Arizona rewrote its lawyer-advertising rules in 2020. Supreme Court Order R-20-0030, filed August 27, 2020 and effective January 1, 2021, amended ERs 7.1 through 7.5 of Rule 42: ER 7.1 (false or misleading communications) and ER 7.3 (solicitation) remain, and ERs 7.2 (advertising and payment for recommendations), 7.4 (fields of practice) and 7.5 (firm names) were deleted and marked [Reserved], with their surviving substance moved into ER 7.1 and its comments. Neither ER 7.1 nor ER 7.3 requires an advertisement to be filed with or approved by the State Bar before use; the former ER 7.3(c)(1), which required a copy of every written solicitation to be forwarded to the State Bar's Phoenix office, was deleted in the same order. Rule text read from the Order on 2026-10-10 and checked against the State Bar of Arizona's Ethics Tips for Attorney Marketing; this is a description of the published rules, not legal advice — confirm application with your own counsel.
False or misleading communications
ER 7.1, 7.1(a)ER 7.1 opens: "A lawyer shall not make or knowingly permit to be made on the lawyer's behalf a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer's services." Paragraph (a): "A communication is false or misleading if it contains a material misrepresentation of fact or law, or omits a fact necessary to make the statement considered as a whole not materially misleading." Comment [2]: "Promising or guaranteeing a particular outcome or result is misleading."
Name and contact information on every communication
ER 7.1(c)ER 7.1(c): "Any communication made pursuant to this Rule shall include the name and contact information for at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content." Comment [9]: contact information "includes a website address, a telephone number, an email address or a physical office location."
Specialization and certification claims
ER 7.1(b); Ariz. R. Sup. Ct. 44ER 7.1(b): "A lawyer shall not state or imply that a lawyer is certified as a specialist in a particular field of law, unless the lawyer complies with Arizona Supreme Court Rule 44 requirements." Comment [6] permits a lawyer to say the lawyer "concentrates in" or "specializes in" a field based on experience, subject to the false-and-misleading standard; Comment [8] requires the name of the certifying organization in any communication about a certification. The State Bar's tips sheet adds that firms are not certified, lawyers are — identify the certified lawyers, not the firm.
Firm names and trade names
ER 7.1, Comment [4]Governed by ER 7.1 and its Comment [4], not a separate rule: a firm may be designated by the names of current or deceased members "or by a trade name if it is not false or misleading"; a name is misleading if it implies a connection with a government agency, a lawyer not associated with the firm, a nonlawyer, or a public or charitable legal services organization. ER 7.5 (Firm Names and Letterheads) is [Reserved].
Solicitation
ER 7.3(b)–(c)ER 7.3(b): "A lawyer shall not solicit professional employment by live person-to-person contact when a significant motive for the lawyer's doing so is the lawyer's or firm's pecuniary gain," unless the contact is with a lawyer, a person who has a family, close personal, or prior business or professional relationship with the lawyer or firm, or a person who routinely uses the type of legal services offered for business purposes. ER 7.3(c) bars any solicitation where the target has made known a desire not to be solicited, or that involves coercion, duress or harassment. The former 30-day bar on soliciting personal-injury and wrongful-death victims and the "Advertising Material" label on written solicitations were deleted effective January 1, 2021.
Payment for recommendations and referral fees
ER 7.2 [Reserved]; State Bar tips sheetER 7.2 is [Reserved]: Arizona deleted the rule that barred giving "anything of value to a person for recommending the lawyer's services" effective January 1, 2021. The State Bar's Ethics Tips for Attorney Marketing: "ER 7.2's ban on referral fees was deleted January 1, 2021. Lawyers may now pay anyone – lawyer or nonlawyer – a referral fee. You may advertise that you pay referral fees, if this is not misleading" — while client consent is required before disclosing that a referred client hired the lawyer, referral sources may not do what the lawyer cannot (ER 7.3), and a business arrangement with a referral source must not create a personal interest that affects the representation.
