Is Your Attorney Compassionate?
I’ve noticed recently that some personal injury lawyers are advertising on television touting their compassion to persuade people into giving them their legal business. I wonder each time I see one of these TV commercials whether anyone is really influenced by such statements. In my experience people who are truly compassionate do not go around declaring their own compassion as a way to gain attention. Maybe because I see humility as part of genuine compassion I wonder whether it is credible to use compassion as a marketing tool.
Some of the lawyers pushing compassion in their advertising messages have protocols inside their law firms that are perhaps contrary to compassion. Many employ assembly line procedures for the handling of the great bulk of their case load. Clients of such firms do not always have their cases handled by a lawyer. Instead, the case is handled by a case manager, typically a retired insurance adjustor, paralegal, or legal assistant. These firms contend all cases are still supervised by a lawyer behind the scenes, but that arrangement is not disclosed until after the client has already signed a legal services contract with the law firm. The simple business truth is that some lawyers bait you into their law firm with the promise of compassion only to shuffle your case off to a less qualified case manager because the lawyer is too busy to handle your case.
Fifteen years ago I worked at a TV law firm, but left of my own volition to establish a legal practice where I could provide the kind of legal services I would demand if I were the client. I won’t presume to tell you that I am compassionate. I’ll simply let the way I conduct my representation of clients to speak for me. When you select a lawyer always demand to speak to the actual lawyer handling your case before you sign a legal services contract.