by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
Eric Turkewitz has penned an interesting article on the New York Personal Injury Law Blog entitled ” FuneralHomes.com Digs Deep For Personal Injury Lawyers
While the title is self explanatory and Turkewitz makes the witty observation that “the bar for attorney advertising has been lowered to new depths. It now appears to rest six feet under”, what is interesting about his post is his observation about how in this modern day bad business practices get effectively dealt with on the internet.
Over the past five years, while some in the structured settlement industry have expressed concerns about issues raised by me, Mark Wahlstrom, or Patrick Hindert, believing that addressing these matters falls under the jurisdiction of the NSSTA (or SSP), the reality remains that, despite the existence of published codes of ethics, these standards are seldom, if ever, enforced.
With respect to lawyers, Turkewitz states in parallel: “The ABA position doesn’t really matter. And you know why? Because when lawyers see conduct that they deem to be offensive and detrimental to the legal field – and I think that lawyers advertising on funeral home websites fits that definition — then some lawyer-bloggers will write about the subject. And if those bloggers are sufficiently offended by the conduct, then they might publicize the names of those that are chasing cases in such a manner. You can see examples of such e-shaming here by Mark Bennett, or another by Kevin O’Keefe here“.
I concur with Turkewitz’ observation that “the web moves very fast when it comes to correcting the behavior of those that act offensively, a hell of a lot faster than the ABA” (or the NSSTA or the SSP for that matter). This is the reality that has been borne out over the past 5 years and it’s a good thing.
It took a while for the structured settlement industry to adjust to the paradigm shift of “peer pressure by Internet” that, for better or worse, has proven to be effective.
Five years into blogging, and I’m still going strong—though not without dodging a few curveballs along the way. Together with fellow bloggers, we’ve hacked through the jungle of resistance to the new reality. Last week, in the NSSTA hospitality suite at the Bellagio, in Las Vegas Nevada, I wasr was more than a little pleased to hear compliments outnumbering critiques for my service as Structurd Settlement Watchdog.
Key Takeaways
- Eric Turkewitz critiques the decline of attorney advertising standards, highlighting the issue with lawyers advertising on funeral home websites.
- The blog emphasizes how the internet effectively corrects bad business practices, often faster than traditional organizations like the ABA.
- Peer pressure via the internet has shifted the structured settlement industry, leading to a quicker response to offensive behavior.
- The author notes a positive shift in perceptions, receiving more compliments than criticism in recent discussions at industry events.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
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