On May 13th I’ll be speaking in Tampa at an event sponsored by Injury Board and the American Association for Justice. The theme of the conference? Marketing and advertising for lawyers.

Now you might think this is an odd place to have me speak, given that I’ve often been sharply critical of a variety of high tech marketing techniques, so I’ll explain why I’m doing this.

The lead sponsor is a personal injury group blog called Injury Board that is, to put it mildly, severely under-utilized by it’s participants. It is rare to see any of the postings in that area appear in a Blawg Review or, in fact, linked up to any other external blog. It might happen, but I don’t generally see it. There seems to be little interaction with the outside blogging world.

A quick view of sample blog postings shows the following:

• This one is about a local car accident, which has little importance to anyone else in the world except those involved. Why do you think it was written?
• This one is about “where to put your hands on the steering wheel”and has the words “personal injury” linked to a lawsuit finance company with a pitch for their services at the end;
• This one has a list of train accidents along with a call to action to contact the firm at the end.

Some of this stuff parallels the points I made when I jokingly offered my blog up for sale on April Fool’s Day 2009, with a list of worst blogging practices.

My feeling is that such blatant advertising in the form of blog postings is bad for the profession and bad for personal injury attorneys in particular. It’s already tough to find an impartial jury that isn’t tainted by lawyer-haters, and this kind of stuff just makes it worse. It is, to me, not just the digital equivalent of the bad TV commercial, but worse: When lawyers target particular accidents and individuals I believe that they cross the line into solicitation. (See Attorney Solicitation 2.0 — Is It Ethical?)

So I’m heading down to Tampa to deliver a message that some in the crowd probably won’t like, but which I think is important to deliver. But it isn’t just me that thinks it’s important, for so too does Tom Young, one of the co-founders of Injury Board and the person that invited me to speak. It’s a credit to Young that he’s asked me to come, knowing full well that my opinions may be deeply at odds with the conduct of some of the bloggers at Injury Board.

You can find some of the speakers at this link.

The Georgia Supreme Court struck down artificial limits on medical malpractice cases (more links at the WSJ Law Blog); And if you were wondering, this is how New York caps personal injury awards;

If you put boilerplate in your legal papers, what do you think the reaction will be?

New York City settles, for $33M, a case involving illegal strip searches;

And more NYC, regarding the almost-settlement of the 9/11 responder cases (Lawyers deserve praise):

The workers’ lawyers devoted hundreds of thousands of hours to their clients’ cause without receiving a nickel in payment. The defense lawyers, by contrast, bore no such risks. Their expenses were reimbursed as incurred and they were paid by the hour for their time each month.

Were you thinking of buying a Louis Vuitton bag? I hope not;

There will not be any “demonstration” alternatives to medical malpractice suits from the health care bill. Why? Well, its supporters all decided to vote no on the bill. So there wasn’t any reason to make gifts to them that close the courthouse doors to injured people;

What happens when David Duke in drag goes up to Canada to speak?

Do some cops like to shoot dogs?

Fisticuffs in the courthouse between attorneys? (And more!); And would the Ninth Circuit call bare hands “weapons?“

A judge issues a verdict: Dr. Phil is a charlatan;

Congrats to John Day (Day on Torts);

The ABA Journal profiles tort “reformer” Ted Frank, who I sometimes butt heads with and who also happens to be my lawyer;

If you read this far, a bonus! George Bush and Bill Clinton are shaking hands in Haiti. And Bush decides he didn’t like someone’s shake. So he wipes his hand on Clinton’s shirt. I swear I didn’t make this up.

Lance Godard has Blawg Review#257, in which he profiles 22 posts and asks 22 questions.

Two weeks back I noted some particularly poor writing from the judiciary. Today we turn to someone’s pleadings, with a judge noting a “virtual parade of linguistic horrors.” And that wasn’t the pro se version of the complaint either, but the attempted amendment by counsel. (Malcolm v. Honeoye Falls-Lima Education Assn. via A Buffalo Lawyer);

Of course, lousy writing from lawyers doesn’t only occur in court filings. Some people actively try to embarrass themselves with it online as well;

Plane hits house. Lawyer hired. Lawyer fails to file suit. Lawyer sued.

With stuck Prius pedal problems in the news, Max Kennerly wants to know about the rush to blame the victims. And yeah, he’s got much more to say than that;

Still on Prius, Ted Frank has suggested that the acceleration issues are age-related, based on a sampling of 24 cases. And Walter Olson does a Toyotathon round-up, with a focus on the problem being overblown. But neither cite research prior to recent incidents that show that 41% of the acceleration problems came from Toyotas, while they held only 16% market share. The data comes from a Consumer Reports study of almost 6,000 incidents.

If a doctor lies to a patient, is it malpractice? Does it depend on what the lie is about?

I’m not the only one to notice, for sure, about the US Chamber of Commerce’s hypocrisy when it comes to litigation. Legal Pad has given them a swift kick also. But only because they deserve it.

Should a jury be told that punitive damages paid by a company are deductible? (And why are they deductible in the first place?)

I’ve heard a lot of odd excuses to get out of jury duty, but never did anyone say they would appear in full KKK garb;

Bernie Madoff got beat up in jail. Will he become a Crip or a Blood to survive?

TortsProf with the Personal Injury Law Round-Up;

And Blawg Review #256 comes to you from another planet, via Cyberlaw Central (winner of 2009 Blawg Review of the Year).

Courts in New York City are closed today for the snow storm, as they are in various places up and down the eastern seaboard. So what happens if the statute of limitations expires today, and the courts are closed?

I popped that question to David Gottlieb, who runs No-Fault Paradise (and theCPLRblog). In the comments of this post: Snow Day? he tackled the issue.

And the good news for New York practitioners (and their clients): We are safe. He found Martin v. J.C. Penney Co., Inc. 275 A.D.2d 910 (App. Div., 4th, 2000), which arose when the courts in Buffalo were closed for a storm on the same day the SOL was to run. We get the extra day because Judiciary Law 282-a provides that,

“[w]henever the last day on which any paper is required to be filed with a clerk of a court * * * expires on a Saturday, Sunday, a public holiday or a day when the office of such clerk is closed for the transaction of business, the time therefor is hereby extended to and including the next business day such office is open for the transaction of business.”

Check out comment #2 of his post for the decision. So unless someone can challenge the power of the court to close itself down, you’re good.

Of course, it would be slightly better practice NOT TO WAIT UNTIL THE LAST DAY TO FILE YOUR PAPERS.

That is all.

Coney Island stock photo credit: Dan Turkewitz

For those looking to make a donation for Haitian earthquake relief, Consumer Reports has a round-up of reputable charities.

These are before and after pictures of the presidential palace: