PROOF Series № 1 · Coding rubric
How each firm is classified as materially compliant or non-compliant under Cal Bar Rule 7.1.
Status
Version 1.0, committed 2026-05-14. This page summarizes the rubric's structure; the complete rubric — flag definitions, weights, and exception criteria — is available to peer reviewers on request.
Classification can't be a judgment call, or the result isn't replicable. The rubric is the operational definition of 'materially compliant' versus 'materially non-compliant,' applied identically to every firm by two independent coders who are blind to the study hypothesis.
The rubric assesses a firm's public-facing content against the material requirements of Cal Bar Rule 7.1 and the related advertising rules, reducing each to observable, codable flags rather than subjective impressions.
Checks are grouped into weighted flag categories covering, for example: unsubstantiated comparative or superlative claims, missing or inadequate disclaimers, testimonial and result-based representations, and required identifying information. Each category carries a defined weight; the full category list, weights, and thresholds are fixed in the working rubric.
Two coders apply the rubric independently to each firm. Agreement is measured and reported, and disagreements are adjudicated under a documented procedure. The reliability statistic appears in the final paper so readers can judge the classification's robustness.
Coders are blind to the study hypothesis and to each firm's eventual citation data, so classification cannot be influenced by the outcome it will later be tested against.
Full document
The complete coding rubric — flag definitions, weights, exception criteria, and the adjudication procedure — is available to peer reviewers on request at info@legaltorch.ai.
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