Law firm digital marketing starts after the referral, because clients check a firm online before they call. Scorpion's 2025 Legal Consumer Trends Report found that 74% of legal clients research law firms online after a personal recommendation. Rule 7.1 of the ABA Model Rules bars false or misleading communications, so every claim on a firm's website needs a factual basis.
What do legal clients do after a referral?
Legal clients check a firm online after a referral and judge it on reviews, chat and response time. Scorpion's report, released September 10, 2025 with market research firm Dynata, found that nearly 60% of consumers say online reviews carry more weight than word of mouth, and that over half refuse to consider a firm rated below four stars.
| Finding | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Research a law firm online after a personal recommendation | 74% |
| Say online reviews carry more weight than word of mouth | Nearly 60% |
| Will not choose a firm without online chat | More than half |
| Will not wait more than 24 hours for a callback | 72% |
Source: Scorpion 2025 Legal Consumer Trends Report, as summarized by Localogy and Scorpion. Scorpion sells digital marketing to law firms, so this is vendor research and should be read that way.
What does Rule 7.1 allow a law firm to say online?
Rule 7.1 allows a law firm to say anything about the lawyer or the firm's services that is true and not misleading. ABA Model Rule 7.1 prohibits false or misleading communications, and the ABA's commentary to the rule says it governs all communications about a lawyer's services, including advertising.
The commentary also says that truthful statements can still be misleading. A statement is misleading when it omits a fact needed to keep the communication as a whole from misleading, or when it leads a reasonable person to a conclusion with no reasonable factual foundation. An unsubstantiated comparison of one lawyer's services or fees with another's may mislead when it is specific enough to sound provable.
State rules differ from the Model Rules. The ABA publishes a document of differences between state advertising rules and the Model Rules, so a firm should check its own jurisdiction. This is general information, not legal advice.
How should a law firm handle reviews and intake?
A law firm should handle reviews and intake with a written reply policy and a response-time standard, because clients can see both. Scorpion found that 72% of respondents will not wait more than 24 hours for a callback and that more than half will not choose a firm without online chat.
Replying to a review is also an ethics question. A lawyer's confidentiality duties limit what the lawyer can say about a client's matter in public, so the firm's ethics counsel should approve reply templates before anyone posts. The wider discipline of owning what the public sees about a firm is covered in reputation management.
Intake is part of marketing. A firm that earns the call and then misses it has paid for attention it cannot use. When a review turns into a public dispute, the crisis communications hub shows how to structure a calm response.
What should a law firm digital marketing plan include?
A law firm digital marketing plan should include a claims audit, practice-area pages, a review policy, an intake standard and a check of what AI answers say. Five steps put that into practice.
- Audit every claim on the website against Rule 7.1 and the state rules with ethics counsel, including any comparison with other firms.
- Build practice-area pages that answer what clients ask: the lawyer's credentials, the kinds of cases the firm handles, what to expect and what it costs.
- Set a review request and reply policy, and keep client matters out of every public reply.
- Set an intake standard, such as a callback within 24 hours and a chat option on the site.
- Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews who the best lawyer is for a given practice area in your city, then record whether your firm is named and which source is cited. The GEO agency guide explains what to look for.
Firms looking for outside help can review 5W's law firm digital marketing practice, and the guide to choosing a PR firm lists questions to ask any agency. Litigation work has its own limits on public statements, covered in the litigation PR guide. Playbooks for other sectors sit in the industry PR guides.
The through-line is that the referral starts the process and the website finishes it. Make the claims provable, make the reviews and response time visible, and have ethics counsel sign off on the copy.
Frequently asked questions
How do clients find lawyers?
Clients find lawyers through referrals and online searches, and many do both. Scorpion found that 74% of legal clients research law firms online after a personal recommendation.
Can a law firm say it is the best?
A law firm should be careful claiming it is the best, because ABA commentary says an unsubstantiated comparison with other lawyers may be misleading when it is specific enough to sound provable. State rules differ, so ethics counsel should review any comparative claim.
Do online reviews matter for law firms?
Online reviews matter for law firms because clients use them to decide. Scorpion found that nearly 60% of consumers say reviews carry more weight than word of mouth and that over half refuse to consider a firm rated below four stars.
Do state advertising rules differ from the ABA Model Rules?
State advertising rules do differ from the ABA Model Rules. The ABA publishes a document comparing them, and a firm should follow the rules of each state where it practices.
This guide is general communications information, not legal advice. A firm's ethics counsel should review marketing copy against its state's rules.