For your firm's lawyer
New Jersey's ad rules, and how our featured spots meet them
New Jersey lets lawyers pay the reasonable cost of advertising. It forbids paying anyone to recommend them, paying a for-profit company per client, and sharing fees with anyone who isn't a lawyer. Our featured spots are flat-fee, labeled ads, the same price for every firm in a city. Checked November 6, 2026.
What a featured spot is
- One flat monthly price per city, the same for every firm. Month to month.
- Labeled "Sponsored," set apart from every ranked list, and never inside one.
- The firm's name, logo, the town of its office, a headline and a description in its own words, and Call and Website buttons. No rank, score or badge.
- Shows under the city's rankings, beside the guides and on the city's crash map, where the city's featured firms take turns on one banner.
- Up to 3 per city. Only for firms ranked in the city or with an office within 15 miles of it, and with no public discipline in the last 5 years.
- Being featured never adds a firm to a ranking.
- Never changes a rank, a score, a guide, a crash number or a fact we publish.
Paying for advertising
RPC 7.2(c)(1)
"shall not give anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer's services" … "a lawyer may pay the reasonable cost of advertising or written communication permitted by this Rule"
Source: New Jersey Courts, Rules of Professional Conduct, checked November 6, 2026.
What we do: A featured spot is advertising at one flat monthly price per city, the same for every firm. It never recommends a firm.
Paying for a recommendation
RPC 7.3(d)
"the lawyer may pay for public communications permitted by RPC 7.1"
Source: New Jersey Courts, Rules of Professional Conduct, checked November 6, 2026.
What we do: A spot is a public, labeled ad on our pages. We never choose a firm for anyone, and paying never changes a rank, a score or a fact we publish.
For-profit referral services
Notice to the Bar, June 6, 2023
"For-profit attorney referral services are not permitted in New Jersey." … "Lawyers may not pay anything of value to a for-profit company for referring clients."
Source: New Jersey Courts, Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law, checked November 6, 2026.
What we do: We don't refer cases, match anyone with a lawyer, or charge per client, case, lead or call. A person picks a firm on their own and calls it directly.
A website that lists paying lawyers
Committee on Attorney Advertising, Opinion 43 (2011)
"must inform the User that attorneys have paid a fee to participate" … "must make a full list of participating attorneys readily accessible" … "must refrain from making statements vouching for the quality of the participating attorneys"
Source: Rutgers Law Library, checked November 6, 2026.
What we do: Every spot is labeled "Sponsored." Our Disclosure page lists every featured firm. A spot never says "best," "top" or "recommended," and never shows a rank, a score or a badge.
Per-service fees
Joint Opinion: Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics 732, Committee on Attorney Advertising 44 (2017)
"New Jersey lawyers may not participate in the Avvo legal service programs." … "does not determine the purpose of the fee."
Source: Rutgers Law Library, checked November 6, 2026.
What we do: The fee is flat and never tied to a client, a case, a fee earned or a service sold. We report views, calls and website visits, never signed cases or retention.
Sharing fees
RPC 5.4(a)
"A lawyer or law firm shall not share legal fees with a nonlawyer"
Source: New Jersey Courts, Rules of Professional Conduct, checked November 6, 2026.
What we do: We never take any share of a legal fee.
Keeping a copy of the ad
RPC 7.2(b)
"shall be kept for three years after its dissemination" … "along with a record of when and where it was used"
Source: New Jersey Courts, Rules of Professional Conduct, checked November 6, 2026.
What we do: Each month we email the firm screenshots of its spot and its turn on the crash map banner, with the pages and dates it ran, for its records.
Comparing lawyers
RPC 7.1(a)(3)
"No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey"
Source: New Jersey Courts, Rules of Professional Conduct, checked November 6, 2026.
What we do: A spot carries no rank, score, badge or comparison. A firm that shows its free Counselworthy badge in its own ads must carry this disclaimer, and the badge has it built in.
Contact after a specific accident
RPC 7.3(b)
"unsolicited direct contact with a prospective client concerning a specific event"
Source: New Jersey Courts, Rules of Professional Conduct, checked November 6, 2026.
What we do: Spots, on the crash map banner too, are public web pages, not direct contact. We turn down any spot's line that points at a specific crash or the people in it, and we never contact anyone for a firm.
Not legal advice
Counselworthy wrote this summary from New Jersey's published rules and ethics opinions. No lawyer wrote or reviewed it, and it isn't legal advice. The rules bind lawyers, so your firm's own counsel decides. Advisory opinions aren't binding and can change. We recheck every source here every 6 months. The rule text is New Jersey Courts' own copy of the Rules of Professional Conduct, which lists amendments through November 17, 2020, so check njcourts.gov for anything newer.
No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.