At a Glance

New Hampshire lawyer marketing requires attention to the message, the audience, and the way the contact happens. A public practice-area page raises different questions from a direct message sent to someone known to need a lawyer. Claims about results, professional credentials, and client experiences need particular care.

The discussion below follows Rules 7.1 through 7.5 as published by the New Hampshire Judicial Branch, together with dated Bar Association ethics guidance. It is a starting point for reviewing a campaign, not a substitute for the full rule text.

New Hampshire Judicial Branch: Rules of Professional Conduct. Governing consolidated source; controls over summaries.

Read source: New Hampshire Judicial Branch: Rules of Professional Conduct. Governing consolidated source; controls over summaries.

Who Regulates

The New Hampshire Supreme Court’s Rules of Professional Conduct govern lawyers’ ethical duties. Its Attorney Discipline Office handles allegations of professional misconduct. The Bar Association Ethics Committee publishes useful interpretive guidance, but bar commentary and a court rule are different authorities.

Start with the court’s operative rules when resolving a question. A marketing summary, an older ethics article, or a rule from a neighboring state cannot replace the New Hampshire text.

New Hampshire Attorney Discipline System overview; New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct

Read source: New Hampshire Attorney Discipline System overview · New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct

What Counts as Advertising

Rule 7.2(a) permits advertising through written, recorded, or electronic communication, including public media, subject to the truthfulness and solicitation rules in Rules 7.1 and 7.3. That covers more than a conventional paid advertisement. A website, video, social post, and promotional message all deserve review.

Rule 7.1 addresses material inaccuracies and misleading omissions, unjustified expectations about results, improper means of achieving results, and comparisons that cannot be factually supported. Read the whole impression created by the words and images, not just whether each isolated sentence is literally accurate.

Rules 7.1, 7.2(a)

Read source: New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct

Required Disclosures

Rule 7.2(c) requires an advertisement to include the name and office address of at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content. A logo alone may not provide both. Check the information in the actual advertisement, including a version cropped for a social platform.

Targeted solicitation can require a separate advertising label. Rule 7.3(c) addresses communications to a prospective client known to need legal services in a particular matter: the word “Advertising” appears on the outside envelope, if there is one, and at the beginning and end of recorded or electronic communications, subject to the rule’s recipient exceptions.

Do not turn that provision into a claim that every public web page requires the same label. Classification depends on the communication and audience.

Rules 7.2(c), 7.3(c)

Read source: New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct

Filing, Review & Recordkeeping

New Hampshire’s Rules 7.1 through 7.5 contain no advertising filing, pre-approval, or copy-retention requirement. That does not remove the need to substantiate claims or to keep records the firm needs for other obligations.

As a practical review process, preserve the final copy, graphics, targeting instructions, disclosures, dates, and any supporting materials for factual claims. Decide the appropriate retention period under the operative rules and the firm’s other obligations. Do not confuse a recommended campaign file with a specific mandatory retention period.

Rules 7.1–7.5

Read source: New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct

Results, Testimonials & Comparisons

A result can be accurately reported yet create a misleading expectation when stripped of context. Rule 7.1(b) and (c) expressly address unjustified expectations and comparisons that cannot be substantiated. Avoid presenting one outcome as a promise about the next person’s case.

Client confidentiality is a separate concern. The Bar Association’s online-presence guidance warns against revealing representation details while marketing or answering a negative review. An anonymous review does not necessarily make it safe to publish identifying details in response.

For a testimonial or results graphic, examine the client’s permission, the overall impression, and the support for each claim. A disclaimer is not a substitute for accurate wording.

Rule 7.1; NHBA, Online Presence and Client Confidences

Read source: New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct · NHBA, Online Presence and Client Confidences

Specialization & Certification

Describing a practice area and claiming a specialist certification are different statements. Rule 7.4 bars stating or implying specialist status except for “patent attorney” for a lawyer admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, admiralty designations, and certification by an organization accredited by the American Bar Association, which the lawyer may describe as certification by that organization. Verify the lawyer’s actual credential, the accrediting status, and the permitted wording before using a specialist designation.

Do not assume that years of experience, an award, or a directory badge is equivalent to specialist certification. The full operative Rule 7.4 and any applicable exceptions control the wording.

Rule 7.4

Read source: New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct

Firm, Trade & Domain Names

The truthfulness principle also matters when choosing a firm name, website address, or location-page title. Review what a reader would understand about the lawyers, their admissions, their association with one another, and the services actually available.

