Legal Advertising

Recently, we received a letter from "PMP Marketing Group".  They wanted us to fly down to Orlando, Florida to participate in a seminar "...to learn strategies of how John Morgan of Morgan and Morgan built his multimillion dollar law firm."  We are not going...

Along with the letter was a "Competitive Spending Report" for the Burlington area.  The report detailed just how much lawyers were spending in the Burlington, Vermont area, (I presume that includes Plattsburgh and Northern New York.)

On the top of the list was the Goldwater Law Firm which spent its gold like water to the tune of $432,000 in 2011 followed by Martin Harding and Mazzotti to the tune of $178,000. 

Our firm occassionally advertises on television, but not lately.  We have always been conflicted about advertising.  We do not want to come off as ambulance chasers or carnival barkers, because well..., because we are not that way.  We also worry that lawyer advertising can turn people off.  To each their own.

However, I have, I think, come upon the worst ever television commercial for an attorney.  I simply could not take on a client who would respond to this attorney's advertisement.  Moreover, it would be insane to hire such an attorney.

Eric Turkewitz, an excellent attorney who practices personal injury law put it best when he commented on the commercial shown below:  He said that this lawyer, ..."is an embarrassment to the profession, and lawyers should howl in protest when we see it. It feeds into all of the worst beliefs that many have of lawyers and our justice system (much of it fostered by big business looking to cut back on consumer rights) and helps to perpetuate it.
And that helps to create an overly cynical population, and an overly cynical jury pool, such that even those with the most meritorious of cases are left fighting uphill battles before an opening statement ever takes place. The legal playing field should be a level one, and lawyers should not be helping to create negative perceptions that will hurt those who turn to the courts seeking their ounce of justice. A pox on each of their houses for helping to create such negative perceptions which run directly contrary to the way most attorneys conduct themselves."

When watching the commercial below, ask yourself what type of individual would be moved enough by this commercial to call the lawyer...