Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
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A neon-look lighted vehicle wrap, more than 275 domain names and a paid person “ready to chat with any visitor to his Web sites” day or night are all part of the Florida DUI specialist’s marketing effort: “This is the way of the future,” he says. [Herald-Tribune via ABA Journal]
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An editorial in the Palm Beach Post advises reader caution about the glamorous tort-chaser’s efforts to drum up clients for Weitz & Luxenberg and Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley based on allegations of a cancer cluster with a claimed link to radioactive drinking water:
The lawyers discussed water samples from 10 homes of cancer patients that showed at least trace amounts of radium, a naturally occurring metal. Those studies, however, echoed Florida Department of Environmental Protection results from 50 randomly selected homes. …
…one resident concluded on a Web site after the meeting: “Last night, we were validated.” Amid the personal appeals came the business pitch. Attorney Jack Scarola explained the contingency contract, which means that clients would pay nothing, even if they lost. He urged residents to take their time reading the contract because if “you inform yourselves well, you will find it’s in your best interest to sign with us.”
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Per its critics, at least, who include a vice president of the Florida bar association [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]. More: AP.
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The success of the controversial lawyer-client online matching service doesn’t seem to have lived up to its organizers’ high hopes, or so one might speculate from the site’s being put up for sale by online auction. [Elefant/Legal Blog Watch; Kowalski/Financial Post; Turkewitz] Earlier here, here, here, etc.
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… on its website. Some lawyers — among others — are not happy about that. [ABA Journal]
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Readers need to be careful, says John Day.
Prosecutors accuse Benjamin Eichholz of varied misdeeds, among them diverting pension fund moneys into inappropriate outlays that include a $56,100 Flora Danica fine china set on display at his home. “Eichholz maintains the china was an investment by the pension plan, according to News3OnYourSide.” Eichholz’s Savannah firm, like many others, has used actor Robert Vaughn as a TV pitchman. [ABA Journal; Tom Barton, Savannah Morning News ("probably Savannah's best-known lawyer" owing to "cheesy" ads)]
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Should we assume this Southern California lawyer is even aware of the Twitter account sending out messages in his name? The “Bio” line seems to have been drawn up by someone trained in the Borat school of copywriting:
Bio Hi I am Attorney Robert A. B[...]. I am running a successful personal injury Lawyer in Los Angeles California. My Law firm offer legal representation for……………
As of this evening, 186 Twitter users have seen fit to follow the account.
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Our “law firm would be happy to discuss your rape case with you during a free consultation” [The Briefcase, Ohio law blog; original, posted by a Boston law firm, Jan. 2008]
While we’re at it, Above the Law spots a San Antonio lawyer whose advertising leaves something to be desired in the tastefulness department; and Patrick at Popehat enters into communication with the Twitter account @SueEasy (more on which) with lively results.
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Yes, the online ads are already up. Washington’s City Paper tracks down one California-based law firm marketer: “This is the only marketing I do — it’s the highest cost per click online. What else can you do, a young guy like me? I don’t want to do porn [sites].” According to one report via Twitter, “the Google ads are running on the WMATA Web site.” More: Maryland Daily Record (first suit filed); Eric Turkewitz. And Ron Miller, on the dilemma of the young man quoted above: “Dare I suggest this is a false choice? There has to be a third option after porn and train wreck chasing, right?”
Also: Overlawyered favorite Willie Gary is in the case.
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As Eric Turkewitz notes, “when a firm outsources its marketing, it also outsources its ethics.”
What if it turns out to depend on selling lots and lots of lawyer ads?
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Some whose names adorn billboards and bus placards have less (or different!) experience in the courtroom than you might assume [Ken Shigley via Day on Torts]
A Seattle lawyer’s online marketing efforts are unlikely to win any prizes for high-mindedness, tact or dignity [Patrick at Popehat]
Point of Law Volokh