Title: In Re: Amendments to Rule Regulating The Florida Bar 4-7.14
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: SC18-2019
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: June 27, 2019

Supreme Court of Florida 
 
 
____________ 
 
No. SC18-2019 
____________ 
 
 
IN RE:  AMENDMENTS TO RULE REGULATING THE FLORIDA BAR 4-
7.14. 
 
June 27, 2019 
 
PER CURIAM. 
 
The Florida Bar petitions the Court to amend Rule Regulating the Florida 
Bar (Bar Rule) 4-7.14 (Potentially Misleading Advertisements).  We have 
jurisdiction.  See art. V, § 15, Fla. Const. 
 
The Bar proposes removing the requirement from Bar Rule 4-7.14 that a 
lawyer must be board certified to claim expertise or specialization in 
advertisements.  It also proposes adding new language to the rule, as well as to the 
rule’s commentary, setting out when a law firm or lawyer who is not board 
certified may claim specialization or expertise.1  The proposed amendments are in 
response to In re Amendments to the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar (Biennial 
                                          
 
 
1.  In addition, the Bar proposes making a number of nonsubstantive 
amendments throughout rule 4-7.14 for clarity and to conform to the Court’s 
guidelines for rule submissions. 
 
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Petition), 234 So. 3d 577 (Fla. 2017), where the Court rejected as problematic the 
Bar’s initial attempt to address the United States District Court for the Northern 
District of Florida’s decision in Searcy v. Florida Bar, 140 F. Supp. 3d 1290 (N.D. 
Fla. 2015), which held, in relevant part, that provisions in Bar Rule 4-7.14(a) 
broadly prohibiting lawyers who were not board certified from making truthful 
statements that they “specialize in” or “have expertise in” a particular field of 
practice were unconstitutional. 
The Bar’s proposal in this case was approved by the Board of Governors of 
The Florida Bar, and formal notice of the proposed amendments was published in 
The Florida Bar News.  The notice directed interested persons to file their 
comments directly with the Court.  The Court received one comment from attorney 
Joseph Schimmel, who identified what he believed to be several ambiguities in the 
Bar’s proposal.  The Bar filed a response and an amended proposal correcting 
many of the issues identified by Mr. Schimmel. 
 
Having considered the Bar’s petition, the comment filed, and the Bar’s 
response and amended proposal, the Court hereby adopts the amendments to Bar 
Rule 4-7.14 contained in the Bar’s amended proposal with the following 
modifications.  We replace the word “and” in new subdivision (a)(5) and in the 
new comment with “or” to clarify that a lawyer may claim specialization or 
expertise if he or she can objectively verify the claim based on his or her 
 
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“education, training, experience, or substantial involvement in the area of 
practice.”  We also delete from the new comment the phrase “that is generally 
understood within the legal community to be.” 
Accordingly, Rule Regulating the Florida Bar 4-7.14 is amended as set forth 
in the appendix to this opinion.  Deletions are indicated by struck-through type, 
and new language is indicated by underscoring.  The amendments shall become 
effective on August 26, 2019.   
It is so ordered. 
CANADY, C.J., and POLSTON, LABARGA, LAWSON, LAGOA, LUCK, and 
MUÑIZ, JJ., concur. 
 
THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER THE 
EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS. 
 
Original Proceeding – Florida Rules Regulating the Florida Bar 
 
Joshua E. Doyle, Executive Director, Michelle R. Suskauer, President, John M. 
Stewart, President-elect, Lori S. Holcomb, Director, Division of Ethics and 
Consumer Protection, and Elizabeth Clark Tarbert, Ethics Counsel, The Florida 
Bar, Tallahassee, Florida, 
 
 
for Petitioner 
 
Joseph Barry Schimmel and Robert M. Sondak of Cohen, Chase, Hoffman & 
Schimmel, P.A., Miami, Florida, 
 
