02/14/2022
AMBULANCE CHASING IS BACK
For decades, the ABA model rules prohibited attorneys from directly soliciting business from potential clients; in sum, first contact had to be made by the client. Attorneys were allowed to advertise their services, but a clear line was drawn between general advertising to the public, which was allowed, and direct solicitation of business from potential clients, which was not. The rule was established as a safeguard to protect those in need of legal representation and to preserve the integrity of the legal profession.
The 2019 amendments to the ABA model rules governing solicitation of clients have had serious unintended consequences that prejudice clients and attorneys alike. Since the passage of these rules, I have been contacted by a large plaintiff’s firm in Houston (comprised of at over 25 paralegals but just five attorneys, none of whom are members of the Oregon State Bar) as well as numerous corporate client referral services headquartered outside Oregon. All of these operations attempted to sell me Oregon cases for egregious commissions. The Texas firm wanted a whopping 40% just to refer me clients and the police reports they had obtained on LexisNexis, which they used to locate and solicit the clients.
The problem with this situation is manifold. First, injured Oregonians are being ambushed by ambulance chasers (let’s be honest, that’s what they are) before they decide they even need or want legal representation. Second, these same injured Oregonians are getting hoodwinked into signing attorney fee agreements with third parties without any foreknowledge of who will be acting as their attorney; in other words, they aren’t actually picking their own attorneys. Third, attorneys accepting referrals from the ambulance chasers pay fees that are often passed on in some form to clients and insurers. Last, but not least, attorneys participating in these referral schemes have no opportunity to adequately vet potential clients and their claims before forming an attorney-client relationship; the clients they are assigned likely feel the same way (and if they don’t, it’s only because someone has fed them a line).
This situation is an ethical quagmire. It enables unsavory business practices which add zero value to the legal industry, and it harms plaintiffs, practitioners, and defendants alike. If you are ever injured and need an attorney, please find and vet your own lawyer; don’t let the ambulance chasers do it for you.
Photo Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi, The National Law Journal, (last visited Sept. 5, 2018). By: Allie Segrest Associate Editor, American Journal of Trial Advocacy Introduction &nbs…
