...if you died...call our law firm @.....

[jclary]

A "Stove Huggers" topic for sure. I seem to recall a time when certain "Professions" Dentists, Veterinarians, Doctors, and yes...even Lawyers viewed public broadcast advertising as unprofessional, and certainly undignified. I know that we have a few lawyers as SDC & forum members, so I hope you view what follows as lighthearted and humorous as I intend it. At first, the Lawyers who dared solicit cases, mainly solicited those injured in auto accidents. Thus, the nickname "Ambulance Chaser" was introduced into our vocabulary. Next, like any respectable predator, always the opportunists, the advertising, soliciting, ambulance chasing has expanded to include just about anything the imagination can devise a reason to sue over.

For several days now, locally on radio & TV, one of the lines from a particular law firm goes something like, "IF YOU, OR A LOVED ONE, HAVE DIED FROM TAKING... (make up your own name, I can't recall the product) ....CALL OUR LAW FIRM & WE WILL GET YOU THE MONEY YOU DESERVE!"

I have a sister (paralegal) that works for one of these firms. While they don't have this particular advertisement, some of theirs are just as goofy. I just wonder how may dead people have called up asking for representation to sue someone?

[showbizkid]

I know - those ads kill me too. There's another that starts out: "A plaintiff who used xxxx and died has been awarded a cash settlement..."

Amazing! As my dad used to say, "I didn't know they were sewing pockets into burial shrouds now!"

[Bordeaux Daytona]

Yeah, I've seen those when I'm at a friend's house and always say I should call them up and tell them I died
I've noticed that one of them changed the wording so they must have people saying that.

[BobPalma]

I haven't seen it for awhile now, but there was a TV ad running in the Indianapolis market with testimonials from clients. One of the clients beamed, "XXX XXX Law Firm got me more than I deserved!"

Dandy; why should anyone get more than they deserve? BP

[sweetolbob]

IIRC, I read the fine print on a couple, not easy. What that seems to indicate is a fishing expedition to see if they can gather enough "grieved" parties to proceed with an action.

Like any other profession, the more that graduate the more that need work.

As my Dad used to say, "There's only one good lawyer in the world - Mine"

[Gunslinger]

My wife is an attorney and doesn't like these types of ads and promotion. It's unseemly at the minimum. It's not that there isn't genuinely harmed and aggrieved people out but this kind of advertising is more about billable hours and a payoff than actually helping people. I'm a capitalist and a believer in the free market, but this is, at least to me, the darker side of a good system. It's little more than hucksterism masquerading as being social justice warriors.

As the joke goes..."99% of all lawyers give the other 1% a bad name."

[48skyliner]

I am reminded of the story of the day the Pope died, went to Heaven, was checked in at the gate and assigned a driver to take him to his new home. After a short drive they arrived at a very nice little cottage, neat lawn and garden, and the driver showed him the inside, and said "If you need anything just pick up the phone and call". The Pope looked out the back window and saw a large mansion up on the hill. "Who lives there?" he asked. The driver told him it was the home of Oliver Wendell Holmes, the famous lawyer and supreme court justice. The Pope seemed surprised, noting that Holmes was, after all, a lawyer, whereas he had been the leader of a very influential church and had devoted his life to the good works of God. The driver said "Your Holiness, you have to understand we have a lot of Popes up here, but we only have one lawyer."

[BobPalma]

Somewhere I read (seriously) that Japan graduates more engineers than lawyers, whereas the U. S. graduates more lawyers than engineers.

If that's true, it explains a lot of things. BP

[GrumpyOne]

Ads that also aggravate me are those by big pharma pushing prescription drugs. When you listen carefully when they get to listing side effects my little pea sized brain shouts, "they are all in some form a poison." Why would seemingly intelligent folks willingly poison themselves?

But that's just me.....

[52 Ragtop]

One of my old neighbors is a research scientist for Ely Lilly, I asked him about that very thing, he said that if ONE person in a million, have a reaction, they have to place it o the warning label. Makes sense, since there re way too many attorneys in this country. <G>

Jim

[showbizkid]

No politics please.

[Blue 15G]

Ads that also aggravate me are those by big pharma pushing prescription drugs. When you listen carefully when they get to listing side effects my little pea sized brain shouts, "they are all in some form a poison." Why would seemingly intelligent folks willingly poison themselves?

But that's just me.....

Yeah, and when I hear all the various side effects, I always say to myself "Gee, I have all those symptoms already. How am I going to know if it's the medicine making me sick, or just the way things are?" .

I also get sick (no pun intended) of Hospitals running commercials too.

[bumpkinvilledano]

There was an ad for a lawyer floating around the interwebs, I don't know if it was real or a Photoshop, said;

"Just because you did it, doesn't mean you're guilty".

[jnormanh]

Surely there are money-grubbing, incompetent lawyers, just as there are mechanics who sell bogus transmission rebuilds to unknowing folks who are down a few quarts and need only a new rear seal, scam artists who sell tuition to phony universities, insurance salesmen who sell policies for non-existent companies, plumbers who sell new water heaters when there's only a shorted heating element.

However I object to anything that paints all lawyers as bottom feeders. My daughter is a lawyer. She mostly works on contingency cases - she gets a percentage if she wins, and nothing if she loses.

For example she recently, after a two year battle, won a case for an aircraft mechanic. A small airline asked him to diagnose a problem with one of their aircraft. In order to do so, the plane had to be in the air, so he went along while the pilot flew the plane. The mechanic was in the back of the aircraft, doing his job, when the aircraft ran out of fuel and crashed. He was seriously injured and disabled for life because the pilot had never looked at his fuel gauges.

So, he hired my daughter and sued the company.

They fought it for two years, during which time she spent many hours, and paid expert witnesses and physicians out of her own pocket.

She won the case, and got a percentage of the award. The mechanic got the major part of the award.

So, without a lawyer to do the work, and put up the money to get to trial, where would the mechanic be? Disabled and flat broke. While his health cannot be restored, he has enough money to live and support his family. Without a lawyer, he and his family would be living in a refrigerator box under an overpass.

Yes, there are all kinds of lawyers, good, bad, and ugly. Just like mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, physicians and teachers.

Don't paint them all with the same brush.

[jnormanh]

Somewhere I read (seriously) that Japan graduates more engineers than lawyers, whereas the U. S. graduates more lawyers than engineers.

If that's true, it explains a lot of things. BP

So, Bob, where did you read that?