2 Major Attorney Groups Urge Restrictions on Ads for Lawyers

Ventura County’s two major attorney organizations are calling for new restrictions on lawyer advertising, which they said offends the public and demeans the legal profession.

A joint resolution adopted by the Ventura County Bar Assn. and the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Assn. said attorney advertising should avoid testimonials from clients, claims about damage awards, dramatizations of accidents and statements of rights intended to encourage lawsuits.

The resolution also urged attorneys to refrain from using broadcast media and said print ads should “present a dignified and responsible appearance.”

John H. Howard, president of the 140-member trial lawyers group, said Monday that the action is a response to lawyer advertising--primarily on Los Angeles-based television stations--that is “more and more pervasive, and more and more offensive to the general public.”

He was referring to commercials that feature clients praising an attorney for achieving big settlements and other ads that seek to drum up fresh lawsuits by suggesting that viewers may have grounds to sue if they were involved in a car accident or other mishap.

“The L. A. media are the most offensive,” he said, noting that these ads are broadcast in Ventura County. “It’s creating a generally negative attitude about the whole system. We figure we have to speak up. Enough is enough.”

The resolution also calls on the California Legislature, the state Supreme Court and the State Bar to prohibit false or misleading ads.

“We’re not trying to prevent lawyers from advertising,” said Diana G. Hancock, who sits on the Ventura County Bar Assn.’s Board of Governors and will soon become president-elect of the trial lawyers group. “We’re hoping that this resolution will bring to the attention of the State Bar . . . that there are a lot of lawyers out there who believe that this kind of advertising is not appropriate.”

Howard said many ads demean not only the legal profession, but the entire civil justice system.

“It creates the image that the system is just a slot machine, just a methodology for making money,” rather than a way to get compensation for injury, Howard said.

What’s more, he said, some ads create the false impression that winning a lawsuit is easy. “It’s not a walk in the park,” Howard said.

Few Ventura County attorneys use radio advertising, Howard and Hancock said, and they were not aware of any who use television. But Hancock said the groups felt obliged to respond to the barrage of attorney ads from Los Angeles County.

“People don’t stop and think, ‘It’s just an L. A. attorney,’ ” Hancock said. “It paints lawyers with a broad brush, and that’s one of the things that concerns us.”

James Matthew Farley, who recently began running a commercial on KVEN radio with his partner, Charles L. Cassy, said he agrees that many lawyer ads are distasteful. Before long, he said, “we’ll be seeing ‘My lawyer can beat up your lawyer.’

“I wrestled with myself long and hard before I started with this little ad,” Farley said. And he said he is not aware of any clients turning to his criminal-law practice because of the radio commercial.

“I’m not really sure why we even do it,” Farley said. “Maybe it’s just for ego, to hear the name on the radio.”

As part of an effort to be “low-key and innocuous,” Farley said his radio ad does not even mention the firm’s address or telephone number.

Less restraint is apparent in many of the lawyer ads filling 80 pages in the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages for Ventura County. Attorney advertising is the largest single category, making up 7% of total ad volume. And some of those ads include promises such as “proven results,” “aggressive legal representation,” “all alternatives explored” and “get immediate cash.”

Howard said phone book ads are preferable to general advertising because they appeal to people already in the market for an attorney.

“With electronic ads, or even newspaper ads, they go into people’s homes and autos and inject the notion in the mind of consumers that maybe they ought to file a lawsuit,” he said. “We don’t perceive that as a lawyer’s role.”

An appropriate ad, according to the resolution, would state the lawyer’s area of expertise, experience, hours, professional affiliations and fee arrangements. It would not include comparisons with other lawyers regarding abilities, fees or diligence in handling a case.

“We think it’s appropriate to let the public know who you are, what you do and what your phone number is,” Howard said.

Attorney Richard C. Loy agreed that some attorney advertising does not cast a professional image. But he said ads in the Yellow Pages offers the average person a freedom of choice that was lacking before the U. S. Supreme Court ruled 15 years ago that attorneys could advertise.

“I think it’s a great service,” said Loy, who specializes in criminal and family law.

The two legal groups represent nearly 1,000 of the estimated 1,300 lawyers practicing in Ventura County. Howard said there was no dissent when his group notified all 140 members of the resolution before it was adopted.

Hancock said the county bar group’s governing board did not poll its members before signing the resolution.