# local law firm commercials you hate

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 3, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043 "2003-07-03T15:13:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 14\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/21 "2003-07-04T05:05:33Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Jerrybear \*  
> \*\*That sounds just like the Sam Bernstein and Jay Trucks ads we have here in Michigan! Do Becker’s ads also have the No-Nonsense Guy who May Be A Semi-Famous Washed Up Actor at the end of the ad, repeating Becker’s toll free number and name, then ending with “Right Now!”??? \*\*

Semi-famous washed up Actor like Robert Vaughn? Yep.

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**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/22 "2003-07-04T05:15:15Z")

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Same exact adds (Robert Vaughan included) for some ambulance chasers here in CT. I notice that their adds tend to run during the Jerry Springer-type time slots.

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**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/23 "2003-07-04T05:20:28Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Frankd6 \*  
> \*\*Semi-famous washed up Actor like Robert Vaughn? Yep. \*\*

Yes, thank you! Here in the Boston area there’s a law ad featuring a semi-famous actor whose name I couldn’t remember and it was driving me crazy! It’s Robert Vaughn! Man, what in hell happened to that guy that he’s doing local law firm ads? It doesn’t get much more bottom-of-the-barrel than that.

Another ad that gets to me is a local law firm that specializes in medical malpractice and personal injury cases. The bill themselves as The Law Doctors because they claim their attornies have intimate medical knowledge that makes them perfect for such cases or some such nonsense, but whenever the ads come on I find myself thinking, “The Law Doctors: we doctor the law!” It isn’t that their special or anything, they’re just more up front about what they do than most personal injury attornies. 😃

Anyone else notice that these ads mostly run during daytime talk shows? Anyone else think this is not a coincedence?

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**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/24 "2003-07-04T05:23:03Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by interface2x \*  
> \*\*I have three very bland words for you: Peter Francis Geracy. \*\*

Yeah, they’ve been “about to change the bankruptcy laws” for how many years now? He makes it sound like if you don’t call his office _right this second_ (at two in the morning?) you’ll be missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime because the “new bankruptcy laws” will require you to sell your firstborn into indentured servitude in order to file for bankruptcy.

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**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/25 "2003-07-04T05:46:43Z")

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Yes, I 've noticed that law firm advertisements are usually broadcast in morning or afternonn TV - but not necessarily talk shows. I imagine this is done because 1) advertising time is cheaper (not that I’m saying lawayers are money-grubbers LOL) and 2) the kind of people home at that time are the ones they want to “grab” so to speak. People injured for 1 reason or another.  
Anyway, around Boston we have a money-grubber called James Sokolove who is VERY concerned if you or a family member has been injured due to a doctor’s negligence. I wonder if people had to pay him up front for his services how “concerned” he’d be for your tragedy. He’d probably say “You got no money ?? Screw you - I’m gonna set a drug kingpin free on a technicality.”

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**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/26 "2003-07-04T06:21:12Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by wolf\_meister \*  
> \*\*  
> Anyway, around Boston we have a money-grubber called James Sokolove who is VERY concerned if you or a family member has been injured due to a doctor’s negligence. I wonder if people had to pay him up front for his services how “concerned” he’d be for your tragedy. He’d probably say “You got no money ?? Screw you - I’m gonna set a drug kingpin free on a technicality.” \*\*

Ah yes, or as my late father used to call him, James Suckemoff. My father was no fan of lawyers or politicians.

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**Author:** ![BadBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@BadBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBaby)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/27 "2003-07-04T07:05:24Z")

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Larry H. Parker! I remember that guy, he always seemed so terribly angry.

Nowadays the one that gets me is this one lawyer whose commercials are composed of him playing with his grandchildren or his stupid dogs.

“These are my dogs, Peeontherug and Humpyourleg. Peeontherug comes from five generations of champion labrador retrievers. This is my grandson Gonnahaveissues sliding down the slide. I’m their grandpa and I’m not fooling anyone into thinking I’m actually a nice old guy so you’ll let me represent you.”

I’ve noticed he never mentions his granddaughters, just his damned dogs and the boys.

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**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/28 "2003-07-04T15:40:57Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Peg \*  
> \*\*“Larry H. Parker got me 2.1 million dollars!” \*\*

Actually, I find that one funny. (And yeah, I haven’t seen much of Larry H. Parker on TV lately.) Of course, it begs the question – if he’s such a good lawyer, how come he hasn’t gotten anyone ELSE $2.1 million??

As for BAD law firm commercials…there was one a year or two ago which claimed that Cerebral Palsy was a condition CAUSED BY MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE and was trying to get C.P. patients together for a class-action lawsuit!! Now that one just PISSED me off. (Can I start a class-action lawsuit to sue another class-action lawsuit? I would if I could.)

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**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/29 "2003-07-04T19:23:11Z")

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Lawton and Cates, the lawyer’s lawyers. In Madison. Some lawyer drops a bookcase on his own head trapping himself. He struggles to reach for the phone and speed dials Lawton and Cates. Not an ambulance or the paramedics or the police or Randolph Mantooh. Lawton and Cates.

Habush, Habush and Rotier. Also in Madison. In an otherwise fairly inoffensive commercial there’s a line about “when a law firm has built such a reputation for winning that most cases are settled without going to court.” Of course most cases through any law firm are settled without going to court. Shameless puffery.

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**Author:** ![Jerrybear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@Jerrybear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jerrybear)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/30 "2003-07-07T14:15:47Z")

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I have seen ads for James Sokolove (or Suckemoff) here in Michigan. I guess he chases ambulances nationwide?

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/31 "2003-07-07T16:37:20Z")

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I think probably the worst around here is Saionz, Kirk and Miles. Their phone numbers are 1-800-LAWYER and 1-800-MALPRACTICE.

And their slogan is: “If you have a phone, you have a lawyer.”

Other malpractice firms with bad advertising in the Baltimore area are:

- Kim Yost
- Cohen, Snyder, Eisenberg and Katzenberg (using Bubba Smith and Ravens’ linebacker Ray Lewis as frontmen)
- Leviness, Tolzman and Hamilton

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/32 "2003-07-08T13:02:31Z")

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Here in Boston we have a real scumbag law firm…the law officesof james Sokolove! He delivers a smarmy monologue about how he can get you money if you are the victim of medical malpractice…he then shows a list of terrible things that happen to people…breast cancer, birth defects, etc., etc.  
I found out that this Sokolove is just a booking agent for cases…he refers you to another scumbag lawyer, and takes a cut of your settlement! Champerty indeed!

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**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/33 "2003-07-08T16:00:31Z")

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I believe Larry Parker once had an ad on KTLA where he barked “I’m Larry H. Parker, and (sweating) I get _angry_ for you!”.

I though Robert Vaughan took time out of his busy acting career only for one of our rinky dink local law firms.

Living close to the Mexican border, we also get treated with the bad Spanish language ads. Robert Vaughan even does one!

Anyway, I suspect a lot of these commercials are sort of “stock” commercials, and are nationwide.

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**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/local-law-firm-commercials-you-hate/186043/34 "2003-07-09T01:52:57Z")

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The worst ones are the canned commercials where only the voice-over naming the local ambulance chaser (or the “video screen” in the evil insurance company’s conference room) changes from region to region.

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