How To Get a Lawyer
A rather unusual answer to the radio, television, billboard, direct mail and website, etc. solicitation advertisements was made by USA Today billionaire columnist Ken Fisher on Monday, March 4, 2019, on the above question. Although much of what he says is not directly related to the question of how to select a lawyer from the endless bombardment of self-promoting personal injury lawyers described in the media he does make a good comparison and suggestions for lawyer selection.
Mr. Fisher makes some rather pertinent comments about the process of choosing a lawyer to represent you in a legal matter:
1. “In decades overseeing dispute resolution at my firm, the worst litigation advice I’ve gotten come from lawyers who weren’t actual trial lawyers. They think they know but don’t----like some bloody textbook oral surgeon----Ignore them its bloody!”
2. “Search online for, ‘How to find a good trial lawyer.’”
3. “Ask for ten names from the local bar association who handle the type of case you are involved in and another ten names of lawyers by recommendation of friends or relatives that you trust to give you an honest opinion.” (First ten may be questionable)
4. “Meet with the lawyers you are considering to hire. Ask how they get started, their experience, chair experience and examples of their experience” (Also check out their claimed experience).
5. “If your lawyer candidate doesn’t warn you how suing can backfire, run!”
6. “If they claim they are the best around, they aren’t!”
7. If their goal is extorting a pre-trial settlement go elsewhere and find a lawyer who is willing, if needed, to go all the way to a final judgment. Good ones will!
Mr. Fisher closes with what should be the number one maxim for all attorneys: “Never lie. Judges really hate combatant lies.”
These comments from the successful founder of Fisher Investments, a nationally recognized investment firm, number 200 on the Forbes 400 richest Americans are also applicable to legal practitioners in any field of law and should be followed.
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
I Surrender
It is with a heavy heart and sincere regrets that I announce that I am shutting down the Silly Blog and will be joining the ranks of the self-promoting brethren of the Bar on television, radio and billboards, etc.
1. I have cashed in my 401(K) retirement fund and am committed to beating the Boys from Birmingham at their own game by opening up a satellite office in the Magic City (Birmingham) with ten associates and will be putting up two hundred billboards in the Birmingham area with my smiling old face and a young attractive female associate with a gleaming set of teeth. Also I do not intend to say that I am a Tennessee lawyer with a license to practice in Alabama on my billboards.
2. I also have decided to create a new firm motto in the advertisements such as “You Gotta Get Jerry.” I’ve got about a thirty year head start on the nice looking reverend who took over the motto while I was busy representing thousands of clients in court during my fifty-three years as a lawyer.
3. My alternative website will be “The Outsider” not to be mistaken for the agile tractor-trailer climbers, “The Insiders.” As a fifty-one year member of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, president in 1978, political action committee chairman for 10-15 years, LIFT member for over forty years and sponsor of a law school scholarship for descendants of TTLA members, etc. I believe I have earned the title of “The Outsider” since the “truthinlawyeradvertising blog” has been banned from the organizations list serve because of criticism of the few members who spend large amounts in advertising that benefit their small minority but adversely affect the 99% of lawyers who get their business the old way-----results, referrals from other lawyers, satisfied clients and overall good reputation.
APRIL FOOL! The Silly Blog will continue! With a little help of the 5,000 individuals who have read the blog and are willing to ask their friends, clients, and relatives to send it to others who might in at least one case assure the public that we are attempting to make certain that clients get full compensation because they hire a lawyer or law firm that will fight on their behalf in their best interests rather than paying for self-serving lawyer advertisements!
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter 2018
In the April 4 and April 25, 2018, articles in the Silly Blog (affectionately named by last year’s second highest money spending lawyer advertisers) I pointed out the trial (not settlements) results of the seven most prolific social media spenders in the Hamilton County markets.
I was able to obtain the 2016 figures spent on lawyer advertising by the five personal injury and two bankruptcy firms through the help of another anonymous competitor of the top five from Kantar Media. Unfortunately I have not been able to get the 2017-2018 numbers for some reason but the dollars spent are stated in the August 1, 2017, Silly Blog article titled Lawyer Advertising is Not Free. If any reader has access to the 2017-2018 Kantar Media financial figures for Hamilton County I would appreciate receiving a copy. Your identity will not be revealed!
What did the Tennessee Jury Verdict Reporter show as how the big spenders and self-avowed great trial lawyers fare with the jury or judges in trials during the last year?
