The Profession and the Public
Advertising
Rule 7.1 prohibits false or misleading communications, including true statements that create a misleading impression through omission, unverifiable comparisons, or implied specialization outside certified fields (see Rule 7.4). Rule 7.2 permits advertising but bars giving anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer or for a referral. Exceptions include nominal gifts, bona fide employees, giving the client a copy of the file, paying for advertising, and payments to qualified nonprofit lawyer referral services that do not charge fees based on amounts recovered.
Solicitation
Rule 7.3 bars in-person, live telephone, and real-time electronic solicitation of a specific person when a significant motive is pecuniary gain, unless the person solicited is a lawyer or has a family or prior professional relationship with the lawyer. Written and recorded solicitations targeted at a person known to need legal services must be labeled "Advertising Material" on the outside. Soliciting persons known to be incapacitated or vulnerable is prohibited.
Names, letterhead, and public service
Rule 7.5 permits trade names but bars misleading firm names, including names implying a partnership that does not exist or implying a lawyer is admitted in a jurisdiction where she is not. Rule 6.1 sets an aspirational goal of at least 50 hours of pro bono service yearly, with most of it without fee and a portion to persons of limited means; Rule 6.2 discourages seeking to avoid court appointments except for good cause. Rules 5.1 to 5.3 require reasonable supervision of subordinate lawyers and nonlawyer staff, on whose conduct a lawyer may be disciplined if she orders or ratifies it.
Traps
A communication can be literally true and still violate 7.1; paying a marketing consultant per signed client is a referral payment; only live, real-time solicitation with a pecuniary motive is banned, not all outreach.
Worked example
A firm promises a chiropractor $500 per client referred. That is an impermissible payment for recommendation under 7.2(b).