New Jersey Allows Attorneys to Use Competing Law Firm Names in Keyword Advertising<\/p>\n
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As many readers of this blog know, \u201ckeyword advertising\u201d is an online marketing tool whereby advertisers purchase a keyword or phrase from internet search engine providers, especially Google. When a consumer searches for a term that has been purchased, the search returns sponsored links, typically marked as \u201cAd,\u201d \u201cSponsored\u201d or \u201cPromoted,\u201d as the top results, above even those results generated by the search engine\u2019s algorithm.<\/p>\n
On May 22, 2025, the Supreme Court of New Jersey issued an opinion considering the question of whether it is permissible under the Rules of Professional Conduct (\u201cRPC\u201d) for an attorney or law firm to purchase a more respected or better-known attorney\u2019s or law firm\u2019s name as a keyword. For example, could an attorney wishing to break into the field of advertising law purchase the term \u201cOlshan\u201d even though that attorney has no affiliation with Olshan?<\/p>\n
In 2019, New Jersey\u2019s Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics concluded that such conduct does not violate the local RPCs. Six years later, New Jersey\u2019s Supreme Court agreed, holding that the practice of purchasing a competing attorney or law firm\u2019s name as a keyword does not, in itself, constitute a violation of New Jersey\u2019s RPCs.<\/p>\n
There are two significant caveats, however. First, the ruling requires that attorneys engaging in such keyword advertising must include a disclaimer on the landing page of their website that is sufficiently clear and conspicuous such that it is likely to be seen by consumers who clicked on the advertisement.<\/p>\n
Second, the ruling lets stand a 2019 ruling that an attorney cannot embed a hyperlink in the competitor attorney\u2019s name such that a click on the competitor\u2019s name redirects the user to the purchasing attorney\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
Finally, the New Jersey ruling is not universal to other states. While the Supreme Court noted that three states (Texas, South Carolina, and Florida) generally allow an attorney to purchase another attorney\u2019s or law firm\u2019s name as a key word, it also noted that North Carolina and Maryland have taken a dimmer view of the practice, finding that such keyword use is deceptive and violates local rules of attorney ethics.<\/p>\n
Takeaway<\/strong>: If you are an attorney considering using another law firm\u2019s name in keyword advertising, you should consult your state\u2019s Rules of Professional Conduct to see if this practice is permitted in your jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Jersey Allows Attorneys to Use Competing Law Firm Names in Keyword Advertising As many readers of this blog know, \u201ckeyword advertising\u201d is an online marketing tool whereby advertisers purchase a keyword or phrase from internet search engine providers, especially Google. When a consumer searches for a term that has been purchased, the search returns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":233639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12023],"tags":[8397,19973,33702,4524,549,26453,12685,4125],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-262339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advertising","tag-advertising","tag-attorneys","tag-competing","tag-firm","tag-jersey","tag-keyword","tag-law","tag-names"],"yoast_head":"\n
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