A descriptive domain does not establish that the firm has an office in the named community. Do not use a name or address presentation to suggest a credential, location, relationship, or public affiliation the firm does not have. Rule 7.5 also applies directly. A firm name, letterhead, or designation may not violate Rule 7.1; a trade name may not imply a connection with a government agency or a public or charitable legal services organization; lawyers in an office must show jurisdictional limits for those not licensed where the office is located; a lawyer holding public office may not be named while not actively and regularly practicing with the firm; and lawyers may imply a partnership or other organization only when that is the fact.

Rules 7.1, 7.5

Read source: New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct

Solicitation & Direct Contact

Rule 7.3(a) restricts lawyer-initiated in-person, live-voice, recorded, or other real-time contact to obtain professional employment. Its listed exceptions cover lawyers; certain family, personal, or prior professional relationships; specified organizational representatives; and individuals who regularly need legal services commercially. The business-related exceptions include conditions about whether the recipient is known to need services in a particular matter. Paragraph (d) also exempts certain prepaid or group legal service plan contacts, contact initiated by a nonprofit organization, contact with people who may be joined in class litigation, and requests for referrals from bar-approved referral services.

Paragraph (b) separately prohibits contact after a recipient has expressed a wish not to receive it, communications involving coercion, duress, or harassment, and contact when the recipient’s condition creates a substantial risk that the person cannot exercise reasonable judgment in hiring a lawyer.

Do not reduce this to a blanket permission to call businesses or a blanket ban on all written outreach. Review the actual recipient, purpose, timing, and communication method.

Rule 7.3(a), (b), (d)

Read source: New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct

Channel-Specific Notes

Texts and direct messages. The NHBA’s May 2019 texting article distinguishes real-time contact from written or electronic advertising. It treats text advertising as potentially permissible with the other safeguards, while acknowledging that New Hampshire had not directly decided the classification question. That dated guidance should not be presented as a current court ruling approving every messaging campaign.

Social media. The NHBA’s online-presence article discusses confidentiality and the value of clarifying that general content does not provide legal advice or establish representation. Review intake and comment practices as well as the public post.

Discount offers. NHBA Advisory Opinion 2013-14/08 distinguishes coupon deals from prepaid deals and identifies fee, trust-account, competence, conflicts, and refund problems. It does not give blanket permission to sell legal services through a deal platform. Read the opinion’s conditions and the current rules before designing an offer.

Paid leads and referrals. Rule 7.2(b) bars giving anything of value for a recommendation, except paying the reasonable costs of permitted advertising, paying a fee charged by an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) organization, and purchasing a practice under Rule 1.17. New Hampshire omits the Model Rule exception for reciprocal referral agreements.

Rule 7.2(b); NHBA, Lawyers and Texting: Part V (May 2019); NHBA, Online Presence and Client Confidences; NHBA Advisory Opinion 2013-14/08 (February 2014)

Read source: NHBA, Lawyers and Texting: Part V (May 2019) · NHBA, Online Presence and Client Confidences · NHBA Advisory Opinion 2013-14/08 (February 2014) · New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct

Recent Changes & Scope

No pending amendment to Rules 7.1 through 7.5 was identified when the Judicial Branch’s rules were checked. The operative New Hampshire rules control. The NHBA also cautions that older opinions may interpret earlier versions of the rules.

Use particular care with paid recommendations and referral arrangements, specialist wording, targeted communications, and channel-specific statutes. This summary does not clear a particular lead-generation agreement, message campaign, or advertisement. Obtain advice addressing the current text and the facts of the proposed campaign.

New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct; NHBA opinion and caution concerning older ethics materials

Read source: New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct · NHBA opinion and caution concerning older ethics materials

Official Sources

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

1. New Hampshire Judicial Branch: Rules of Professional Conduct. Governing consolidated source; controls over summaries.Official source · Checked November 12, 2026
2. New Hampshire Attorney Discipline System: Overview.Official source · Checked November 12, 2026
3. NHBA: Lawyers and Texting, Part V. May 2019 ethics commentary.Official source · Checked November 12, 2026
4. NHBA: Online Presence and Client Confidences. Ethics commentary.Official source · Checked November 12, 2026
5. NHBA Advisory Opinion 2013-14/08. February 2014; older interpretive guidance.Official source · Checked November 12, 2026