AI search for Minnesota law firms

Three rules every Minnesota page has to respect

Rule 7.1 says a lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer's services. It is false or misleading if it misstates fact or law, or omits a fact needed to keep the statement as a whole from misleading. Minnesota's rule has no separate paragraph on results or reviews, so they meet the same test: a true result can still mislead if the page leaves out facts the reader needs.

Rule 7.2(c) is the Minnesota rule national templates most often miss. A lawyer may not state or imply being a specialist, or certified as one, except on two conditions. The communication must clearly name the certifying organization, if any. And if the lawyer is not certified, or the organization is not accredited by the Minnesota Board of Legal Certification, the communication must clearly state that the lawyer is not certified by any organization the Board accredits, in the same paragraph as the claim. This text sits in Rule 7.2(c) because Rule 7.4 was repealed effective September 1, 2022.

Rule 7.2(d) requires any communication under the rule to include the name and contact information of at least one lawyer or law firm responsible for its content. Comment [12] says contact information can be a website, phone number, email address, or physical office location. The current text is on the Revisor of Statutes' Rule 7.2 page.

Why this matters in AI search: an assistant may quote one passage alone. Keep a specialist claim and its required statement in one short paragraph, so a quoted passage is more likely to carry both.

Filing and review

Rules 7.1 and 7.2 set content standards. Neither contains a requirement to file advertisements or websites for review, so responsibility for each page sits with the firm. Every page we deliver is approved by the attorney before it goes live.

What Minnesota's lawyer regulators have said about AI

Susan M. Humiston, Director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, wrote "Ethics guidance for generative AI use" for the September 2024 Bench & Bar of Minnesota. It is a column, not a formal opinion, and it summarizes ABA Formal Opinion 512, noting that Minnesota generally follows the ABA Model Rules, and covers competence, confidentiality, client communication, candor to tribunals, supervision, and fees.

The column does not address marketing, and Rules 7.1 and 7.2 govern your website whoever drafts it. For how Opinion 512 applies to firm content, read what Opinion 512 means for law firm marketing.

Minnesota questions need Minnesota answers

National content tells families to "go to probate court." Minnesota's Uniform Probate Code defines the court with jurisdiction over decedents' affairs as the district court, under Minn. Stat. 524.1-201(9). Under Minn. Stat. 524.3-105, an interested person may apply to the registrar in informal proceedings or petition the court in formal proceedings, and 524.1-201(47) defines the registrar as the judge or a person the court designates. A page that explains informal probate gives an assistant a Minnesota answer.

The estate planning guide shows how that kind of detail shapes a practice page.

Minnesota markets

We write for firms statewide. Market guides cover the questions and local facts specific to each area:

• Minneapolis

Minneapolis: the Fourth Judicial District includes only Hennepin County, and suburban criminal and traffic cases go to Brooklyn Center or Minnetonka depending on the reader's city.

What we build for Minnesota firms

• Practice-area pages written to Rules 7.1 and 7.2, with any specialist claim and its same-paragraph statement checked together
• County pages only where you take clients, with the district court and registrar described correctly
• Answer posts for the questions Minnesota clients ask, each linked to the right practice page

Practice guides: family law, where custody and support answers turn on state detail, and personal injury, where results language needs the most care. Before naming a credential, see when a lawyer can claim a specialty online.

Neighboring states

Some Minnesota firms take clients from across a state line. A page for those readers should say which state's law it explains and where your attorneys are licensed. Each neighbor has its own guide: Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

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