Why do PI lawyers make such awful ads, asks Jon Robins
If one should expect anything from that part of the legal sector that gave the world the advertising legend “Where there’s blame, there’s a claim”, then good taste isn’t it. “Anyone who watches television or reads newspapers will share with me the feeling of depression and disgust at the vulgar advertising for claims brought,” reflected Lord Faulks earlier this month in the House of Lords.
The justice minister had the unenviable job of defending Chris Grayling’s latest broadside against the dread “compo culture”. SARAH—aka the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill—had its second reading in the House of Lords.
In poor taste
Poor old SARAH might have become a figure of fun, but Faulks’ point about the tacky advertising of PI lawyers and claims companies was bang on the money. A recent TV ad campaign by one personal injury firm featured, according to the Law Society Gazette, “‘a diagram of a pregnant woman surrounded by the labels ‘birthing injury’, ‘cerebral palsy’ and ‘forceps injury’”. “During your pregnancy you thought your doctor
