrowed for non-judicial business purposes.</p>
Read on floridabar.org →
Comment (verbatim from The Florida Bar)
Awards, honors, and ratings
Awards, honors, and ratings are not subjective statements
characterizing a lawyer’s skills, experience, reputation, or record.
Instead, they are statements of objectively verifiable facts from
which an inference of quality may be drawn. It is therefore
permissible under the rule for a lawyer to list bona fide awards,
honors, and recognitions using the name or title of the actual award
and the date it was given. If the award was given in the same year
that the advertisement is disseminated or the advertisement
references a rating that is current at the time the advertisement is
disseminated, the year of the award or rating is not required.
For example, the following statements are permissible:
“John Doe is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell. This rating is
Martindale-Hubbell’s highest rating.”
“Jane Smith was named a 2008 Florida Super Lawyer by
Super Lawyers Magazine.”
Claims of board certification, specialization or expertise
This rule permits a lawyer or law firm to indicate areas of
practice in communications about the lawyer’s or law firm’s
services, provided the advertising lawyer or law firm actually
practices in those areas of law at the time the advertisement is
disseminated. If a lawyer practices only in certain fields, or will not
accept matters except in those fields, the lawyer is permitted to
indicate that. A lawyer also may indicate that the lawyer
concentrates in, focuses on, or limits the lawyer’s practice to
particular areas of practice as long as the statements are true. A
lawyer who is not certified by The Florida Bar, by another state bar
with comparable standards, or an organization accredited by the
American Bar Association or The Florida Bar may not be described
to the public as “certified” or “board certified” or any variation of
similar import. A lawyer may indicate that the lawyer concentrates
in, focuses on, or limits the lawyer’s practice to particular areas of
practice as long as the statements are true.
Certification is specific to individual lawyers; a law firm cannot
be certified in an area of practice per subdivision (c) of rule 6-3.4.
Therefore, an advertisement may not state that a law firm is
certified in any area of practice.
A lawyer can only state or imply that the lawyer is “certified” in
the actual area(s) of practice in which the lawyer is certified. A
lawyer who is board certified in civil trial law, may state that, but
may not state that the lawyer is certified in personal injury.
The criteria set forth in the Florida Certification Plan is
designed to establish a reasonable degree of objectivity and
uniformity so that the use of the terms “specialization,” “expertise,”
or other variations of those terms, conveys some meaningful
information to the public and is not misleading. A lawyer who
meets the criteria for certification in a particular field automatically
qualifies to state that the lawyer is a specialist or expert in the area
of certification. However, a lawyer making a claim of specialization
or expertise is not required to be certified in the claimed field of
specialization or expertise or to have met the specific criterion for
certification if the lawyer can demonstrate that the lawyer has the
education, training, experience, or substantial involvement in the
area of practice commensurate with specialization or expertise.
A law firm claim of specialization or expertise may be based on
1 lawyer who is a member of or employed by the law firm either
having the requisite board certification or being able to objectively
verify the requisite qualifications enumerated in this rule. For
purposes of this rule, a lawyer’s “of counsel” relationship with a law
firm is a sufficiently close relationship to permit a law firm to claim
specialization or expertise based on the “of counsel” lawyer’s board
certification or qualifications only if the “of counsel” practices law
solely through the law firm claiming specialization or expertise and
provides substantial legal services through the firm as to allow the
firm to reasonably rely on the “of counsel” qualifications in making
the claim.
A disclaimer that not all lawyers in the firm specialize or have
expertise when a firm claims specialization or expertise is clear and
conspicuous when it is written, displayed, or presented in the same
or larger text if appearing immediately together with the text
making the claim of firm specialization or expertise; spoken in the
same volume, tone, and speed as the claim of firm specialization or
expertise and at the same time as or immediately after the claim of
firm specialization or expertise if spoken aloud; or any other way
that a reasonable consumer should notice it, read or hear it, and
understand it.
Fee and cost information
Every advertisement that contains information about the
lawyer’s fee, including a contingent fee, must disclose all fees and
costs that the client will be liable for. If the client is, in fact, not
responsible for any costs in addition to the fee, then no disclosure is
necessary. For example, if a lawyer charges a flat fee to create and
execute a will and there are no costs associated with the services,
the lawyer’s advertisement may state only the flat fee for that
service.
However, if there are costs for which the client is responsible,
the advertisement must disclose this fact. For example, if fees are
contingent on the outcome of the matter, but the client is
responsible for costs regardless of the matter’s outcome, the
following statements are permissible: “No Fee if No Recovery, but
Client is Responsible for Costs,” “No Fee if No Recovery, Excludes
Costs,” “No Recovery, No Fee, but Client is Responsible for Costs”
and other similar statements.
On the other hand, if both fees and costs are contingent on the
outcome of a personal injury case, the statements “No Fees or Costs
If No Recovery” and “No Recovery – No Fees or Costs” are
permissible.
Adopted January 31, 2013, effective May 1, 2013 (108 So.3d 609);
amended June 27, 2019, effective August 26, 2019 (274 So.3d 1046);
amended June 22, 2023, effective August 21, 2023 (SC22-1294).