Legal Marketing: Florida Bar's Proposed Online Ad Rules Bar Free Speech
That rumble you hear in Florida is not a typical summer thunderstorm, but a storm of protest from Florida attorneys regarding the Florida Bar’s proposed new online ad rules.
If you’re not aware: the new rules would ban online testimonials, summaries of case results and what the Bar terms “deceptive, misleading, manipulative or confusing” audio or visual content. In addition, consumers visiting a Florida attorney’s website would have to click through a series of disclaimers to even get to the site.
Many Florida attorneys think that these latest rules proposed by the Florida Bar are a violation of their First Amendment right to free speech. Florida-based First Amendment attorneys are organizing a loose coalition of some of the state’s largest firms, who received a recent extension from the Florida Supreme Court in which to submit commentary on the proposed ad rules.
First, let me say that I have an axe to grind and I recognize I'm not entirely neutral in this area because it directly impacts my business, which is teaching attorneys effective ways to market their law firms and in many cases actually providing outsourced marketing services to small law firms. These services often include lead generation and conversion from referrals and Internet marketing efforts.
Now that we have my biases out of the way, here's my take on these proposed Florida law firm marketing rules:
1. These rules are overly restrictive on lawyers and may run afoul of First Amendment rights.
While I'm not an attorney nor am I an ethics expert, on the face of it these rules seem to go beyond the point of being ridiculous! I thought it was rather sad to see the ACLU completely back off once they were granted an exemption. Aren't they supposed to be the champions of free speech for everyone—even to the point of protecting hate speech?
While I have disagreed with various stands the ACLU has taken in the past, I would wholeheartedly get behind them to force the Florida Bar to back down.
As a side note, I could be mistaken on this point, but if I understand it correctly, the Florida Bar does not actually set new advertising rules for attorneys. Instead it is the Florida State Supreme Court. If you know differently, please let me know.
2. They completely ignore the realities of Internet marketing and using websites and blogs to generate more business and new leads.
At one point, the Florida Bar required a law firm to have every change to their website reviewed and approved by the bar. These changes had to be submitted in writing along with a $50 fee per change. Then to go even further, they came out and said a blog is essentially a website. Imagine having to pay your bar association $50 and wait 2-4 weeks before you can post to your blog. Seriously, what were they thinking?!? They finally backed off that one.
It's going to be a little dicey if all Florida lawyers are suddenly “required” to use a 3-point disclaimer on every post they place on Twitter or Facebook.
3. These rules do not take into account the hyper-competitive nature of the legal industry due to the concentration of lawyers.
I came across an article recently that estimated Florida will soon overtake New York as home to the 2nd largest number of attorneys of any state in the U.S., second only to California, which has about 213, 000 attorneys. Yes, I realize that hyper-competition is not a great reason to be lax on ethical rules and regulations, but commonsense should tell you that with the down economy, the job loss in the legal industry, and the increase in competition will drive some lawyers to cross the line by taking cases they are not competent to handle or overcharging clients trying to make ends meet. I not making excuses for this kind of behavior, but someone with a clear mind must realize there are always unintended consequences of actions like this.
4. These rules do absolutely nothing to “protect the consumer” or the general public.
Is there a growing body of people in Florida we don’t know about who are complaining that “all these legal websites are confusing and misleading”? If so, I'd like to know who they are. Perhaps they are the same ones in Broward County who couldn’t figure out how to punch the ballot hard enough to remove the chad?
All these rules seem to do is make it harder for small law firms to aggressively compete on the Internet. Let's face it; most large law firms do not really even try to generate new leads from their websites. The majority of them are simply “brochure” sites. They look pretty, but are completely ineffective for doing anything other than credibility building.
This is absolutely not the case for small firms! Many of them are completely dependant on their websites for lead generation, especially in the area of consumer law (personal injury, bankruptcy, family law, criminal law, and estate planning to some extent).
5. Florida already has the most restrictive legal marketing rules and regulations of any state and yet they want to make them even more limiting?
It's almost taking law firm marketing back to the Stone Age—or at least pre Bates v State Bar of Arizona (1977). State bars have long shown a tendency to over regulate law firm marketing. The line should be clear—do not put anything out there using any marketing format that is misleading, false or makes promises you cannot keep.
