Can Lawyers Call Themselves Specialists? Certification Rules by State

The short answer

This page covers the nine states where SearchPrex has location pages. It is a summary for marketing purposes, not legal advice; the rules themselves, and your state bar's ethics guidance, are what count.

Why this matters for your website and SEO

"Specialist", "expert" and "certified" tend to creep into the places SEO touches most: title tags, meta descriptions, page headings, Google Business Profile descriptions and structured data. Those count as communications about your services, so the advertising rules apply to them just as they apply to a billboard. A title tag such as "Dallas Divorce Specialist" is a claim of specialization.

The safe pattern is to describe what you do — "divorce and custody lawyer", "practice limited to personal injury" — and to use "certified" only with the exact wording and certifying body your state allows.

State-by-state: when you may claim certification

Texas in more detail

Texas rewrote its advertising rules (Part VII of the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct) with effect from 1 July 2021. Points that affect website and SEO work:

• Who is responsible. An advertisement must name a lawyer responsible for its content and identify the lawyer's primary practice location (Rule 7.02(a)).
• Certification wording. "Board Certified, [area of specialization] — Texas Board of Legal Specialization", or certification by a TBLS-accredited organisation, which must be named (Rule 7.02).
• Contingent fees. An advertisement that mentions contingent fees must say whether the client will have to pay other expenses (Rule 7.02).
• Past results. A lawyer may claim credit for a prior judgment or settlement only if they played a substantial role in obtaining it (Comment 10 to Rule 7.01).
• Filing. Advertisements must be filed with the State Bar's Advertising Review Committee no later than ten days after first dissemination, unless Rule 7.05 exempts them (Rule 7.04). Pre-approval can be sought at least 30 days in advance.

Sources: Rule 7.01, Rule 7.02, Rule 7.04 (Texas Center for Legal Ethics).

What to change in your copy

1. Search your site for "specialist", "specializing", "expert" and "certified", including title tags and meta descriptions.
2. Replace uncertified claims with descriptions of what you do: "focused on", "practice limited to", "we handle".
3. Use certification wording exactly as your state allows, with the certifying body named.
4. Check your Google Business Profile. Its description is public marketing, and Google's own rules also forbid adding keywords such as "specialist" to the business name.
5. Check structured data. Schema text is published too; do not put claims there you could not make on the page.
6. In Texas, confirm whether your pages and ads need filing with the Advertising Review Committee.

More on how bar rules shape law firm SEO: the complete guide to law firm SEO, and question 9 in how to choose a law firm SEO agency.

How this page was checked

Certification facts come from the American Bar Association's state-by-state specialization pages, read on 15 October 2026; the Texas details come from the current text of Part VII published by the Texas Center for Legal Ethics. Several ABA pages still cite rule numbers that their states have since replaced, so rule numbers appear here only where the current text was read. States change these rules; check the current rule and your state bar's ethics guidance before relying on any row. This page is not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Can a lawyer call themselves a specialist?

In most states only if they hold a certification from an approved body — a state board, or an organisation the state or the ABA has accredited — and the certifying organisation is named. The rules differ by state, so check your own before using the word.

Can a lawyer say they are an expert?

Some states treat "expert" the same way as "specialist", and in any state an unsupported "expert" claim can be misleading. Describing what you do — "practice limited to personal injury" — avoids the problem.

Does Texas allow "Board Certified" in advertising?

Yes, for lawyers certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, using the wording "Board Certified, [area of specialization] — Texas Board of Legal Specialization", or for certification by a TBLS-accredited organisation that is named.

Does Michigan have a lawyer certification program?

No. Michigan's Rule 7.4 lets a lawyer say they do or do not practice in particular fields, and does not mention specialization or board certification, according to the ABA's state summary.

Do advertising rules apply to title tags and Google Business Profiles?

They apply to communications about a lawyer's services, which includes website copy, title tags, meta descriptions and profile descriptions. Google's own guidelines also forbid adding keywords such as "specialist" to a Business Profile name.