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For years lawyers did not advertise.  Lawyers thought it was below their dignity to advertise their services.  Doctors didn’t advertise, so why should lawyers.  In fact, many states had ethical rules against advertising.

Then came Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, a United States Supreme Court case, which upheld the right of lawyers to advertise.  The Court upset the tradition against advertising by lawyers, rejecting it as an antiquated rule of etiquette.  That was in 1977.

A few law firms began to advertise, but the vast majority of law firms believed it was still beneath their dignity to advertise.  The firms that did advertise began to take business away from the firms that were rooted in the past.  As things changed more and more lawyers found it was not only beneficial to the public for the lawyer to advertise their expertise and experience, but it was also beneficial to the law firm to allow it to concentrate on a particular area of the law.

At Bailey and Oliver we were slow to join the law firms that advertise.  At first we had a small ad in the phone book…then we had a webpage, then we had a billboard with our pictures on it.  It wasn’t until early last year that we saw the light.

My law partner, Sach Oliver, was speaking to a group of lawyers in California about how to take depositions.  During a break, Sach stumbled onto a book by John Morgan, You Can’t Teach Hungry.  Apparently, someone had left it at a table.  Sach thumbed through a couple of chapters and immediately called me and said we had to get a copy.

That is how we found out about a fantastic marketing firm, PMP.  We learned that John Morgan had been so successful that he started his own marketing firm, Practice Made Perfect, or PMP.  We contacted PMP and set up a meeting with Kaci Bloemers, PMP’s managing partner.

In the past we had worked with a few companies on our website and thought we had a pretty good site.  We were shocked when Kaci told us about numerous problems with our site.  We asked for references and Kaci gave us the name of other PMP clients.  Each one sang the praises of PMP.  Sach and I decided to make a commitment to air 10 televisions spots in our local market.

Sach went to Florida to shoot the spots.  We all loved the natural way the spots, which are currently airing in our local market, looked.  Just as PMP told us, the spots and our new web site are generating so many new clients we have brought in additional staff to handle the clients.

As a side note, a couple of weeks ago, Sach and I were having lunch at a local restaurant.  The server looked at Sach and then went back into the kitchen.  A few minutes later the server came back and said, “The girls in the kitchen want to know if you are Sach Oliver”.  I can’t wait until someone asks Sach for his autograph.  Thanks, PMP.

This entry was posted on March 8, 2013

Lawyers who handle trucking cases have known for years that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is underfunded and understaffed. As citizens, we rely on the government to protect us from the carnage of a truck reeling out of control on the highway.  But, the sad truth is, the government is basically powerless when it comes to controlling trucking companies who operate with impunity.  We, at the Bailey and Oliver Law Firm, believe the only way to make our highways safer, is for juries to return a fair verdict to compensate those injured by unsafe trucks and send a message to trucking companies that it is more cost effective to run safe rigs than to pay for the carnage created by unsafe trucks.

Just this last Saturday in Kentucky six people were killed when a Highway Star, Inc. eighteen wheeler rammed into the rear of a SUV driven by James Gollnow. The trucking company had received 17 traffic violations over the two years before the wreck, but still had a slightly better record of passing safety inspections and traffic stops then the national average. 

The violations were for speeding, improper lane change, failure to wear a seatbelt, and following too closely to another vehicle, the cause of the fatal crash in Kentucky.  During the preceding two year period, 12 of 59 inspections of Highway Star’s trucks resulted in the truck being taken out of service.  That means that one out of every five Highway Star, Inc. trucks was unsafe and should not have been on the highway.  But, the astonishing thing about that is that is below the national average of inspections that result in vehicles being taken out of service during an inspection.

Highway Star, Inc. is not a small trucking company.  It owned or leased 29 trucks with 32 power units.  It owned 19 tractors and 31 trailers.  Highway Star, Inc. employed 31 drivers according to information posted on quicktransportsolutions.com.

Everyone at the Bailey and Oliver Law Firm regrets the tragic deaths in Kentucky.  We are committed to making our highways safer for families like those killed in Kentucky.

This entry was posted on March 6, 2013

Rory Staunton was twelve years old when he died of septic shock after being released from a New York hospital. His case is rare, only because of the national attention that it received. According to CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, “A reasonable estimate is that medical mistakes now kill around 200,000 Americans every year. That would make them one of the leading causes of death in the United States”.

He further explains that doctors perform a vast screen of tests and procedures that are meant to prevent any further harm to patients. “Herein lies a stunning irony. Defensive medicine is rooted in the goal of avoiding mistakes. But each additional procedure or test, no matter how cautiously performed, injects a fresh possibility of error”. Many test results can be deceptive, and in the attempt of preventing harm, doctors can inadvertently do irreparable damage. There are many opportunities to fix this problem. Dr. Gupta, who is a currently practicing M.D. as well as a CNN consultant, says that at his hospital, they follow a practice called “Time Outs”. They will stop and say “Time Out” to review who the patient is, what procedure they absolutely require and where the procedure will take place. Dr. Gupta also recommends that Doctors take a serious, thoughtful look at their practices and procedures and evaluate what is really necessary when operating on and treating patients.

This entry was posted on December 11, 2012

Our firm conducts at least one focus group on every case we have in litigation. In our firm, that is almost every case. Our focus groups consist of gathering 12-18 people from the community where the lawsuit is filed and presenting the case to those mock jurors. Then the jurors give us feedback for trial preparation.

If a case is worthy of trial, it is worthy of a focus group. Clients and trial lawyers have one shot at winning…the TRIAL. In almost every aspect of life where winning and losing are at stake, practice is necessary. Do you think the Pittsburg Steelers practiced and played other football games before they won the Super Bowl this past year? Absolutely, hundreds of times. So why would you not expect a trial attorney to practice the case or test the case with a jury before the big “super bowl” trial?

Our firm also conducts focus groups for outside firms. Other firms hire us to conduct a focus group on their case. We have done focus groups for both sides, plaintiff and defense. When you (clients and lawyers) realize that the jury governs the entire case from the beginning, through discovery, and up to trial, you will want a focus group for your case.

This entry was posted on December 11, 2012

Many people are aware of who Christopher Reeves was. The man who was Superman to so many Americans suffered a spinal injury which resulted in paralysis, when he fell from a horse. For many people it was a tragic scene to see a man who had leaped burning buildings spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. While I am in no way downplaying the seriousness of such an injury (they are life-changing), it is important to know that for many people who suffer spinal cord injuries, life afterwards is not always tragic.

It is interesting to note that while a variety of serious emotions are felt by those who suffer spinal cord injuries, most people adapt well to their injury over time. Research notes that after a period of adjustment the injured tend to have positive-self concepts, are in general satisfied with life, and are not more depressed than the non-injured. One spinal cord injury sufferer noted that “We are the living demonstration that even if life circumstances become tough, life satisfaction can remain high. We’re proof that things can be hard, but good. People need to know that.”

After a serious spinal injury it is typical for those injured to feel sadness, anger, hostility, anxiety, panic, feelings of inadequacy, shame, helplessness, and vulnerability. It takes strong support to overcome these feelings and issues, but it can be done with the right help.

This entry was posted on December 11, 2012