Foundational pillar / check attorney-jurisdiction-disclosure
Bar admission jurisdictions named
Looks for wording that tells visitors where the firm’s lawyers are admitted to practice, such as "licensed in Maryland and Virginia" or a state bar reference.
By Shimon Carroll, Founder, SEO for AI Agents · Last updated
What this check measures
Visible text such as "licensed in", "admitted to practice in", "member of the State Bar", "bar admissions", or a bar number. We quote the first match as evidence.
Why it matters
ABA Model Rule 7.1 bars communications that are false or misleading, and implying admission where a lawyer is not admitted is a common way to mislead. Naming the admitted jurisdictions also helps AI answers place a firm geographically. Specific disclosure requirements vary by state, so this is a review prompt.
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. 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
- Serving clients in several states without saying where the lawyers are admitted.
- Leaving a departed lawyer’s admissions on the site.
- Using a state name in a city page as if it implied admission there.
How to fix it
Add a short line naming the jurisdictions where your attorneys are admitted, on the homepage or footer and on each attorney bio. Keep it current as people join or leave.
Primary sources
- ABA Model Rule 7.1, Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services
American Bar Association
- ABA Model Rule 7.2, Communications Concerning a Lawyer’s Services: Specific Rules
American Bar Association
- Maryland Attorneys’ Rules of Professional Conduct (Rule 19-307.2, Advertising)
Maryland Judiciary
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.