P.I.S.S.D. -- Personal Injury, Social Security Disability. Dallas Texas Lawyers

One Reason People Don't Like Personal Injury Lawyers

The Associated Press is running a story about out-of-state lawyers swooping in to the grief stricken town of Port Wentworth, Georgia in an effort to get clients from the sugar refinery explosion that happened there recently. While legal, and probably ethical, this type of vulture advertising is just plain sleazy. It taints all personal injury lawyers. Here are excerpts:

Crews are still working to douse the flames from a sugar refinery explosion, still trying to reach the last of the victims' bodies, yet already the out-of-town lawyers are swooping in.

"If you or a loved one was injured in this explosion, you may have valuable legal rights," reads a come-on from one New York-based firm that snapped up the domain name sugarrefineryexplosion.com.

The plant's owners have lawyers, a Texas attorney notes in a newspaper ad, adding: "Shouldn't you?"

While such solicitations are nothing new following major disasters, many residents in this town of 5,000 and beyond have been disgusted by the audacity of lawyers trying to round up clients before the blaze at the refinery — which continued to burn Wednesday, six days after the blast — could be extinguished and the workers' remains fully recovered.

"It's not in the best taste," said Tim Holbrook, owner of the Deli Mart, a popular eatery in downtown Port Wentworth. "The grieving process has just begun and I think it's very unthoughtful."

Even with the search continuing and the smoke still rising, trial lawyers began trolling for plaintiffs.

Word of the solicitations quickly swept through Georgia's legal community, all the way to the state Capitol.

"I'm a big believer in the First Amendment, but (it doesn't require) good taste — and that's what some lawyers do not have," state Rep. Wendell Willard, an Atlanta attorney, said by phone after taking the well of the state House Wednesday to condemn the ads. "It's unseemly, and it gives us all a bad name."

Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears offered her own warning: "There are strict rules about lawyer solicitation," she told reporters at the State Capitol Wednesday. "Any lawyer that might be doing that, they need to be careful."

Link of the Day - Lawyers Inner Circle

Today is the first day of the semi-annual Lawyers Inner Circle Marketing and Management conference. I have been a member of this wonderful group for a couple of years now, and joining it was one of the best things I have ever done for my law practice.

Lawyers Inner Circle is a collection of personal injury lawyers (although most of us work in other practice areas as well) who meet twice a year for 2-3 day conferences. We have excellent speakers, and even better roundtable discussions.

The topics include almost every variation of advertising, marketing, public relations, and law firm management. The membership is geographically limited to one firm per media market. That means we can share all our secrets without worrying about a direct competitor using that information. This leads to very open discussions about what has worked and what hasn't worked for the members.

I encourage any personal injury lawyer to look into joining this group. All information can be found on the Web site.

Blackberry Appeal Rejected By Supreme Court

The news is all over the Internet today about the Supreme Court's rejection of Blackberry's appeal of a patent-infringement suit. If I used a Blackberry, rather than my Treo, I'd be worried.

The court's refusal to hear the appeal means that a trial judge could impose an injunction against the company and block BlackBerry use.

Link of the Day - Friday Fun

I've seen a lot of lawyers who look for a particular "niche" in which to practice. There's Karate Law and even Bug Law. But here's the best ever -- Pizza Law! Be sure to check out the Live Consultations!

Social Networking Shouldn't Take A Holiday

An article in today's Dallas Morning News reminded me of Allison Shields' excellent posts about networking on her LegalEase Consulting blog. The newspaper article is not law-related, but the tips directed at young job seekers could also apply to lawyers.

On this same topic, I recommend the book Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi. In spite of the too-cute title, the book has very good information about social and business networking.

Lawyer Ads That Go Over The Line

I wish Texas would do what the Florida Supreme Court did in November, and basically say some lawyer ads are just too tasteless. Of course that would be a First Amendment violation, so the Court used different language in banning a Florida firm from using a pit bull in their ads, and using the phone number 1-800-PIT-BULL. Details are on the ABA Journal Web site.

Personal Injury Marketing Group

If any plaintiff personal injury lawyers are interested in joining an exclusive and extremely valuable marketing group, please e-mail me at rkraft@kraftlaw.com for details. I do not own or control the group -- I am just a very avid member.

Law Firm Web Marketing Tips

Dale Tincher, president of Consultwebs, has an amazing amount of information, recommendations, tips, and tricks regarding law firm Web sites and Internet marketing on this page of his site.

Our firm has been a client of Consultwebs for more than four years, and they do a great job with Web design and search engine optimization. Unfortunately, Dale refuses to reward me for recommending his company to other law firms...