At a Glance

• Advertising is allowed, but false or misleading communications are prohibited.
• Include a responsible lawyer or firm’s name and office address. Keep each advertising communication for six years after dissemination.
• Qualifying targeted solicitations require “Advertising Material,” filing at or before dissemination and a $50 filing fee.
• Accident and disaster solicitations covered by Rule 7.3(b)(3) may begin only after the incident occurred more than 30 days earlier.
• Specialist claims require certification by an Indiana-accredited independent certifying organization and identification of that organization.

Rules 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4

Read source: Rules 7.1 · 7.2 · 7.3 · 7.4

Who Regulates

The Indiana Supreme Court adopts the Rules of Professional Conduct. Its Disciplinary Commission is the agency to which Rule 7.3 directs targeted-solicitation filings. A submission to the Commission is a filing obligation, not permission to use otherwise prohibited content. This guide distinguishes the binding rule text from the court’s explanatory commentary.

Rule 7.3

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

What Counts as Advertising

Rule 7.2(a) expressly defines advertising as any public communication partly or entirely intended or expected to promote the purchase or use of a lawyer’s, firm’s or employee’s professional services involving law practice or law-related services. That definition reaches more than paid placements. A promotional practice page, social post or video can qualify even without an advertising budget.

Rule 7.1 also governs all communications about a lawyer’s services. Rule 7.3 adds separate limits when a message solicits a prospective client, including someone potentially needing legal services in a particular matter. Rule 7.1, Rule 7.2 and Rule 7.3.

Rules 7.1, 7.2, 7.3

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

Required Disclosures

Every communication covered by Rule 7.2 must name at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content and provide an office address. A logo, anonymous campaign brand or telephone number alone does not satisfy that text.

For Rule 7.3(c) targeted solicitations, place “Advertising Material” conspicuously on the face of any outside envelope and at the beginning of a written communication. Recorded or electronic communications require the words at both the beginning and end. The paragraph exempts recipients who are lawyers or have a family, close personal or prior professional relationship with the lawyer.

The commentary to Rule 7.1 identifies dramatizations and re-creations as misleading absent clear, conspicuous disclosure or other protective circumstances. Certification claims have their own organization-identification requirement under Rule 7.4(d)(2). Rules 7.1 comment [2], 7.2(c), 7.3(c).

Rules 7.1, 7.2, 7.3(c), 7.4(d)(2)

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

Filing, Review & Recordkeeping

The responsible lawyer or firm must preserve a copy or recording of each Rule 7.2 communication for six years after dissemination. Rule 7.3(c) separately requires a copy of each covered targeted communication to be filed with the Disciplinary Commission at or before dissemination, with a $50 fee payable to the “Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission Fund.”

For a distribution to multiple recipients, one copy may omit recipient-specific information, such as names, addresses, email addresses and mailing dates. Each changed or altered version must be filed before or when distributed. Keep the names and addresses, including email addresses, of recipients for at least one year after the last distribution. Filed communications are open to public inspection.

The rules reviewed do not impose general preapproval or general-ad filing. Do not confuse that limited conclusion with the targeted-solicitation requirements. Rule 7.2(c); Rule 7.3(c).

Rules 7.2(c), 7.3(c)

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

Results, Testimonials & Comparisons

Indiana’s commentary provides a detailed list of communications that violate Rule 7.1 absent protective circumstances. It includes past-performance statistics, express or implied success predictions, results likely to create expectations of similar outcomes, unsubstantiated comparisons and testimonials likely to create unjustified expectations. A third party cannot make a claim for the firm that the lawyer could not make personally. Appeals primarily to fear, greed or revenge also appear on the list.

A disclaimer is not a universal cure. Review the impression of the whole advertisement, including imagery and prominence. For client stories, obtain informed consent before using representation information unless another authorization under Rule 1.6 actually applies. Accuracy and confidentiality are separate questions. Rule 7.1 and commentary; Rule 1.6.