6. Why do they selectively focus on the Internet rather than the more pervasive abuses that take place everyday on attorney television ads?
I have a client in a major Florida city who emphatically states that virtually every single ad one of the major personal injury law firms puts on television violates long-standing ethics rules, yet nothing is done to that law firm. You may relegate this to professional jealousy, but I can assure you I have seen many of those ads and they absolutely run afoul of the current Florida rules.
Certainly, the Bar should be more concerned about TV ads, where people who aren't even looking for an attorney or legal representation are forced to watch them (unless they have a DVR). The only way a person surfing the Internet will come across a lawyer’s website is if they clicked on a link from Google or a legal directory or a paid ad that led them there. It's not as if they were reading an article on CNN.com or Sports Illustrated and BAM—there's a law firm marketing ad! Come on, people!
7. If these Stone Age rules actually take place, it may greatly increase the importance of fully utilizing social media and attorney rating sites like Avvo.com and Yelp.com.
Many attorneys don’t realize that since Avvo.com, Yelp.com and Yellowpages.com (along with other review sites) are 3rd party sites not owned or controlled by a Florida law firm that they are exempt from the Florida bar rules. Therefore, attorneys can and should actively seek to encourage clients to write and submit testimonials on Avvo.com, Yelp.com and other online legal directories.
Even the Federal Trade Commission doesn't agree with the Bar’s proposed restrictions on not allowing any kind of client testimonials. In their response to the Bar, the FCC stated client testimonials “can convey valuable information to consumers and help spur consumers.”
My hope is that law firms will line up to file suit to get these rules thrown out! Easier said than done, but kudos to the first law firm that does so. Please let me know who it is so I can profile them on this blog.
What are your thoughts on these proposed rules? Any Florida attorneys out there?
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Phoenix Attorneys: Learn About Social Media at July 21 Legal Networking Group
Join us on Wednesday, July 21, when Stephen will address a meeting of the Phoenix Legal Networking Group on Unlocking the Secrets of Social Media for Lawyers: Facebook and Twitter.
You will learn:
- Why Facebook is the 800 pound gorilla on the Internet
- Who is using Facebook (this will surprise you)
- What kind of practice areas are getting clients from Facebook
- How to get started fast
- Why Twitter is growing so fast
- How to leverage Twitter to drive traffic to your blog or website
- Top tips for using social media in your legal marketing strategy
The event will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 21 at Monti’s, 100 S. Mill Ave. in Tempe. Cost is only $20 per person.
To register for this seminar, co-hosted by FindLaw, Attorney at Law Magazine and The Rainmaker Institute, click here.
Law Firm Marketing: Revisiting the Law of 7 on 7-7
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The Law of 7 Touches is based on research that found it takes an average of 7 to 10 meaningful touches EVERY YEAR to move someone through the cycle from not knowing anything about you to being ready to buy from you.
This is just the average, not a guarantee, because in hyper-competitive markets, like legal services, it often takes many more touches than that -- and to drive customer buying habits, it takes consistency.
Consider the following statistics regarding the legal profession’s contact with prospective clients:
- 48% of lawyers give up after the first contact.
- 25% give up after the second contact.
- 12% give up after the third contact.
- 5% give up after the fourth contact.
In other words, 9 out of 10 prospective clients are never followed-up with more than 4 times.
If you want your law firm marketing to be successful, you must obey “The Law of 7.”
You’re probably thinking, “I know I should connect frequently and consistently with my prospective clients, but I just don’t have the time.”
True. Which is why you should leverage the power of technology to build relationships with your prospects.
What you need is a strategy and a process that leverages the most recent advancements in technology (autoresponders, social media, blogs, for example) to simplify and automate your marketing efforts, building rock solid, long-term relationships and helping you earn more, work less and spend time doing what you love to do.
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Looking for more Rainmaker Institute Wisdom?
Then sign up for a complimentary Law Firm Marketing Strategy CD. It contains information that will enable you to Generate More and Better Referrals, Find New Clients Fast, and Fill Your Law Practice. The CD is free, so sign up now!
