Pennsylvania law firm marketing that names the office city, earns the word specialist and asks about tort first
A free plan that reads each ad you run against Pennsylvania's rules on office cities, specialist claims and fee lines, then sets crash intake to ask about the caller's tort option first.
- Every ad, page and letter checked for your office city and a responsible lawyer's name
- Specialist, certified and practice-area wording matched to what Pennsylvania allows
- An injury intake script that opens with the caller's tort option and declarations page
- An honest evaluation, with no obligation to hire us
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The 60-second version
- Every Pennsylvania lawyer ad names the city where the lawyers doing the work practice, and a lawyer or firm responsible for it.
- A lawyer may claim one specialty without certification if experience backs it and the ad says the lawyer is not certified in it.
- A text to someone who needs a lawyer counts as live contact, but a reply to a form they sent is not a solicitation.
- Crash pages and intake start with the caller's tort option, since limited tort bars pain and suffering claims outside the law's exceptions.
Would your Pennsylvania ads and intake pass a bar reader today?
Pull up a live ad, the page it sends people to and whatever your staff reads on a first call. Answer for what is running today. The score stays in your browser.
Answer all five to see where you stand. Your answers stay on this page.
The city on a Pennsylvania lawyer ad is where your lawyers work, not where the clicks land
A Pennsylvania ad has to tell people where the lawyers who will handle the case actually practice. That matters most when a Philadelphia firm buys clicks in Allentown, Reading or Erie.
Pennsylvania's advertising rule asks every advertisement and written communication to name the city or town of that office. When the office sits outside a city or town, the ad names the county instead. The rule's comment gives the reason. A caller should not be led to think the lawyer practices in their hometown when the practice is somewhere else.
- The ad itself. The rule says all advertisements, so the office city belongs in the ad text or a location asset. A line only on the page behind the ad is the weaker reading.
- A lawyer who answers for it. The same rule wants the name and contact details of at least one lawyer or firm responsible for the content. A website, phone number, email or office address counts as contact information.
- No borrowed hometown. A page called "Allentown injury lawyer" that hides a Philadelphia office is the case the comment describes. Say where you are, then say you take cases from the Lehigh Valley.
The big metros cross state lines, and that adds a wrinkle. The Census Bureau's 2025 estimates count 6,329,118 people in the Philadelphia metro, which spans Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metro reaches into New Jersey too.
A firm with offices on both sides of the Delaware may use one name in each state. Under the rule against misleading communications, its pages still have to show which lawyers are not licensed where an office sits. A team page that lists every lawyer under a Philadelphia address, with no note on who is admitted only in New Jersey, is the slip to fix.
Pittsburgh is its own buy. The Pennsylvania page explains why the two big cities run as separate markets. For a law firm, that means separate ads, each naming its own office city.
Calling a Pennsylvania lawyer a specialist takes proof, a disclaimer and one field
Pennsylvania lets lawyers use the word specialist more freely than many owners expect. It attaches strings, though, and a claim that skips them becomes the misleading part of the ad.
The advertising rule gives three routes.
- Certified by an approved body. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania approves certifying organizations on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's recommendation. A lawyer may advertise the certification only while both the certification and the approval are in effect. The comment says the ad names the organization.
- Certified in another state. A lawyer certified under another state's high court may say so. The ad names that state. Unless the first route also applies, it says the lawyer is not certified in Pennsylvania.
- Experience you can show. Without certification, a lawyer may claim a specialty that experience, training or education objectively backs. The ad says the lawyer is not certified in it. This route covers one field of law only.
The rule's comment lists what can back that third route. It names the share of the practice in the field, the years spent in it, the continuing education taken and how recent it all is. Keep that file next to the ad, because it is the first thing anyone will ask for.
Practice areas carry a limit of their own. An ad may not say a firm takes only certain cases, or limits itself to them, unless they are a principal part of its work. The comment's example is an ad for "serious personal injury cases". Those cases must in fact be a principal part of the practice.
The same rule stops a firm advertising mainly to pass cases along. The comment calls it misleading to chase cases a firm knows it will mostly refer out. It also bars making a client think the firm will try the case when every case that does not settle goes to another firm for trial.
Actors, endorsers and shared ads in a Pennsylvania TV or YouTube spot
Video is where most of Pennsylvania's lawyer ad rules apply at once. Plan the cast and the captions before the shoot, because a reshoot costs far more than a script change.
The advertising rule sets these limits on what appears on screen.
- No famous faces. No ad may carry an endorsement by a celebrity or public figure. The comment ties the ban to false hopes about a result. On our reading, a retired local athlete or a well-known news anchor is the face to leave out.
- Paid endorsers say so. Anyone paid or otherwise compensated to appear or endorse is disclosed as paid.
- Actors are not lawyers. A non-lawyer may not portray a lawyer or imply being one.