 
Responding with comments 
 
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Appendix 
RULES REGULATING THE FLORIDA BAR 
CHAPTER 4.  RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT 
 4-7. INFORMATION ABOUT LEGAL SERVICES  
RULE 4-7.14  POTENTIALLY MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENTS 
A lawyer may not engage in potentially misleading advertising. 
(a)  Potentially Misleading Advertisements.  Potentially misleading 
advertisements include, but are not limited to:  
(1)  advertisements that are subject to varying reasonable interpretations, 1 
or more of which would be materially misleading when considered in the 
relevant context; 
(2)  advertisements that are literally accurate, but could reasonably mislead 
a prospective client regarding a material fact; 
(3)  references to a lawyer’s membership in, or recognition by, an entity 
that purports to base suchthe membership or recognition on a lawyer’s ability 
or skill, unless the entity conferring suchthe membership or recognition is 
generally recognized within the legal profession as being a bona fide 
organization that makes its selections based upon objective and uniformly 
applied criteria, and that includes among its members or those recognized a 
reasonable cross-section of the legal community the entity purports to cover; 
(4)  a statement that a lawyer is board certified, a specialist, an expert, or 
other variations of those termsthat term unless: 
(A)  the lawyer has been certified under the Florida Certification Plan 
as set forth in chapter 6, Rules Regulating the Florida Bar, and the 
advertisement includes the area of certification and that The Florida Bar is 
the certifying organization; 
(B)  the lawyer has been certified by an organization whose specialty 
certification program has been accredited by the American Bar Association 
or The Florida Bar as provided elsewhere in these rules.  A lawyer certified 
by a specialty certification program accredited by the American Bar 
Association but not The Florida Bar must include the statement “Not 
Certified as a Specialist by The Florida Bar” in reference to the 
 
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specialization or certification. All such advertisements must include the 
area of certification and the name of the certifying organization; or 
(C)  the lawyer has been certified by another state bar if the state bar 
program grants certification on the basis of standards reasonably 
comparable to the standards of the Florida Certification Plan set forth in 
chapter 6 of these rules and the advertisement includes the area of 
certification and the name of the certifying organization. 
In the absence of such certification, a lawyer may communicate the fact 
that the lawyer limits his or her practice to 1 or more fields of law; or 
(5)  a statement that the lawyer is a specialist or an expert in an area of 
practice, or other variations of those terms, unless the lawyer is certified under 
the Florida Certification Plan or an American Bar Association or Florida Bar 
accredited certification plan or the lawyer can objectively verify the claim 
based on the lawyer’s education, training, experience, or substantial 
involvement in the area of practice in which specialization or expertise is 
claimed; 
(6)  a statement that a law firm specializes or has expertise in an area of 
practice, or other variations of those terms, unless the law firm can objectively 
verify the claim as to at least 1 of the lawyers who are members of or employed 
by the law firm as set forth in subdivision (a)(5) above, but if the law firm 
cannot objectively verify the claim for every lawyer in the firm, the 
advertisement must contain a reasonably prominent disclaimer that not all 
lawyers in the firm specialize or have expertise in the area of practice in which 
the firm claims specialization or expertise; or 
(57)  information about the lawyer’s fee, including those that indicate no 
fee will be charged in the absence of a recovery, unless the advertisement 
discloses all fees and expenses for which the client might be liable and any 
other material information relating to the fee.  A lawyer who advertises a 
specific fee or range of fees for a particular service must honor the advertised 
fee or range of fees for at least 90 days unless the advertisement specifies a 
shorter period; provided that, for advertisements in the yellow pages of 
telephone directories or other media not published more frequently than 
annually, the advertised fee or range of fees must be honored for no less than 1 
year following publication. 
 
