Using my experience as a Seattle car accident attorney, I have written many books that are available for free for all Washington State residents. One of them, “The Shocking Truth About Lawyer Advertising,” sheds some light on deceiving advertising strategies used by some lawyers. I wrote this because I have seen too many people make case-altering mistakes in hiring an attorney based off of misleading ads they saw on TV or the Yellowpages. I strongly urge everybody to check my book out titled: The Shocking Truth About Lawyer Advertising, but here’s a sneak peak on four points that are important to look out for in lawyer ads:
1.) The bar exam does not determine what type of lawyer someone is: The bar exam determines whether or not someone can practice law in the state in which they take it, but not the type of law they will practice. The implications of this are that a lawyer can hold themselves out to be any kind of lawyer they want, even without experience in that particular field. Someone can call themselves a personal injury lawyer without ever having tried a single personal injury case. Because of this, it is important to research a lawyer before you hire them. Their advertisement may make it seem as though they have the perfect expertise for your case, but in reality, they may have no clue how to handle it
2.) Some personal injury lawyers never go to court: There is a general conception in a lot of people’s head that they must get their case settled fast. While this would be nice, lawyers who only settle cases quickly will never be able to get you the money that is owed to you. Insurance companies know which lawyers are willing to go to trial, and which are not. If they are against a lawyer who never goes to trial, then they have no incentive to offer a solid settlement. Lawyers who advertise that they settle cases quickly may as well advertise that they let the insurance companies control the process, because that is the reality of that kind of practice. A lot of lawyers brag about this in their commercials, however, because they know that people do not fully understand how important it is for a lawyer to be willing to go to trial. Just remember that while settling every case fast may sound like something you want, it is not a good thing.

3.) The lawyer you see on TV may not handle your case: You may see an attorney in an advertisement that you really like and want to represent you, but make sure they will be handling your case before you hire their firm. The lawyer you see on TV may very well hand the majority of his or her cases off to less experienced lawyers in the firm, or have their paralegals do most of the work. In fact, an advertisement doesn’t even guarantee that an attorney works in the area in which you see it. There is a large firm in Seattle that does a lot of advertising, where their figurehead lawyer doesn’t even work in the state of Washington. This is one of the best examples of why you cannot take what you see on TV at face value.

4.) Lawyer advertisements are no indicator of skill: All a lawyer advertisement means is that they were able to afford an advertisement. Nothing else. A fancy advertisement has no correlation to the ability of the firm to defend your case; it simply means that they have money.

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