Charles Pitman—evidently the guy in the Superman cape (Had a wreck need a check?) has left the Volunteer State and returned to his home base of Huntsville without any verdicts being reported.
Warren & Griffin—of “We have collected millions of dollars on behalf of our clients in judgments and settlements.” The record of Mr. Warren’s named partner is a little bit unclear since there is a “John Griffin” and a “John Griffin, Jr.” in Middle Tennessee listed as trying cases during the years 2005-2018. There is no listing of a John Mark Griffin obtaining any judgments in 2018. His partner in the Big Orange overalls tried two cases during the years 2005-2018 with one loss and a verdict for $628.00.
“The Insiders” (McMahan Law Firm) seem to be spending more time on television than they do in the courtroom. Both of them showed only one new case tried in 2018.
One of the problems with the Tennessee Jury Verdict reporter is that it is just a thirteen years compilation of cases tried but doesn’t indicate in what years the trial took place.
A comparison of the “Gotta Get Gary” (Massey) trial record shows that he didn’t try any cases in 2018 and the period from 2005-2017 only show the same statistics.
The record of the “Billboard Boys from Birmingham” (Wettermark Keith) show that the senior or junior member of the firm didn’t try any cases in Hamilton County in 2018 and show no jury verdicts in Tennessee as well. However, they have pretty much cornered the billboard market in the Hamilton County market but do not list their home base of Birmingham, Alabama.
What do these statistics show? Although in their advertising they create the impression that they are active trial lawyers in the Tennessee court system their claims of millions of dollars collected in court are greatly exaggerated! Is this “Deceptive?” That is for the reader and potential clients to decide.
Talk to several lawyers before you make the important decision as to who you want to represent you. Slick ads and self-serving testimonials by lawyers or alleged satisfied clients should not be the deciding factor in making your decision.
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
Best of the Best—1 or 2 or 3 or 4?
Up until five years ago the only listing for lawyers in the Chattanooga Times Free annual crusade to designate the Best of the Best under their super-secret method of selection was Best Divorce Lawyer. Jennifer Lawrence, Glenna Ramer, Hal North and David Noblit have annually fought for recognition in this category. The fact that one of the above has consistently purchased half page ads in the publication is just a collateral benefit and coincidental to the selection process.
Suddenly the defenders of the local legal constituency of 1,200-1,500 attorneys have taken on the out-of-state invaders from Alabama. Warren & Griffin, when not walking across the Walnut Street Bridge or standing on an overpass on I-75 advocating public safety proudly claim that they are Chattanooga’s Best of the Best Law Firm for the past five years according to the super-secret selection process of our local newspaper.
Reverend Gary Massey and the purchasers of John McMahan’s moniker, The Insiders, have yet to be selected as the 3rd and 4th Best of the Best but there is still hope for them as they continue to spend big bucks for legal advertising on billboards, radio, television and the internet.
This December the Billboard Boys from Birmingham (Wettermark Keith) who have cornered the market on the highways and byways of Hamilton County have now taken to the television airways to proclaim that the good citizens of our community have selected them as the Best of the Best Law Firm although they still neglect to state that their main office is in Birmingham, Alabama, and only have a satellite office in Chattanooga.
What a dilemma! It’s like trying to pick between Alabama and Clemson in the National Championship Football game. Are there no other local law firms that can challenge these self-proclaimed defenders of the rights of the injured and deceased? Where is Charles Pitman when the public needs him? (Gone back to Huntsville, Alabama, and Divorce Court?)
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
Gold Standard Gets Tarnished?
Prior to 1978 it was the goal of all attorneys to obtain an “AV” rating in the Martindale-Hubbell as a sign you were a talented and ethical lawyer. The “A” stood for excellent, expertise and legal ability in the community amongst fellow practitioners. The “V” stood for high ethical standards that came from judges and attorneys that had often been involved in litigation with the person being considered for an AV rating.
In order to obtain the highest category you had to be in practice for at least 15 years. The lawyers selected to anonymously rate your ability were both plaintiff and defense lawyers in various categories. While the large firms had an easier path for their members to get an AV it was more difficult for personal injury plaintiff lawyers to get the rating because of the often confrontational nature of dealing with defense lawyers.
