Misleading Lawyer Advertising

As a lawyer who relies heavily on the internet to generate revenue, I often spend my time perusing the web, checking out the competition and my colleagues. Today on a whim I Googled "Buffalo DWI Lawyer". Ranking at number four in the list was the website of Friedman and Ranzenhofer. The layout was a typical wordpress style blog looking page. A picture of Bob Friedman looms aside a body of text. I started reading. The text contained the typical scary sounding crap that criminal defense attorneys like to put in their ads. You know-"a first time DWI offender can lose his or her license and go to jail for a year" and of course the obligatory expression of sympathy like "I understand you are very scared right now and that's normal."

Then I came upon this gem of a statement:

Our firm has been successfully defending Buffalo area residents that have been arrested, or charged with a crime, for over five decades. Additionally, I was a prosecutor for twenty-three years. In fact, I was named 2003 Western New York Prosecutor of the Year.

What that means to the indivudual that's been arrested is this - We've established a good working relationship with law enforcement and the local court systems. And that gives us a unique advantage when defending a client in court.

So Mr. Friedman was a prosecutor for twenty three years. And he knows all the cops and all the judges. And he can get you a better deal because he has "juice" in the Court and police station. Is that what is meant by the expression "unique advantage"?

Where do I start?

First of all Mr. Friedman, you spelled individual wrong, but I'm not taking off for spelling. Plus, I understand that whatever web software you are using probably does not have spell check.

Second of all, I'm pretty sure that advertising that your legal services are unique because you were a former prosecutor is disingenuous at best, and a lie at worst.

Finally, if you want to convince potential clients to call you based on your web presence, I suggest putting some information that is useful on your page in addition to bloating your services and potential results. Or maybe its working for you.

As someone who is very dedicated to the legal profession as a criminal defense attorney, I have a hard time trusting former prosecutors as defense attorneys. I'm not talking about the guy or girl who does a couple years in the DA's office out of school. But the person who spends two decades working for the State? Call me crazy.