Law firms can still use paid marketing and lead generation, but California and Oregon have rules that make the details of the arrangement matter. The key question is whether a firm is paying for advertising, paying a compliant referral service, or paying someone for the referral or solicitation of a specific legal client.
California tightened the rules in 2026
California Senate Bill 37 took effect on January 1, 2026 and changed the rules around attorney advertising, joint advertising, lawyer referral activity, and unlawful solicitation. California law requires a nongovernmental service that refers potential clients to attorneys to meet State Bar certification requirements unless the arrangement fits a permitted advertising structure. The law also increased accountability for the content of attorney advertising and for the firms participating in joint advertising.
California is also strengthening enforcement against capping
California Assembly Bill 2039 was signed on September 27, 2026 and takes effect January 1, 2027. It strengthens discipline for illegal capping, which is the practice of paying people or organizations to improperly solicit legal clients. The law adds mandatory summary disbarment procedures for felony capping or running convictions and for misdemeanor convictions where the court finds, or the record establishes, that the lawyer acted knowingly and for financial gain. It also strengthens other consumer protections.
Oregon already has strict personal injury referral rules
Oregon law already prohibits paying or accepting money or other consideration for referring a personal injury or death claim to an attorney, subject to the statutory exceptions. Oregon also prohibits nonlawyers from soliciting personal injury business and restricts attorneys from using runners or solicitors to obtain personal injury matters.
What should a law firm ask before buying leads?
- Is the vendor selling advertising exposure, or are they being paid for referring a specific legal client?
- Is the same lead being sold to several firms?
- Who created the advertisement or landing page that generated the lead?
- Does the firm know exactly what the consumer saw before submitting their information?
- Does the vendor make claims about the law firm that the law firm has not reviewed?
- Is the payment fixed advertising compensation, or does it depend on a signed client, recovery, or legal fee?
- Has the arrangement been reviewed under the rules that apply in the state where the firm practices?
Buying a contact is not the same as building your own lead source
There is also a business issue separate from legal compliance. When a firm buys a lead from a third party, the firm depends on that vendor for the next lead. When the firm builds useful practice area pages, local search presence, Google Business Profile strength, and answer focused content on its own website, the firm is building an asset it controls.
What StartWeb7 takes from this
StartWeb7 does not provide legal advice and does not decide whether a particular lead vendor or referral arrangement is lawful. Our role is to help businesses build websites and ongoing SEO + AEO systems that create more opportunities for customers or clients to discover them directly through search and AI tools.
General information only. This article is not legal advice. Lawyers and law firms should review lead generation, advertising, referral, and solicitation arrangements with qualified ethics or legal counsel and the applicable state bar rules.