- Re-enactments are labeled. A client played by a non-client, a re-enacted crash or pictures that are not authentic need a note that the scene is a dramatization.
Names count as well. An ad may not present a made-up entity as a law firm. It may not use one shared name for lawyers who are not associated in one firm.
Shared ads carry a disclosure of their own. When a lawyer helps pay for another firm's ad, or for one run by a for-profit company, the ad names every paying lawyer or firm and its principal office address. If referrals flow from it, the ad explains how they are made and on what basis. The comment says this reaches advertising cooperatives, where firms pool money for airtime.
Lead sellers sit beside all this. The comment allows paying for leads only when the seller does not recommend the lawyer. The seller also must not seem to have analyzed the person's legal problem when picking a lawyer. Ask any lead vendor for its consumer-facing pages before you sign.
What every Pennsylvania lawyer ad has to carry
- The office city
- Each ad names the city or town where the lawyers on the case practice, or the county if outside one (advertising rule)
- A lawyer who answers for it
- At least one lawyer or firm responsible for the content is named, with contact details such as a website, phone number, email or office
- The word specialist
- Without certification, only for one field, only if your experience or training backs it, and with a line saying you are not certified in it
- No fee unless you win
- The ad also says the client will owe certain expenses, if that is the case. A price you advertise holds for at least 90 days
- Famous faces
- No celebrity or public figure may endorse a firm, and anyone paid to appear or endorse is disclosed as paid
- A text to someone who needs a lawyer
- Counts as live person-to-person contact, like a phone call, under the solicitation rule's comment
Where a free plan for a Pennsylvania firm begins
- Office city and a responsible lawyer on every ad
- Each search ad, landing page, letter and spot checked for the city where your lawyers practice and a named responsible lawyer or firm, with team pages noting who is admitted only outside Pennsylvania.
- Specialist and practice-area claims backed by a file
- Every use of specialist, certified or concentrates in matched to one of the three routes, with the not-certified line where needed and the proof filed beside the ad.
- Crash intake that opens with the tort option
- A first-call script that asks for the declarations page and the tort choice, and an injury page that explains full and limited tort in plain words.
- Video scripts cleared before the shoot
- No public figures, paid endorsers disclosed, actors kept out of lawyer roles and dramatization notes on every re-enactment, written into the script rather than fixed in the edit.
- Fee lines and posted prices read together
- Every no-fee promise paired with the expenses line, and flat fees tested only at prices you can keep for 90 days, or a year in annual directories.
- Outreach rules written down for intake staff
- Replies to inquiries kept apart from first contact, no texts to strangers, one letter per matter and family dockets checked for proof of service before any mail.
The city line, the specialist claim and the tort question come first
Tell us your office cities and practice areas. The plan opens with those three, in the order a complaint about your ads would test them.
Your free plan for Pennsylvania starts with:
- Office city and a responsible lawyer on every ad
- Specialist and practice-area claims backed by a file
- Crash intake that opens with the tort option
"No fee unless we win" and a posted price both come with Pennsylvania conditions
A fee line is often the most clicked phrase in a law firm ad. Pennsylvania lets you use one, with two conditions that change how you write and test it.
Under the advertising rule, an ad that says no fee is charged without a recovery must also say the client will owe certain expenses, if that is the case. The comment ties this to the costs of contingent fee matters. So the line goes wherever the promise appears: the search ad, the landing page, the radio script and the bus bench.
A posted price stays in force for a while. A specific fee, hourly rate or fee range for a service must be honored for at least 90 days. In media published once a year, such as a printed directory, the price holds for a year after it first appears, unless the ad says otherwise.
That changes how flat fees get tested. A family firm trying three prices for an uncontested divorce in one month has promised each one for 90 days to everyone who saw it. Test headlines and offers freely. Change a price only when you are ready to keep it for a season.
Results claims fall under the rule against misleading communications. Its comment warns that a true verdict can mislead when readers expect the same result without each case's facts. It adds that a disclaimer or qualifying language may prevent that. Put the case facts beside the number, then the disclaimer.
Why a Pennsylvania firm should not text someone it read about in the news
Reaching out first to someone who needs a lawyer is where Pennsylvania draws its hardest line. Treat a text to that person the way you would treat walking up to them.
Pennsylvania's solicitation rule bars seeking paid work by live person-to-person contact. The exceptions are other lawyers, family, close friends and people with a prior professional relationship. The comment counts text messages as live person-to-person contact. Chat rooms and other written messages a person can easily ignore do not count.
Targeted mail is allowed. The rule says a lawyer may use targeted direct mail to seek work. A letter still has to be truthful. It stops for anyone who has said they want no contact, or whose state of mind rules out a reasonable choice of lawyer.
