Law firm text message marketing is the use of texts to answer inquiries, recover missed calls, confirm consultations and stay in touch with past clients, inside the consent rules and ethics rules that govern lawyer texting.
It is the channel detail inside law firm lead follow up: the sequence decides what gets sent, and this page covers what applies when the channel is a text.
Texting clients: where texts fit in a law firm
Texts do four jobs well: first replies, missed-call text-backs, reminders, and past-client check-ins.
The first reply is a speed question, covered in law firm speed to lead.
Reminders protect the calendar, and the no-show side is covered in law firm consultation no-shows.
The text-back job has a billing rule in Google's Local Services Ads: a missed call without a voicemail becomes a valid lead once the business calls or texts back and reaches the customer or leaves a voicemail, and message leads are typically priced lower than phone leads (Google's help pages, as of October 2026).
More Booked Cases does not manage Local Services Ads; a text-back answers whether the person still needs a lawyer without tying up the phone.
Law firm text messaging under the ethics rules
ABA Model Rule 7.3 defines solicitation as a communication initiated by a lawyer and directed to a specific person known to need legal services, and its comments say a communication in response to a request for information is not solicitation.
The same comments define live person-to-person contact as in-person, live phone and real-time visual or audio contact, excluding text messages and other written communications recipients can easily disregard (ABA Model Rule 7.3, Comment [2]), so a message is not prohibited live solicitation under 7.3(b).
A firm-initiated text is a lawyer-initiated communication, so the rest of the rule applies, including the 7.3(c) bars on coercion, duress or harassment and on soliciting anyone who has said stop.
ABA Model Rule 7.2(d) requires any communication under the rule to include the name and contact information of at least one responsible lawyer or law firm.
Per the ABA's July 2022 variations chart, 18 states' Rule 7.1 matched the Model Rule word for word while many states keep older or stricter text.
Comment [2] answers one question only, and Model Rules bind no one until a state adopts them, so your state's version controls.
SMS for law firms: what the TCPA requires
The federal half is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and its rules in 47 CFR 64.1200 (eCFR text as of October 1, 2026).
For telemarketing robocalls and robotexts made with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice, 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(9) requires prior express written consent, a signed written agreement with e-signatures allowed (eCFR as of October 1, 2026).
The FCC's 2023 one-to-one consent requirement, which would have limited sign-ups to one seller at a time, was vacated by the Eleventh Circuit on January 24, 2025 (Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC); the current CFR text has no one-seller language, though the FCC can revisit consent on remand.
47 CFR 64.1200(a)(10) lets a person revoke consent by any reasonable means, with stop, quit, cancel and unsubscribe replies counting per se, honored within a reasonable time, at most ten business days; a caller may not designate an exclusive revocation method, and 64.1200(a)(12) allows a one-time confirmation text.
On timing, 47 CFR 64.1200(c) bars telephone solicitations, a defined term with exceptions like a person's prior express invitation or permission, before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time and to Do-Not-Call registry numbers, honored indefinitely or until cancelled.
47 U.S.C. §227(b)(3) lets individuals sue for actual loss or $500 per violation, whichever is greater, and courts may triple that for willful or knowing violations; what counts as a violation is a court's question, and this page predicts nothing.
TCPA cases in US district courts rose 78% to 2,367 in fiscal year 2025 (U.S. Courts, Judicial Business 2025), though the report attributes no cause.
FCC Order DA 26-12 (released January 6, 2026) extended the waiver of the part of 64.1200(a)(10) that would make one opt-out apply to all future robocalls and robotexts on unrelated matters, to January 31, 2027, with the other revocation duties in effect.
In September 2026 the FCC moved again: a September 9, 2026 fact sheet describes an order letting a revocation apply only to the category of informational robocalls it targeted and letting callers designate an exclusive opt-out method, which the Commission considered on September 30, 2026, with the final text and effective date pending as of October 2026.
The rest belongs to its own page, TCPA texting rules for law firms.
Replying to someone who asked first
- A response to a request for information is not solicitation under the Rule 7.3 comments, and Comment [2] puts texts outside live contact.
- Model Rule 7.2(d) still requires a firm's or lawyer's name and contact information.
Texting someone who never asked
- The communication is lawyer-initiated, so Rule 7.3's solicitation definition and your state's version apply.
- A telemarketing robotext made with an autodialer or prerecorded voice needs prior express written consent under 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(9).
- Solicitations to Do-Not-Call numbers, or outside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time, are barred by 64.1200(c), exceptions included.
A texting setup, rule by rule
Capture consent where the number is given
Record what the person agreed to at the form or intake step: telemarketing robotexts need a signed written agreement, and e-signatures count.
Name the firm in every message
Rule 7.2(d) is why the firm's name and contact information belong in the signature line.
Honor stop replies within ten business days
Treat the per-se keyword replies as revocations, honor them within a reasonable time not exceeding ten business days, accept any reasonable means, and note that 64.1200(a)(12) allows a one-time confirmation text.
Respect the clock and the registries
The 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local window and the Do-Not-Call registry apply to solicitations as the rule defines them.
Measure bookings, not message counts
Judge texts by consultations booked and cases signed, which is how More Booked Cases scores tests, with read access to intake numbers and no role staffing or training intake.
No published benchmark for law firm texting appears in this page's sources, so compare against your own baseline: replies answered, consultations booked, signed cases.
This page describes rules as written, with citations and dates, and is not advice for your case: confirm your texting program with your state bar's ethics counsel or an ethics lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
Do attorneys send text messages to prospective clients?
Firms use texts for first replies, missed-call text-backs, consultation reminders and past-client check-ins, and the comments to ABA Model Rule 7.3 treat a text as a written communication rather than live person-to-person contact. Your state's adopted version of the rule controls.
Is SMS marketing legal in the USA?
The federal rules in 47 CFR 64.1200 require prior express written consent for telemarketing robotexts made with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice, bar telephone solicitations outside 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time and to Do-Not-Call numbers, and let individuals sue for $500 per violation. Whether any specific message is covered depends on facts this page cannot judge, so treat that as a description, not advice.
What happens when someone replies STOP to a law firm text?
Under 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(10), a stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe reply counts as revocation per se, a sender cannot designate an exclusive way to revoke, and revocations must be honored within ten business days. ABA Model Rule 7.3(c) likewise bars soliciting a person who has said they do not want to be solicited, and your state's version controls.
How much can a TCPA violation cost per text message?
47 U.S.C. §227(b)(3) lets an individual recover actual loss or $500 per violation, whichever is greater, and courts may triple that for willful or knowing violations. What counts as a violation is decided case by case, and this page predicts nothing.
What should every law firm text message include?
ABA Model Rule 7.2(d) requires communications it covers to carry the name and contact information of at least one responsible lawyer or law firm, and an easy way to opt out is what 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(10) expects a sender to honor. Confirm your message templates with your state bar's ethics counsel or an ethics lawyer.