Rules 1.6, 7.1

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

Specialization & Certification

A lawyer may identify practice fields or limits on the matters accepted. Stating or implying specialist status is different: Rule 7.4(d) requires certification by an independent certifying organization accredited by the Indiana Commission for Continuing Legal Education under Admission and Discipline Rule 30, and the communication must identify the certifying organization. The rule separately permits appropriate patent and admiralty designations. Do not substitute a marketing award for the certification the rule requires. Rule 7.4.

Rule 7.4(d)

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

Firm, Trade & Domain Names

Rule 7.5 permits nonmisleading trade names. A private practice name cannot imply government or public or charitable legal-services affiliation. A multijurisdictional firm may use the same name or designation in Indiana if it complies with the rule and identifies the jurisdictional limitations of lawyers not licensed in Indiana.

A public-office holder’s name generally cannot remain in firm communications during a substantial period without active, regular practice, although members of part-time legislative bodies are expressly excepted. Shared office space does not justify claiming a partnership or firm relationship that does not exist. The commentary also recognizes distinctive website addresses, subject to the same truthfulness standard. Rule 7.5.

Rule 7.5

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

Solicitation & Direct Contact

A lawyer, employee or agent may not use in-person, live telephone or real-time electronic contact to solicit when a significant motive for doing so is the lawyer’s pecuniary gain, unless the recipient is a lawyer or has the specified family, close personal or prior professional relationship.

Other prohibitions apply across delivery methods. Do not solicit someone who has asked not to be contacted, use coercion or harassment, target a specific matter when the person is known or reasonably should be known to have counsel, or approach someone whose condition makes reasonable hiring judgment unlikely. The accident/disaster restriction applies when the communication concerns personal injury, wrongful death or otherwise relates to an accident or disaster involving the recipient or a relative. The operative text requires that the event occurred more than 30 days before solicitation begins.

Rule 7.3(f) also prohibits accepting employment when the lawyer knows or reasonably should know it resulted from conduct prohibited by the rule. Rule 7.3(a)–(c), (f).

Rules 7.3(a), 7.3(f)

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

Channel-Specific Notes

Advertising and solicitation rules follow the message online. Paying reasonable advertising and marketing-vendor costs is permitted, but paying for a recommendation or channeling professional work is restricted. Rule 7.2 allows specified nonexclusive reciprocal referral agreements with disclosure to the client. Rule 7.3(d) separately limits the referral services with which a lawyer may cooperate, and Rule 7.3(e) restricts compensation for securing employment.

Review a lead service’s actual conduct and payment model against both provisions before purchasing leads. An agency’s involvement does not remove the lawyer’s responsibility for nonlawyer conduct under Rule 5.3. Rule 7.2(b) and commentary [4]; Rule 7.3(d)–(e); Rule 5.3.

Rules 5.3, 7.2(b), 7.3(d), 7.3(e)

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

Recent Changes & Scope

Sources were checked November 11, 2026. The current pages identify January 1, 2011 effective dates for Rules 7.1–7.4 and January 1, 2021 for Rule 7.5. Consult the court’s amendment orders and proposals, including the June 2026 Rule 1.8 proposal, for later developments. This summary does not provide an exhaustive account of every adoption order or pending proceeding.

Campaign-specific statutes, federal communications law and decisions applying these rules require separate review. This article is not a clearance opinion. Amendment orders; proposals; June 2026 proposal.

Rules 1.8, 7.1, 7.4, 7.5

Read source: Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct

Official Sources

Read the official rules alongside other applicable law and obtain campaign-specific advice.

1. Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct, especially Rules 1.6, 5.3 and 7.1–7.5. Binding rules with explanatory commentary.Official source · Checked November 12, 2026
2. Indiana Supreme Court rule-amendment orders. Adoption and effective-date checks.Official source · Checked November 12, 2026
3. Proposed amendments. Proposals are not adopted law.Official source · Checked November 12, 2026

General information, not legal advice. The complete rules, their exceptions and campaign-specific legal review control. Source checking does not constitute approval of an advertisement.