Silence is an answer. The comment warns that if a letter draws no response, further attempts to reach that person may break the ban on live contact. So a mail sequence for one accident is one letter, not a follow-up call.
Family firms have a docket rule. A lawyer may not solicit a person named as a defendant or respondent in a domestic relations action until proof of service appears on the docket. The comment explains the worry: a spouse who hears from a lawyer before being served may confront the person who filed. It also says the rule covers Family Court actions and cases under the state's law protecting victims of sexual violence or intimidation.
Replies are a different matter. The comment says a message is not a solicitation when it answers a request for information. A quick text back to someone who filled in your form at midnight is a reply. The law firm page covers why speed on that reply decides cases. The texting and AI answering playbook covers consent for it. Not legal advice; confirm with counsel.
Every Pennsylvania crash call starts with full tort or limited tort
Pennsylvania drivers choose how much they can sue for when they buy car insurance. An injury firm's pages and intake should start from that choice, because it shapes what the case is worth.
The Insurance Department's auto guide puts it plainly. Limited tort lowers the premium. The driver can still recover out-of-pocket medical and certain other expenses. What they cannot recover is certain damages, such as pain and suffering, unless the injury meets one of the exceptions in the law. Full tort keeps unrestricted rights to sue.
Many callers do not know which box they ticked, and some never ticked one. The guide says a driver who did not specially elect limited tort is treated as having chosen full tort. So the declarations page is the first document intake asks for, before anyone guesses.
Coverage floors shape the next question. The same guide lists $5,000 as the minimum medical benefit and $15,000/$30,000 as the minimum bodily injury liability. A caller hit by a driver carrying only the minimum needs a different talk from one hit by a delivery van.
Put the choice on the page in plain words. A crash page that explains limited tort, and says exceptions exist without promising one applies, answers what callers are typing. The Pennsylvania chiropractor page covers the medical bills side for clinics.
Ask the tort question on the phone or your own intake page, not in a Meta lead form. Meta's lead form question rules bar asking for insurance company names and plan details. A form that asks which tort option someone carries may not run at all.
Pennsylvania law firm ad questions, from billboards to family dockets
Our only office is in Philadelphia. Can we run ads in Allentown?
Yes, as long as each ad names the city where your lawyers principally practice. That is Philadelphia, under Pennsylvania's advertising rule. Say you take Lehigh Valley cases. Do not word the page so a reader assumes an Allentown office.
Can an ad say a lawyer is board certified?
Only through an organization the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has approved, while both the certification and the approval are in effect. The ad names the organization. Certification from another state's high court can be mentioned, with that state named and a line saying the lawyer is not certified in Pennsylvania. Check the approval is current before the ad runs.
Can a well-known local athlete appear in our TV spot?
Not as an endorser. Pennsylvania bars endorsements by a celebrity or public figure in any lawyer ad, in its advertising rule. Anyone else paid to appear has to be disclosed as paid.
Someone filled out our form at midnight. Can we text them back?
Yes. The comment to Pennsylvania's solicitation rule says a message answering a request for information is not a solicitation. A text to someone who never contacted you is different, since texts count as live person-to-person contact.
Can we mail people named in new divorce or protection order filings?
Not until proof of service appears on the docket for the person you would write to. After that, targeted mail is allowed, as long as it is truthful and stops for anyone who asks. Send one letter and leave it there, since repeated attempts after silence can count as live contact.
Does a short search ad need the expenses line?
If it says no fee without a recovery and your clients can owe expenses, yes. Pennsylvania attaches that line to every ad with the promise, so put it in the ad text, not only on the landing page.
Sources
7 cited
Rules and figures on this page trace to these pages. None of it is legal advice; confirm anything that affects your license or your ads with the agency or your counsel.
- 204 Pa. Code Rule 7.2 (Pennsylvania Code): office city, responsible lawyer, specialists, endorsements, fees, shared ads
- 204 Pa. Code Rule 7.3 (Pennsylvania Code): solicitation, texts as live contact, targeted mail, domestic relations dockets
- 204 Pa. Code Rule 7.1 (Pennsylvania Code): misleading communications, results, multi-state firm names
- 204 Pa. Code Rule 7.4 (Pennsylvania Code): reserved, deleted October 15, 2024
- Pennsylvania Insurance Department: auto insurance guide, limited and full tort, required coverages
- US Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 metro population estimates
- Meta Business Help: questions Instant Forms may not ask
Where to read next
Your office cities, practice areas and current ads
Send your office addresses, the practice areas you advertise, links to your landing pages and any TV, radio or mail scripts. We return each line that misses Pennsylvania's office city, specialist or fee rules, and the order to fix them.
- A free consult. A real conversation about your business, your area and what is not working yet.
- An honest evaluation. Where you stand in search, ads and follow-up next to the businesses you lose customers to.
- A plan you keep. What we would fix first and why. It is yours whether or not you work with us.
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