Defenders of the Rights of Citizens

04/17/2009 - Law Firm Blog - Link to This Entry

Edward Ricci - Plaintiff Consumer Practice Group Chair
International Society of Primerus Law Firms

When I first met Primerus, I was invited to speak to the Plaintiff Practice Group about my research on “why the public hates trial lawyers.” I had discovered that the public generally sees “lawyers” as greedy, unethical and operating out of self-interest.

At the same time, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now the American Association for Justice) conducted research to determine whether a name change would increase the organization’s credibility. When they changed from the word “lawyer” to “attorney,” public acceptance improved drastically. Attorneys are associated with justice; “lawyers” are not.

We must do everything we can to reinforce this connection between attorneys and justice. Attorneys, particularly personal injury attorneys, must convey to the public that they are in the business of justice, not the business of money. As I like to say: “Justice is the goal. Money is simply proof that justice was done.”

One of the keys to successful marketing is to communicate this link to our core values, to the goal that is the backbone of what we do every day. Many organizations have recognized this – the American Medical Association is not the American Doctors Association and the National Education Association is not the National Teachers Association. And as we all know, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, as a result of this research, changed its name to the American Association for Justice.

I incorporated this idea when I developed the current marketing plan for my law firm. The homepage of my firm’s website (edriccilaw.com) shows a picture of a two-lane highway with double yellow lines. Skid marks cross the lanes. It says, “The need for safety, in seconds can become the need for justice.”

I believe there’s another critical message we must convey to the media and public. Nobody has claimed that the recent collapse of the economy is the fault of trial attorneys. Yet for the past 25 years, there have been efforts to bring about restrictions to consumer tort rights, claiming it was going to bring down the economy. But we all know that’s not how the collapse happened. We must get our message out, not just for soliciting business for our own law firm, but to change the environment in which we function. We must get back on our white horses and remember that we are the defenders of the rights of citizens.