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(b)  Clarifying Information.  A lawyer may use an advertisement that would 
otherwise be potentially misleading if the advertisement contains information or 
statements that adequately clarify the potentially misleading issue. 
Comment 
Awards, Honorshonors, and Ratingsratings 
Awards, honors, and ratings are not subjective statements characterizing a 
lawyer’s skills, experience, reputation, or record. Instead, they are statements of 
objectively verifiable facts from which an inference of quality may be drawn. It is 
therefore permissible under the rule for a lawyer to list bona fide awards, honors, 
and recognitions using the name or title of the actual award and the date it was 
given.  If the award was given in the same year that the advertisement is 
disseminated or the advertisement references a rating that is current at the time the 
advertisement is disseminated, the year of the award or rating is not required. 
For example, the following statements are permissible: 
“John Doe is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell. This rating is Martindale-
Hubbell’s highest rating.” 
“Jane Smith was named a 2008 Florida Super Lawyer by Super Lawyers 
Magazine.” 
Claims of Board Certification, Specialization or Expertiseboard certification, 
specialization, or expertise 
This rule permits a lawyer or law firm to indicate areas of practice in 
communications about the lawyer’s or law firm’s services, provided the advertising 
lawyer or law firm actually practices in those areas of law at the time the 
advertisement is disseminated. If a lawyer practices only in certain fields, or will 
not accept matters except in suchthose fields, the lawyer is permitted to indicate 
that.  A lawyer also may indicate that the lawyer concentrates in, focuses on, or 
limits the lawyer’s practice to particular areas of practice as long as the statements 
are true.  A lawyer who is not certified by The Florida Bar, by another state bar 
with comparable standards, or an organization accredited by the American Bar 
Association or The Florida Bar may not be described to the public as a “specialist,” 
“specializing,” “certified,” or “board certified,” being an “expert,” having 
“expertise,” or any variation of similar import. A lawyer may indicate that the 
lawyer concentrates in, focuses on, or limits the lawyer’s practice to particular 
areas of practice as long as the statements are true. 
 
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Certification is specific to individual lawyers; a law firm cannot be certified, 
and cannot claim specialization or expertise in an area of practice per subdivision 
(c) of rule 6-3.4.  Therefore, an advertisement may not state that a law firm is 
certified, has expertise in, or specializes in any area of practice. 
A lawyer can only state or imply that the lawyer is “certified,” a “specialist,” or 
an “expert” in the actual area(s) of practice in which the lawyer is certified. A 
lawyer who is board certified in civil trial law, may so state that, but may not state 
that the lawyer is certified, an expert in, or specializes in personal injury. Similarly, 
a lawyer who is board certified in marital and family law may not state that the 
lawyer specializes in divorce. 
The criteria set forth in the Florida Certification Plan are designed to establish 
a reasonable degree of objectivity and uniformity so that the use of the terms 
“specialization,” “expertise,” or other variations of those terms, conveys some 
meaningful information to the public and is not misleading.  A lawyer who meets 
the criteria for certification in a particular field automatically qualifies to state that 
the lawyer is a specialist or expert in the area of certification.  However, a lawyer 
making a claim of specialization or expertise is not required to be certified in the 
claimed field of specialization or expertise or to have met the specific criteria for 
certification if the lawyer can demonstrate that the lawyer has the education, 
training, experience, or substantial involvement in the area of practice 
commensurate with specialization or expertise. 
A law firm claim of specialization or expertise may be based on 1 lawyer 
who is a member of or employed by the law firm either having the requisite board 
certification or being able to objectively verify the requisite qualifications 
enumerated in this rule.  For purposes of this rule, a lawyer’s “of counsel” 
relationship with a law firm is a sufficiently close relationship to permit a law firm 
to claim specialization or expertise based on the “of counsel” lawyer’s board 
certification or qualifications only if the “of counsel” practices law solely through 
the law firm claiming specialization or expertise and provides substantial legal 
services through the firm as to allow the firm to reasonably rely on the “of 
counsel” qualifications in making the claim.  
 
Fee and Cost Informationcost information 
Every advertisement that contains information about the lawyer’s fee, 
including a contingent fee, must disclose all fees and costs that the client will be 
liable for.  If the client is, in fact, not responsible for any costs in addition to the 
fee, then no disclosure is necessary. For example, if a lawyer charges a flat fee to 
 
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create and execute a will and there are no costs associated with the services, the 
lawyer’s advertisement may state only the flat fee for that service. 
However, if there are costs for which the client is responsible, the 
advertisement must disclose this fact.  For example, if fees are contingent on the 
outcome of the matter, but the client is responsible for costs regardless of the 
matter’s outcome, the following statements are permissible: “No Fee if No 
Recovery, but Client is Responsible for Costs,” “No Fee if No Recovery, Excludes 
Costs,” “No Recovery, No Fee, but Client is Responsible for Costs” and other 
similar statements. 
On the other hand, if both fees and costs are contingent on the outcome of a 
personal injury case, the statements “No Fees or Costs If No Recovery” and “No 
Recovery–No Fees or Costs” are permissible.