Take our Twitter Poll: If you’re an attorney, we want your feedback! Click here (or go to http://twitter.polldaddy.com/done/3364850) to let us know what business development topics you’re most interested in right now.
Law Firm Marketing In Action: BISNAR | CHASE Illustrates The Sixth Key to Becoming a Recognized Expert
Sometimes the planets align perfectly to illustrate a point. 
My 6th and final strategy for Becoming a Recognized Expert is Position Yourself as a Specialist, Not a Generalist. And last night as I was preparing this, the perfect example fell into my lap.
BISNAR | CHASE is one of the nation’s top ranked personal injury law firms based in Newport Beach, California. We’ve been proud to call them a Rainmaker client for over three years. John Bisnar has attended our Rainmaker Retreats and has been kind enough to provide his testimonial as to what his firm has gained from practicing our law firm marketing principles.
Last night, Brian Chase was featured on a Los Angeles Fox News special report on defective car seats. The segment highlighted the ever growing problem of automobiles equipped with defective seats as well as two lawsuits handled by BISNAR | CHASE. They’ve posted a clip on their website – you can see it here.
BISNAR | CHASE has done a masterful job of positioning themselves as specialists in complex and economically significant personal injury and car accident cases. And again, I’m talking about specialists in a marketing sense here. Landing a feature as a legal expert regarding automobile defects on a major market news telecast is a huge win, and I am sure they are going to be promoting it like crazy to take full advantage of the big spotlight that just got shown on their firm.
Being a generalist is one of the most deadly mistakes that attorneys make for a number of reasons. First, it’s much more difficult to get referrals. If you say you do anything from IP to PI, they’re not going to send you any referrals because they figure there’s no way someone can be that good in every single area. You want to specialize because it gives you more credibility. You generate more referrals and you get more money for your services because you can charge higher fees when you’re perceived as a specialist versus a generalist.
There are several different ways that you can specialize:
- By client industry
- By client revenue size
- By geography
- By specific services
The most powerful way to specialize is when you do a combination of all four, when you’re specialized by industry, size of revenue, geography, and by the specific services that you offer.
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Check Out Your Peers As They Share Their Rainmaker Retreat Experiences
We would like to send you a DVD of your colleagues (and even your competitors) describing their experiences at our 2-day law firm marketing boot camp, the Rainmaker Retreat. Yes, we know you are skeptical -- so instead of us telling you how these 2 days will transform your business, we will let our clients do the telling.
Click here to order your complimentary DVD right now.
Addressing the NJSBA Annual Meeting on Law Firm Marketing
I am at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City today to address the Annual Meeting of the New Jersey State Bar Association. I am speaking to this annual gathering of over 1,700 attorneys and judges about law firm marketing. .gif)
I am looking forward to seeing some of the attorneys who attended our New Jersey Rainmaker Retreat in late March. The group I met with then was energetic and eager to learn ways that they could grow their business to the level they dreamed of when they first started their firm.
As I travel around the country speaking to attorney groups, I find that the vast majority of lawyers are hungry to learn more about social media and creating systems that will lead to business success. Social media has been a hot topic for the past couple of years. The growth of sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook has fueled a revolution in how legal marketers ply their trade.
I will be talking to the NJSBA Annual Meeting today about how lawyers can leverage these new technologies to multiply their existing marketing programs and gain greater access to their target markets. One of the most exciting aspects of social media is the ability to receive real-time feedback and have two-way conversations with prospective clients.
But I can’t be everywhere. So if you are interested in building a lifestyle law practice through effective law firm marketing, then I suggest you come to one of our Rainmaker Retreats. We have four of them coming up:
- June 18-19, 2010 San Francisco, CA
- July 30-31, 2010 Los Angeles, CA
- August 6-7, 2010 Las Vegas, NV
- October 8-9, 2010 New Brunswick, NJ
You can take advantage of Early Bird pricing by registering here.
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Becoming a Rainmaker: Business Building Strategies for Lawyers CD
Don't miss out on the 50% savings this week on our 3-audio CD program that covers dozens of practical recommendations and step-by-step sales and marketing techniques for solo practitioners and small law firms.
Click here to order yours now – if you order by tomorrow, May 21, you save 50%!
