When Bad Lawyer Advertising Happens, It’s The Children Who Suffer

Brian Tannenbaum over at My Law License exposes the farce that is "Super Lawyers" when the publication listed two currently acting prosecutors as "Super Criminal Defense Lawyers".

My response is as follows. . .

When Bad Lawyer Advertising Happens, It's The Children Who Suffer

Yes,
there is a ton of transparently bad advertising & "fact checking"
out there when it comes to lawyer advertising & law firm marketing.
In my experience, it has alot to do with the fact that law schools
don't teach us anything about how to market a law firm, there are
hardly any decent CLE programs on the subject and most lawyers run
around with a inside-out perspective on marketing. So compared to the
owners of just about any other kind of business too many lawyers
haven't a clue about why & how clients REALLY go about choosing a
lawyer. Especially a criminal defense lawyer!

So the saddest
thing is that instead of being home with their kids too many lawyers
are out there working extra-hours to earn the money to then pour down
the advertising drain. And for the most part (like 80%) DOESN'T EVEN
WORK.

Why? Because contrary to conventional wisdom,
credentials are not at the top of the list of what clients are looking
for when hiring a lawyer. (chorus: ESPECIALLY a criminal defense
lawyer!)

But since so few lawyer ads give clients what they
are REALLY interested in knowing they just settle for the best of bad
and so that's what too many lawyers go around thinking is "good enough."