SB 37 Compliance.
California rewrote its attorney-advertising rules effective January 1, 2026. The compliance review itself belongs to Lawthentics Limited — a separate company we work with hand in hand.
Supported Practice Area
Separate Companies. One Standard.
Senate Bill 37 — Business and Professions Code sections 6153 through 6158.7 — took effect January 1, 2026, and it treats nearly everything a law firm publishes as an advertisement: the website, social profiles, business listings, paid ads, and video. It requires specific disclosures on those surfaces, prohibits specific kinds of content, and backs the rules with a complaint process carrying real civil exposure.
Precision about roles is our entire brand, so let us be plain: NCBA Limited does not perform SB 37 compliance review. That work belongs to Lawthentics Limited — a compliance-first legal marketing studio, a separate company from NCBA, and the studio that designed and built this very website. The two companies work hand in hand: firms we support get their advertising reviewed by people who live in this statute, and the operational discipline firms hire NCBA for stays exactly where it has always been.
The division of labor protects you. How a firm’s marketing surfaces measure up — and how to fix them without gutting the marketing — is Lawthentics’ craft. What SB 37 ultimately requires of a particular advertisement is a judgment for counsel. And NCBA remains what it is everywhere else on this site: a paralegal organization supporting firm operations and litigation under the direct supervision of counsel.
The Statute — and the Specialist
What SB 37 Demands, and Who Reviews It.
Every Surface Is an Ad
SB 37’s definition of advertisement reaches any communication that encourages hiring a lawyer — websites, landing pages, social profiles and posts, business listings, paid ads, and video all count, with no general exception for character-limited bios.
Mandatory Disclosures
Every advertisement must conspicuously display the name of a responsible California-licensed lawyer, firm, or certified referral service — and the city, town, or county of a bona fide office, or the State Bar address of record.
Prohibited Content
Outcome guarantees, quick-settlement and immediate-cash claims, undisclosed dramatizations or spokespersons, misleading claims about skill or record, and paid-for award badges are all off the table.
A Process With Teeth
Enforcement begins with a served complaint and a nine-day window to withdraw the ad. An adverse State Bar finding forces takedown — within 72 hours for electronic media — with civil exposure of $5,000 to $100,000 per unique advertisement for an ad that is not withdrawn.
The Lawthentics Review
Lawthentics checks a firm’s website — and, at the fuller tier, social profiles, listings, active ads, and video — against the statute, starting with a free automated preliminary scan and finishing with human judgment on the calls automation cannot make.
Fix Without Gutting
Audit findings arrive as a severity-ranked ledger with locations, explanations, and fixes — remediation that brings the marketing into compliance while keeping it marketing, from the studio that builds compliant firm sites for a living.
Hand in Hand
Two Companies, One Lane Each.
NCBA Limited and Lawthentics Limited are separate companies, and the separation is the point — each does what it is genuinely built for. Lawthentics lives in California’s advertising rules: it reviews websites, social presences, listings, ads, and video against SB 37, reports findings in a severity-ranked ledger, and remediates without draining the life out of a firm’s marketing. NCBA lives in operations and litigation support, performed under the direct supervision of counsel. Where the two meet is a clean handoff: when a firm we support asks whether its marketing would survive SB 37 scrutiny, the answer is an introduction to Lawthentics, not an NCBA engagement letter. When a firm Lawthentics serves needs its back office or litigation support built out, the introduction runs the other way. Nobody stretches outside their competence, no one bills for a specialty they do not practice, and the firm gets a specialist on each side of the line — working hand in hand.
NCBA’s own engagements remain what they are everywhere else on this site — legal support performed under the direct supervision of licensed counsel. The advertising review itself is Lawthentics’ work, under its own roof.
Our Compliance & Ethics ModelCommon Questions
Questions Attorneys Ask About SB 37.
Does NCBA Limited perform SB 37 compliance reviews?
No. Advertising-compliance review under SB 37 is Lawthentics Limited’s work — a separate company from NCBA, and one we work with hand in hand. We make the introduction and support firm operations as we always do; the review and remediation of marketing surfaces belong to Lawthentics.
What does SB 37 actually require?
Two things, broadly. Mandatory disclosures: every advertisement must conspicuously display the responsible California-licensed lawyer, firm, or certified referral service, plus the city, town, or county of a bona fide office or the State Bar address of record. And clean content: no outcome guarantees, no quick-settlement or immediate-cash claims, no undisclosed dramatizations or spokespersons, no misleading claims about skill or record, no paid-for award badges. It applies to any surface that encourages hiring the firm.
What happens if an advertisement violates SB 37?
Enforcement starts with a personally served complaint and a nine-day window to withdraw the advertisement voluntarily. If it stands, the State Bar weighs the complaint, and an adverse finding forces withdrawal — within 72 hours for electronic media — with civil exposure that can reach $5,000 to $100,000 per unique advertisement for an ad that is not withdrawn. The structure rewards firms that fix problems before anyone files.
How does the Lawthentics review fit with counsel — and with NCBA?
Everyone keeps their lane. Lawthentics reviews and remediates the marketing surfaces, beginning with a free preliminary scan and finishing with human review. What the statute requires of a particular advertisement remains, ultimately, a judgment for counsel. And NCBA continues to do what firms hire us for — operations and litigation support under the direct supervision of counsel. Separate companies, hand in hand.
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Let’s Get Your Advertising Reviewed.
Tell us about your firm and we’ll make the introduction to Lawthentics — and support everything on the operations side — confidentially and without obligation.