You couldn’t get an AV by having a few of your buddies send in a favorable recommendation. You also couldn’t get the highest rating by buying a plaque or membership for $1,000.00. It was a prized symbol that you were a capable and well thought of member of the legal profession.
I recently came across an announcement in October 2018 that there had been a merger of Martindale-Hubbell and the more controversial Avvo into a new entity called “Martindale-Avvo” in a new family of legal marketing brands that also include Nolo and Ngage Live Chat.
The new entity claims access to more than 25 million consumers monthly and “engagement with potential clients through forums that receive more than 70,000 questions monthly.”
With its checkered record by the court decision in New York and other states as to its illegal and ethical ramifications Avvo seemed an unlucky partner of the formerly time revered Martindale-Hubbell.
The quest for profits and legal existence often result in strange bedpartners.
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
Big Boys Get in Advertising Market
Two of Chattanooga’s largest and best respected law firms have recently entered the marketing frenzy soliciting legal business. The Chambliss firm and Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison have both announced free Estate Planning Workshops in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
No, you won’t see respected lawyers Max Bahner (Chambliss) or Wayne Grant (GK&H) standing on a tractor-trailer touting their legal talents by claiming they can save you a truckload of money in your estate plans.
Richard Bethea and Greg Willett (Chambliss) and John Konvalinka (GK&H) will not don Superman capes and claim they are “Best of the Best” in the yearly lucrative promotion by our local newspaper. However, ask any knowledgeable local attorney and they will inform you that Richard, John and the other lawyers on their staffs that work with them are capable and tough in the representation of their clients.
Their newspaper ads are in compliance with the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision that theoretically limited lawyer advertising to “non-deceptive” efforts to inform the “public’s right to know” of the availability of legal services. No exaggerations of how much money they can get the client or how easy it is to make insurance companies and insurance defense lawyers tremble in their shoes at the mention of their names will be made. No catchy jingles or over statements of their records and accomplishments will be made.
The two firms are doing it the way it was intended in 1978. Many of the advertisements in other areas of the law are good comedy but bad for the potential clients and their families.
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
How Low Will They Go?
Monday, January 21, is a national holiday celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the giants in the civil rights movement. Courthouses, post offices and my business are closed in recognition of Dr. King’s life. Yet on Saturday, January 19, 2019, I received an email from an entity called Law Practice CLE announcing their “Martin Luther King Day Special” that ended on January 21, 2019, and gave a 15% discount on “All Law Practice CLE Courses” with the coupon code “DREAM!”
This opening announcement was followed by a listing of ninety-eight (98) “Self-Study Courses Available” beginning alphabetically with “A Complete Guide to Reliable Living Traits” and ending with “Setting A Winning Law Firm Internet Strategy in 2018.”
It closes with the pitch that “Law practice CLE is a national continuing legal education company designed to provide education on current trending issues in the legal world to judges, attorneys, paralegals, and other entrusted business professional.
The obvious lack of taste in their commercial advertisement involving a national holiday is comparable to the minority lawyer advertisers who engage in deceptive tactics well beyond what was intended in Justice Blackmon’s limited opinion in 1978 allowing self-promoting of their legal services.
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
Non Deceptive But Image Enhancing Ads
In 2010 my fellow anti-lawyer advertising contact in the New York Personal Injury Blog published an article and picture soliciting personal injury and DUI cases by depicting a potential client standing in front of a urinal at a South Carolina restaurant. With tongue in cheek he stated that “Advertising over a urinal has one thing going for it: A captive audience.”
Surprisingly he received emails upholding the use of such ads by comparing the ad to “those of sports teams or dentists or others.” Perhaps one distinction is that attorneys are regulated by the Rules of Courts and governing bodies that other professions do not have to comply with.
The blogs author responded that such ads could be seen by potential jurors and adversely affect their ability to render a fair and impartial verdict in light of the tasteless advertisement.
Eight years later I am informed that a local popular sports bar/restaurant in the Chattanooga area had such an ad in the men’s room. (I don’t know if they have lengthened their happy hour and/or lowered their beer prices to encourage more trips to the John.)
I leave it up to the reader to decide whether Justice Blackmon in the 1978 opinion intended that releasing ones bladder into a urinal falls into the non-deceptive advertising category.
