Another classic from Norfolk, Va.-area client-chasin’-lawyer Lowell Stanley, circa 1995. For an earlier example, see Feb. 20.
Posts Tagged ‘chasing clients’
“I’ll hunt down whoever hurt you, and settle the score”
Another from the oeuvre of Jim (“The Hammer”) Shapiro (Feb. 6, etc.). “They started it, and I will finish it”.
Coca-Cola promotion tweaks client-chasers
Let’s just hope no one tells the Kentucky bar about the new Coke Zero campaign, with its reference to a supposed law firm by the name of Covet & Yourminy. (Stuart Elliott, “Can’t Tell Your Cokes Apart? Sue Someone”, New York Times, Mar. 5). The Times misses the chance to mention the similarity of the widely noted AllTel campaign last year (Jul. 6, Aug. 3).
Stage fright
This supposed lawyer ad, on behalf of “Gene Butterfield” of “Glinder & Glinder”, is surely a spoof. It was posted by something called the Kaspar Hauser comedy podcast. Going before a camera can be frightening (tastelessness warning).
Client intake dressed up as consumer info, cont’d
While on the subject of consumer information websites that funnel readers to lawyers, reader R.F. nominated 4mychild.com, a website about cerebral palsy whose site is bannered “Organizations for Special Needs Children”. Scroll down to the bottom of the opening page to find the attorney-advertising disclaimer.
ConsumerAffairs.com
Billing itself as a “non-partisan, independent information provider”, it invites you to submit your complaint about an unsatisfactory consumer transaction on its automated complaint form. The complaint form notes that reports “become the property of ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc.” and you must include your contact information. If you keep reading down, you may notice that “We work with attorneys with specific expertise in many areas of consumer law. It is sometimes necessary for them to contact you in order to determine whether there is a legal remedy for your complaint. There is no charge for any such consultation.” (Fred Lucas, “‘Consumer Watchdog’ Website Faces Complaints, Lawsuits”, CNSNews.com, Feb. 12; Childs, Feb. 16).
“Will Sue For Food”, cont’d
Kentucky trial lawyers just won’t let up in their po-faced indignation about that innocuous cartoon in the state bar magazine (see Feb. 15 roundup). “‘The cartoon exhibits an indifference to the rights of all Kentuckians to access the justice system — the very system the KBA is charged with preserving on behalf of its members and their clients,’ Bowling Green lawyer Steve Downey, the immediate past president of the trial lawyer group, said in a letter to the bar association.” (Andrew Wolfson, “Trial lawyers find nothing funny in cartoon”, Louisville Courier-Journal, Feb. 19). David Lat covers the story (Feb. 20). What would have taken guts, I think, is for the Kentucky bar magazine to have run a cartoon making reference to the state’s deeply embarrassing fen-phen fee scandal. But let’s not hold our breath waiting for that.
“Thinking up new ways to get you 100 percent or more!”
An ad for Hampton Roads, Va., Lowell (“The Hammer”) Stanley. It’s very reminiscent of the classic ads for Rochester’s similarly nicknamed Jim (“The Hammer”)(Feb. 6, etc.), including the grainy footage of disasters in the background (via Nicole Black).
What Lincoln said
Abraham Lincoln, as we’re sometimes reminded around this time of year, made a living as a practicing lawyer, much of it in trial practice. For some reason this website has never gotten around to citing Lincoln’s Notes for a Law Lecture, possibly his best-known pronouncement on the ethics and practicalities of law practice. Some highlights:
“Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser — in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.”
“Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauls the register of deeds in search of defects in titles, whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket? A moral tone ought to be infused into the profession which should drive such men out of it.”
“There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal. Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief — resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave.”
Among those calling attention to Lincoln’s comments on lawyering this week are David Giacalone (Feb. 12; see also here and here) and Daniel E. Cummins in Pennsylvania Law Weekly (“Lincoln Logs of Wisdom”, Feb. 12), both of whom offer additional quotations of interest.
“Plavix, lawyers and externalities”
Trial lawyers are advertising for cases against the anti-clotting drug Plavix, which worries DB at MedRants (Jan. 31):
Plavix is an important drug for the proper indications. Having stents placed is a proper indication. Like many drugs, Plavix has side effects. Because it inhibits platelet aggregation patients taking Plavix are more susceptible to bleeding. We know that side effect, and must balance the side effect against the benefits that accrue to preventing stent clotting.
We all see the despicable ads from trial lawyers. Whenever a drug has a side effect they see a pot of gold. Obviously these ads scare patients. The externality here comes from these ads. These ads are meant to attract lawsuits, but they additionally scare patients from taking beneficial drugs. We see this phenomenon often.