So this is transparency? "They'll be sure to get you off"? Nothing misleading there, right?
What disturbs me most is that college kids who get in trouble, and it certainly happens, are a particularly vulnerable group. Old enough to be treated as adults. Immature enough to do stupid things. Smart enough to realize that they don't want mommy to know they screwed up while dad is working two jobs to pay the tuition, yet stupid enough not to realize that this is just a marketing scheme.
The scheme is run by Sergio Smith, a marketer of sorts out of Boca Raton. It strikes me that he's onto a pretty good idea in terms of a group of people who will need the help of a lawyer. It also strikes me that his approach is appalling.
There is a click-through disclaimer at the very bottom of the page, which no one will find or read. In the meantime, the ad copy makes it appear that Campus Lawyers is the firm with "experience attorneys nationwide," who are "top rated lawyers." Top rated? By Sergio?
One of the typical responses to such schemes, voiced by those who use or support the use of co-op advertising schemes, is whether there is any proof that anyone is fooled by deceptive marketing. The answer is self-evident: to the extent anyone falls for it, they're fooled.
Nowhere does the page inform a reader that this is merely a co-op advertising scheme, where attorneys who want/need the business pay to become part of the group. At the same times, it's deliberately framed in a way designed to give a false impression, that it's a firm, that the attorneys are somehow vetted for quality and appropriateness and that the larger entity, Campus Lawyers, has some connection to law. Sergio may be a smart marketer, but he's no lawyer. Did you happen to see Sergio's name anywhere on the page? In fact, did you happen to see any entity other than the amorphous Campus Lawyers?
So having come up with the (admittedly smart) realization that there is an untapped group out there who may well need legal representation, has no clue where to turn and is particularly naive and vulnerable, Sergio has crafted a business, is promoting the daylights out of it and, apparently, is signing up lawyers.
Whether the lawyers are great or horrible is neither known nor the point. The point is that this fabulous future of legal marketing isn't honest and takes advantage of kids. I can't blame Sergio for his failure to adhere to the ethical obligations of honesty that are demanded of lawyers. He's no lawyer. But I can certainly question how any ethical lawyer, taking even a casual view of the scheme (and that horrendous video), can feel comfortable being a part of this.
I know, you're a wonderful lawyer who provides excellent representation, so joining up with a somewhat questionable co-op advertising scheme is just a way to bring clients through the door where you can perform your magic. Are this makes being party to this scheme cool with you, right? And this is transparency?
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Source: http://blog.simplejustice.us/2013/02/15/taking-advantage-of-kids-on-campus.aspx?ref=rss
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