Can't Do That Much and Do It Well

It is not my intention to get into a pissing match with any particular attorney over this. I just want to point out to you some of the ridiculous things that lawyers do.

When I first started practicing law we were not allowed to do any advertising. We got our business by word of mouth. If we did a good job then our clients would tell their friends and family members and we would get more clients that way.

That way is still the main source of my new clients. People for whom I have worked in the past tell their friends who need a lawyer to come to me. I try to keep that in mind on every case I handle. Not only do I want to do a good job on each case for my own personal satisfaction, I want to make sure that the client is happy with the result.

Now somewhere along the line the Supreme Court of the United States said that it was alright for lawyers to advertise. All hell broke loose. Lawyers ads are everywhere. I don’t quarrel with lawyers who advertise. It is a necessary component of the practice now. So, I advertise. I don’t do it a lot. But you could say that this blog is a form of advertising.

Okay, here is the point of this blog. Below is a list. This was taken from the web site of a lawyer in St. Charles County. He has one lawyer in his firm, him. He is rather young and inexperienced. I have met him. I am not impressed with him and I have not heard anybody signing his praises.

This list is what he claims are his areas of practice. WHAT? You have got to be kidding me. Can one lawyer actually have that much breadth of experience that he handles Adoptions and Aviation & Mass Transit Accidents? Does he even know what it takes, how much money and man hours are involved, in handling an aviation accident? Look at that list. I mean what doesn’t this one lawyer do? (Skip to the end of the list for more of my ranting and raving)

Family Law
Housing & Construction Defects
Adoption
Animal Bites
Assault & Battery
Aviation & Mass Transit Accidents
Business & Commercial Law
Business Organizations
Child Support
Civil Rights
Constitutional Law
Construction Law
Consumer Protection
Contracts
Criminal Law
Criminal Law -- Federal
Custody & Visitation
DUI DWI
Discrimination
Eminent Domain Land Use & Zoning
Lemon Law
Litigation & Appeals
Medical Malpractice Law
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Motor Vehicle Defects
Personal Injury
Premises Liability
Products Liability Law
Real Estate Law
Slander/Defamation/Libel
Social Security -- Disability
Toxic Substances
Traffic Violations
Transportation Law
Trusts
Wills
Workers' Compensation Law
Wrongful Death
Divorce

This is the kind of thing that gives lawyers bad names. Some unsuspecting person could see this website and actually believe this guy handles all of this stuff.

I have been doing Personal Injury work, Criminal cases, DWI case and traffic cases for over thirty years. I have to keep current on the law in every area I practice. I go to seminars about my areas of practice. I do not have the time to keep current in the law on what I would need to know to handle even a divorce or adoption, let alone Trusts and Wills and Eminent Domain. That is why I do not do them.

Wills and trusts can be complicated if done right. It is not for lawyers to dabble in. People’s assets are at risk. There are tax consequences if not done properly.

“Real Estate Law” ? What is that, anyway. Lawyers don’t handle closing any more in Missouri. So does he draft contracts? Real estate agents have been doing that for years.

Transportation Law? Barges? Trucks? What does that mean?

Land Use and Zoning? Let me tell you this. Zoning is a very complicated area of the law. In the St. Louis area there are a only a handful of lawyers who know how to do it well. Every smart lawyer I know who has a client with a zoning problem sends that client to one of those lawyers. Just like those lawyers send their Criminal cases or DWI cases to me. This guy is not on the list of those lawyers who can handle zoning matters properly.

It looks to be a desperate attempt to cover every possible area of the law to lure in some unsuspecting client who is not sophisticated in that particular area of the law.

Sorry, my friends, this kind of thing drives me up a wall. I had to vent about it. As I said, I am not going to mention his or her name. I just wanted you to see the kinds of things lawyers, unfortunately, do once they became allowed to advertise. It hurts the legal profession and makes all of us look like petty money grubbers, or as the term goes, “ambulance chasers.”

If this lawyer came to me for legal advice I would tell him that he may be opening himself up for a malpractice lawsuit himself. But I doubt he would listen to me.