How to read lawyer advertising

An ad is an ad

Everything a law firm puts in front of you before you hire it is marketing, this page included. Lawyer.co is published by a law firm, and the notice in the header and foot of every page says so. A rank in a directory can be marketing too, because a directory can be paid for by the lawyers listed in it. Ask of any claim: who said it, and what did they check?

An ad is useful for one thing. It tells you a firm exists and how to reach it. Judge the firm by what comes after: the license, the questions you ask and the agreement you are given.

What “certified” means

Some ads say a lawyer is certified. The word can mean very different things, so ask who certified the lawyer and in what.

The State Bar of California runs a certification program for a short list of areas of law. When we read that list on the day shown below, it included bankruptcy, family, immigration and workers’ compensation. Personal injury was not on it. The State Bar also accredits other organizations that certify in further areas, and the list of those is on the same State Bar page.

So “we practice personal injury law” is a description of the work. It is not a certification, and this firm uses it only as a description. If an ad uses the word certified, ask for the name of the organization and check that it is real. If an ad uses another word for the same idea, such as a claim of unusual skill, treat it as a claim of rank and ask what stands behind it.

Words that compare

Words that rank a lawyer above others, such as the ones that say a firm is first, ahead of the rest, or most trusted, cannot be tested by you and are rarely backed by anything you can see. Awards and lists are worth a second look for the same reason. Ask how a winner was chosen, whether the lawyer paid to be listed, and whether anyone checked the lawyer’s work.

A firm that describes what it does, in terms you can verify, is giving you more than one that only tells you it is better than the others.

Promises

No honest lawyer can tell you the result of a case before it starts. Watch for ads that say a person will be paid, or paid a certain amount, or paid fast. A lawyer does not control what an insurer, a judge or a jury decides. The most a lawyer can honestly offer is work: to look at your records, explain the law, and handle the case.

That is why the notice at the foot of this page about prior results says what it says, and why this guide does not say what any case is worth.

Case results

A big number on a billboard is one case, picked because it is big. It does not describe your injury, your insurance or your facts. If a firm shows results, look for a line that says past results do not predict yours, and ask the lawyer how often cases like yours end otherwise. Ask what was left after costs and fees, since the headline number is usually the whole recovery.

What to do instead

1. Check the lawyer’s license with the State Bar. It takes a few minutes.
2. Ask the questions on the list of ten and write down the answers.
3. Read the fee and costs terms before you agree to anything, and take the agreement home.
4. Talk to more than one firm if you can. A firm that is sure of its work will not mind.