Phoenix legal marketing event coming next week
On Thursday, May 6, I have the privilege of addressing the inaugural meeting of the Phoenix Legal Networking Group, a group of solo and small firm attorneys looking to effectively market their law firm and grow their business.
This brand new monthly meeting is specifically designed to help attorneys and their staff
in small law firms and solo practices discover how to effectively market and grow their business.
We will meet each month for 2 hours to enjoy networking with other attorneys at small law firms and participate in a 45 minute practice building workshop.
During the meeting I will be presenting the 7 Strategies to Recession Proof Your Law Firm. This presentation will explain why some attorneys are having their best year ever when others are struggling to even survive? I will be demonstrating:
- The secrets top Rainmakers are using in this economy
- Learn what's working now and what's not.
- The #1 thing you need to do right now that will fix your cash flow problems
- Why you need to market differently
- How to easily track all your marketing efforts
For $15 per person, you will receive a networking session at 4:00 and the “7 Strategies” presentation begins at 5:00 p.m. and wraps up at 6:00. The event will be held at the Country Inn and Suites on Scottsdale Road, approximately 15 minutes from downtown and the airport.
Recessions are an excellent time to ramp up your marketing efforts because it is counterintuitive. Most firms are pulling back, and your efforts will stand out because many of your competitors have reduced their presence.
You won’t find this kind of information and opportunity at this price anywhere. Make an investment in your firm’s future and join your fellow legal marketers for this invaluable presentation. The information shared and the networking opportunity can open doors for your firm that will allow you take your firm to the next level.
To register for this seminar, co-hosted by FindLaw, Attorney at Law Magazine and The Rainmaker Institute, click here.
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Are you looking for specific marketing strategies you can use in your law firm?
Then order the Rainmaker in a Box 5-DVD set!
Some of the information and strategies you will learn include:
- The 5 Immutable Secrets to Building a 7 Figure Law Practice
- Secrets of Building a Referral-based Law Practice for Busy Practitioners
- The Top 6 Most Powerful Online Marketing Strategies for Attorneys
- Action, Accountability and Next Steps
This program also includes a data DVD which includes all 4 PowerPoint slides for all 4 presentations. We recommend you print all these off and take notes on them as you watch the 4 intense DVDs.
To order this information-packed set click here.
Don't be afraid to work Green into your law firm marketing
Today is Earth Day, when we as Americans place more of an emphasis on protecting the natural environment with which we have been entrusted. Earth Day was created by President Nixon back in the early 1970s and has grown into a significant day in the United States. It is also a good time to stress the “green” aspects of your law firm in your legal marketing messages.
Being green doesn’t have to be an expensive proposition. Actually, many of the green practices will save you money over time. Reducing the volume of paper generated in your office saves you on paper and toner costs, as well as shredding costs. It also reduces the risk of papers inadvertently not being properly destroyed and being read at a later date.
Simple little steps, such as putting a tag on your email that says something to the effect of “Please join us in protecting the environment by not printing this email unless absolutely necessary” shows your commitment to the environment, and saves you and your clients money.
Another green step many firms have gone to is telecommuting. The security and speed of online document transfer networks has progressed to the point that work can be completed from home and delivered seamlessly to clients or to the office for mailing. Your clients will never know when they call, since most telephone systems can route calls to any phone you may be using.
If you are in a green building, use that in your marketing. Show some of the steps that you have taken to make the world a better place. If your firm participates in environmental cleanup events, highlight that on your website. It shows your human side and your concern for the community. It is low cost legal marketing that will broaden your appeal.
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Have you heard about the 2-Day Marketing Boot Camp for Small Law Firms?
If you're struggling to build your legal practice or want to learn a proven law firm marketing system for that has helped attorneys discover how to generate more referrals and find new clients fast then you owe it to yourself to check out a Rainmaker Retreat.
We would like to send you a DVD of your colleagues (and even your competitors) describing their experiences at our 2 day law firm marketing boot camp, the Rainmaker Retreat. Yes, we know you are skeptical (we wouldn't have it any other way). So instead of us telling you how these 2 days will transform your business, we will let our clients do the telling.
Click here to order your complimentary DVD right now.
