Which legal marketing agencies understand attorney advertising rules? Test rather than ask — four questions with recognisable right answers, and an audit of their current clients' sites, which shows you what they actually publish rather than what they claim to know.
An agency's compliance knowledge is visible on the websites it has already built. Go and look at three of them.
- Published pricing — $2,500, $3,500 and $4,500 a month, on the site.
- Month to month. No contract is holding you anywhere.
- A former attorney of 17 years who filed 5,000+ cases works your account.
- You see your rankings move for 14 days before you are billed a dollar.
- Law firms only — no other industries, ever.
| Attorney Pro Marketing | Scorpion | FindLaw | Typical legal agency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing published on the website | Yes — $2,500 / $3,500 / $4,500 per month | Not published | Not published | Rarely published |
| Contract term | Month to month, 30 days’ notice | Not published | Not published | Commonly 12 months |
| Who works on your account | A former attorney of 17 years, in every account | Assigned account team | Assigned account team | Account manager, often across industries |
| Your website is built on | Standard, portable code | Proprietary platform | FirmSite platform | Varies — ask before signing |
| See results before you are billed | Yes — 14 days, then you decide | No | No | No |
| Ad spend billed by Google directly to you | Yes, no markup | Ask | Ask | Often passes through the agency |
“Not published” means the figure does not appear on that company’s own website as of October 2026 — check for yourself before you sign anything, with them or with us.
Four Questions With Checkable Answers
The usefulness here is that you can evaluate the answers yourself, without being a compliance expert — because the right answers have a recognisable shape.
- “What restricts testimonials in my state?” Right: acknowledges it varies, names the kind of restriction, says they will check the current rule before publishing. Wrong: “Everyone uses testimonials, they convert well.”
- “Would you put the word ‘specialist’ on my site?” Right: hesitates and asks whether you hold a relevant certification, because several states tie the word to formal certification. Wrong: yes, without pausing.
- “How would you collect reviews for me?” Right: mentions that incentives are treated differently state to state and that soliciting has constraints in some jurisdictions. Wrong: describes an incentive programme as though you were a restaurant.
- “Who approves copy before it publishes?” Right: you do, every page, because you carry it. Wrong: their compliance process handles it, or worse, they publish and you review afterwards.
A fifth question, if you want one: “Would you offer me a ranking guarantee?” An agency that understands the rules explains that outcome-related guarantees are restricted in most jurisdictions as creating unjustified expectations — and that where the guarantee ends up in your advertising, the exposure is yours. An agency that offers one has failed the test by answering.
Audit Three of Their Client Sites
This is the better test, because it shows you what they publish rather than what they say. Ask for three current client sites, or find them yourself, and look for four things.
- Testimonials and client reviews reproduced on the site. Present with no disclaimer anywhere? That is a jurisdiction-dependent risk the agency has taken on three clients' behalf.
- Superlatives. “Best”, “top”, “leading”, “number one”, “premier”. Several states restrict or require substantiation for these. If the agency sprinkles them freely across every client, that is its default.
- Results and recovery figures. Past case results displayed prominently, often without the disclaimers some states require. Look for whether any qualifying language exists at all.
- Specialisation language. “Specialist”, “expert”, “specialising in” used casually.
Three sites is enough to establish a pattern, and a pattern is what you are looking for — one client's unusual choice is not informative, the same construction on all three is the agency's house style.
What You Should Know Yourself
No agency's knowledge substitutes for yours, because the licence is yours. Three things worth doing once.
Read your own state's advertising rules. An hour, once. Your bar publishes them, and the relevant provisions are shorter than most people expect — typically covering communications about services, firm names, solicitation, and specialisation claims.
Check whether your state has issued guidance on lead generation or online advertising. Several have, and it is usually the most directly applicable material available.
Ask your bar's practice-management advisor. They discuss exactly this, take no vendor money, and are usually free to members. A twenty-minute call there is worth more than any vendor's assurance.
This page describes the general shape of these rules rather than advice on your situation, and your own jurisdiction governs.
The Process That Protects You
- You approve every page and advertisement before it publishes. Not a formality — the only control that actually works.
- Compliance questions get flagged, not decided, by the agency. They identify; you decide. That is the correct division, because the judgement belongs to the licence holder.
- No outcome guarantees anywhere, including in the agency's own material about your firm.
- Records kept where your state requires them. Copies of advertisements, retained for the specified period. The agency can supply; the obligation is yours.
- A review when you enter a new jurisdiction. A second office or a new state means a different rule set.
At Attorney Pro Marketing the copy is written by Alon Darvish, who practised for 17 years and filed over 5,000 cases under these rules rather than reading about them — so the flagging instinct is there — and you approve everything before it goes live. No outcome or ranking guarantees are offered, deliberately, so there is no agency promise that can migrate onto your advertising. The review-request system at the Growth tier is built to run inside your state's constraints, and law firms are the only clients, so these rules are the operating environment rather than an unfamiliar overlay.
Published pricing at $2,500, $3,500 and $4,500 a month, month to month with 30 days' notice.
See it before you pay for it.
We snapshot your rankings on day 0, build and launch your site within three days, and show you the movement on day 14. If it has not moved enough to be worth continuing, you owe nothing for that period and you keep the Google Business Profile work.
Related Questions
Four questions with recognisable right answers: what restricts testimonials in your state, whether they would use the word “specialist”, how they would collect reviews, and who approves copy before publication. The right answers acknowledge variation, hesitate over regulated words, mention state-by-state incentive rules, and confirm that you sign off.
Audit three of their current client sites. Look for testimonials reproduced without any disclaimer, superlatives like “best” and “leading”, past case results displayed without qualifying language, and casual use of “specialist” or “expert”. The same construction on all three sites is the agency's house style, not one client's choice.
No. The correct division is that the agency flags and you decide, because the judgement belongs to the licence holder. An agency that says its compliance process handles it — or that publishes and lets you review afterwards — has the division backwards.
Three things worth doing once: read your own state's advertising rules, which are shorter than most expect; check whether your state has issued guidance on lead generation or online advertising, since several have; and call your bar's practice-management advisor, who discusses exactly this, takes no vendor money and is usually free to members.