Attorneys Gathered in Las Vegas Show Off Their Money-Grabbing Skills
As you know, nothing gets the attention of attorneys like money. Hence the bizarre exhibit at a weekend lawyers’ convention in Las Vegas where attendees were given the chance to keep all the wind-blown dollar bills they could chase down inside a glass booth in 30 seconds.
At the controls of the wind-machine was Brian Sokol of LitFunding Corp., who was looking for a way to strike up a conversation with members of the L.A. Consumer Attorneys Assn. LitFunding lends money to attorneys and plaintiffs in personal injury cases.
Sokol told one passerby that the record for the top money-chaser at the Venetian Hotel that weekend was $63 in half a minute. (That works out to $7,560 an hour, which most attorneys would concede is a satisfactory rate.) Of course, LitFunding, conscious of who it was dealing with, wasn’t about to let an attorney get socked in the eye by a George Washington. All money-grabbers had to put safety goggles on first.
But what about the slip-and-fall possibilities?
More lawyer precautions: At another convention booth, the California Health Institute, a Woodland Hills-based chiropractic group, offered attorneys free massages--if they first signed liability releases. Lawsuits can be such a pain in the neck.
Lawyers’ alias: The L.A. Consumer Attorneys, by the way, didn’t start out with that name. It was the L.A. Trial Lawyers Assn. until the O.J. Simpson trial came along. The group, which handles civil cases, complained it was “too often confused with criminal trial lawyers,” like the not-universally-loved members of the Simpson team.
I’m proud to say that this column staged a contest back then to come up with a new name. But the barristers rejected the winning entry: Earnest Attorneys Trying in Los Angeles (EATLA, for short).
Must be a wrist injury: Roger Marshutz came upon a new malady, named for an insurance program, that can be treated with acupuncture (see accompanying). “Maybe after filling out all the workers’ comp forms, you need the treatment,” he surmised.
Still on the legal beat: Tom O’Leary of Covina took note of the firm that sponsored one courtroom drama (see photo) and said, “I think Jiffy Lube is going to sponsor ‘Grease’ next.”
Gnarly county: Brian Monahan of Venice noticed a sign that seemed to have been altered to give a surf report (see photo).
We can all sleep better now: The police log of the Los Alamitos News-Enterprise assured readers that “a man in a sleeping bag on the roof [of a business] was an employee watching for burglars.”
MiscelLAny: Just the thing for that kid that has trouble waking up for school? Dennis Levin of Larchmont Village saw an ad for a radio/alarm clock that can be played in the shower.
*
Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012 and by e-mail at steve. harvey@latimes.com.
