Foundational pillar / check attorney-client-relationship-notice
Attorney-client relationship notice
On pages that invite inquiries, checks for a notice that contacting the firm does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship.
By Shimon Carroll, Founder, SEO for AI Agents · Last updated
What this check measures
Whether the page invites contact (for example "contact us", "free consultation", "schedule your") and, if so, whether visible text mentions the attorney-client (or client-lawyer) relationship.
Why it matters
ABA Formal Opinion 10-457 on lawyer websites says firms that invite inquiries should consider warnings so a visitor is not misled into believing a client-lawyer relationship exists or that what they send is confidential, and notes that Model Rule 1.18 on prospective clients may apply. Disclaimers work only if they are readable and placed where visitors see them.
How we score it
A review prompt, not a legal verdict. Runs only on law firm audits. When the cue is missing the finding is low severity at medium confidence, which lowers the foundational pillar by about 0.6 points. A pass is informational and never scores. Pages that do not invite an inquiry are not evaluated. In that case the finding is marked not measured: it does not score and does not count toward coverage. Each finding names who should review it, quotes what we saw on the page, and cites the primary source. Where the page shows a US address we name the inferred state; otherwise the wording is state-agnostic.
Confidence-flag rules
MEDIUM: the check reads the visible page text, links, and JSON-LD directly, so what it quotes is exact, but wording can carry the same meaning in phrasing we do not recognise, and one page does not show the whole site.
Common mistakes
- Burying the notice on a separate terms page that visitors never open.
- A notice that says nothing about confidential information sent through the form.
- Wording so legalistic that a reasonable visitor would not understand it.
How to fix it
Next to the contact form or consultation button, add one or two plain sentences: contacting the firm does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship, and visitors should not send confidential details until the firm confirms representation. Have counsel approve it.
Primary sources
Changelog
- · New. This rule used to live only in the vertical configuration and never ran. It is now a registered review check with a cited primary source, framed as a prompt to review with a professional rather than a pass or fail legal verdict.