If only more attorneys did what they’re supposed to do — like returning calls and truly caring about clients — we wouldn’t need a made-up love your lawyer holiday
Last Friday was “Love Your Lawyer Day.”
Never heard of it? Until last year, I hadn’t either.
Love Your Lawyer Day was started in 2001 by the American Lawyers Public Image Association. The purpose, says the ALPIA, is “to highlight the good that lawyers do, often thanklessly.” But we wouldn’t need another manufactured, self-serving “holiday” like this one if more lawyers in the profession — especially personal injury lawyers — just did what they are supposed to do.
If more attorneys acted out of respect, courtesy and compassion, people probably wouldn’t hate lawyers so much these days.
Who knows, they might even like them?
We live in a world today where most lawyers do not return phone calls from clients — in fact, where many injury lawyers in particular feel they are too good to talk to their own clients on the phone.
We live in a world of personal injury law firm mills that “bait and switch” car crash victims all the time, with lawyers promising people very high settlement number early on in order to sign as many cases as possible — only to “churn-and-burn” these auto cases and ultimately settle for a far lower settlement amount.
We also live in a world where lawyer ambulance chasing in cities like Detroit has gotten completely out of control — and where we have seen a total failure by the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission to police the profession and protect the public from solicitation.
Who can possibly expect the public to have a positive feeling toward the legal profession if they’ve been seriously injured in a car accident and they are bombarded afterward with lawyer solicitation letters and lawyers, and their proxies calling their house and even ringing their doorbells?
Let’s be honest. If more people came away with positive experiences of lawyers who were honest and trustworthy, who were treated like human beings instead of case numbers, then more people would be loving their lawyers.
Love Your Lawyer Day should be every day.
We have only ourselves to blame that it is not.
Clients’ needs always come first — not just on Love Your Lawyer Day
I became an auto accident attorney because helping people and making a difference in their lives was something I could spend my career believing in. Law is a profession, not a business, and that means knowing the client’s needs always come first.
Always.
Those needs include how lawyers should treat people. People should be treated with dignity and respect, and with compassion and caring.
For me, the law is a profession, not a business. People put their trust in us following life-altering tragic events that often have caused serious, sometimes permanent injuries.
We don’t need a Love Your Lawyer Day — we need lawyers to care about their clients and treat them right
Love Your Lawyer Day shouldn’t be about us lawyers.
It should be about our clients.
