Personal Injury Law

Georgia Senator Introduces a Bill To Regulate Television Advertising By Lawyers

The personal injury law firm of Finch McCranie, LLP has been representing victims of truck accidents and automobile accidents for over 40 years. We do not advertise on television and have no intention of doing so. Unseemly television advertising has damaged the public image of the law profession. One Georgia senator is trying to do something about it; however, in its present form, it is not likely to pass.

Senator Seth Harp, a practicing Georgia attorney, has introduced a bill in Georgia Senate that proposes to regulate television advertising by attorneys. The Bill, known as Senate Bill 41, or SB41, proposes a new Georgia Statute, OCGA § 15-19-55.1.

The new statute would regulate legal television advertising in Georgia by requiring that the real attorney(s), not actors, appear in the advertisements, require the television advertisement state the city in which the attorney practices in bold type, require television attorneys to ?personally consult,? with their clients, require the television attorneys to actually sign the pleadings, and allow a client to declare a settlement void if certain new television advertisement certifications are not signed by both the television attorney and client at the time of settlement. There are other additional provisions.

Although well intentioned, it is doubtful for a number of legal reasons that this bill will ever pass and even if it did, it would be difficult to enforce. The injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP, we will continue to get cases ?the old fashion way? - by doing a professional job for our clients.

Full post as published by Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog on January 26, 2009 (boomark / email).