Ethical Marketing of Your Law Practice: Understanding New York’s New Rules on Lawyer Advertising

Effective June 1, 2026, the Judicial Departments of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, adopted sweeping changes to Article 7 of New York's Model Rules of Professional Conduct regarding lawyer advertising, client solicitation and identification of specialized areas of practice.  

For years, New York regulated attorney advertising through an extensive set of highly detailed requirements governing nearly every aspect of legal marketing. The former rules addressed everything from website archiving requirements and email subject lines to meta tags, attorney advertising labels, fee advertisements, record retention, solicitation filing requirements, and numerous disclosure obligations. The new rules abandon much of that detailed regulatory framework. Instead, New York has adopted a simpler, principles-based approach that more closely resembles the ABA Model Rules adopted in 2018.

This fast-paced program will cover the Model Rule changes with a particular focus on the following:

o attorney advertising and promotion: what has changed, and what remains the same

o person-to-person "live" solicitation of clients

o changes involving personal injury solicitations 

o elimination of Rule 7.4 and how practice areas and specialty certification need to be identified going forward

o the continued validity of NY state and local bar ethics opinions published prior to the new changes