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
New Year’s Resolution for 2019
1. I will continue the Silly Blog in spite of the vocal criticism of the few financially involved advertisers and the silence of the vast majority of non-advertising attorneys who allow their old and prospective new clients to be taken from them;
2. I will continue to expose any “deceptive” advertising techniques that are based on misrepresentations of any lawyer’s accomplishment not based on results or ability;
3. I will continue if asked to encourage the Tennessee Supreme Court, Tennessee General Assembly, and Board of Professional Responsibility to examine the current rule pertaining to lawyer advertising in an effort to attempt to make certain that any representations made to the general public are truthful, non-deceptive, and are in the best interests of the individuals needing legal services;
4. I will continue to have our firm engage in charitable events for philanthropic purposes in a proper and dignified manner and not just to benefit the firm financially;
5. I will continue to give credit to law firms that advertise in a professional and non-deceptive manner and do not demean the image of trial lawyers;
6. I will continue to urge my brothers and sisters in the legal community to forward the Silly Blog to their clients, friends, and acquaintances to inform the intended beneficiaries of legitimate legal advertising. They can claim it as their authorship without any reference to the creator of the Silly Blog.
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
I’m Not Completely Alone
When I started the “TruthInLawyerAdvertising.com” blog (the silly blog) I had hoped the members of the Bar who are opposed to “deceptive” advertising would join in our Don Quixote crusade to inform the public that glitzy self-serving media ads are not the best way to select legal representation in serious matters.
Unfortunately the multi-billion dollars involved in lawyer advertising, inertia by Bar Associations, governing bodies and supervising authorities have not resulted in any large ground swell of support by the legal community for our quest.
Of course I have received many private congratulations from some of my legal acquaintances but most attorneys opposed to “deceptive advertising” have been complacent and allowed the media advertisers to steal their regular clients primarily in personal injury cases under the guise that their commercials make them more qualified to handle a serious injury or death case. In reality the cost of the expensive radio, television, website, etc. campaigns put great pressure on said law firms to settle cases without going to trial and receive less than full value of the case based on the severity of the case, liability, and collectability of any settlement or verdict.
Attorney Eric Turkewitz of New York is the Don Quixote of anti-lawyer advertising in that area entitled “New York Personal Injury Law Blog” and has won American Bar Association Journal Awards for several years. He combines his critique of lawyer advertising with some promotion of his personal injury practice while I have chosen to keep the blog separate from the firm website.
Eric’s most recent featured article involved activist preacher Al Sharpton’s daughter getting a $95,000.00 settlement in a slip and fall case. He also was the source on the prior article dealing with the selection of a female puppy, Lucy Davis, being selected for exclusive membership in the highly publicized “Lawyers of Distinction.”
Keep reading Eric’s blog and our “silly blog.” More importantly forward them to not only your clients but also your friends and acquaintances. It might even result in you retaining part of your legal practice rather than losing important cases to the self-proclaimed experts.
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
Best of the Best—Thomas A. Caldwell
In a previous article, I have listed the qualities of what I think a “Best Lawyer” should possess to represent the legal profession in an ethical manner rather than glitzy and often deceptive legal advertising. On December 12, 2018, our profession lost one of the individuals that in my opinion qualify for being one of the “Best.”
On page B2 of the December 13, 2018, edition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press and in the obituary section of the Chattanoogan.com contains a descriptive article on the life of this unique person who passed away at the age of ninety-four.
Tom was a devoted husband, father of four children and thirteen grandchildren, Veteran of World War II, Harvard University law school graduate, church member and outstanding corporate, tax and estate planning attorney at three of Chattanooga’s leading law firms. His family, personal, legal, military, religious and civic duties are too many to list in this article and the reader is directed to his afore-mentioned obituary.
As a member of the Chattanooga Jaycees he was one of the original founders in 1953 of the Orange Grove Center in an abandoned grammar school in downtown Chattanooga for the mentally and physically handicapped. For sixty-five years he fought to help build the Center into its present facility in Glenwood where the needs of clients are supported and treated. His efforts to protect the rights of those clients on both local and state levels are unsurpassed. A normally quiet individual, he could be combative and forceful in the protection of Orange Grove’s clients.
For thirty-five years I have had the privilege of working with Tom on many legal matters pertaining to the Center. His enthusiasm, ethical standards and love of Orange Grove on a pro bono basis exemplifies how he is imminently qualified to be one of the “Best of the Best” in the legal community.
His death leaves a void that is impossible to fill.
I encourage you to buy local products and hire local, reputable attorneys!
