NEW YORK, May 27 (DPI) — Jacoby & Meyers, a law firm best known for its television advertising over the decades, is leading an effort to change law-firm ownership rules in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.

But many personal injury lawyers say such a change is a long shot at best. “A lot issues are on the front burner for trial lawyers — tort reform, malpractice award caps, for starters. The issue of law firm ownership by non-lawyers is not there — yet,” said Jeffrey Kimmel, a New York City trial law and managing partner of Salenger, Sack, Kimmel & Bavaro.

The ownership changes would of course be welcomed by the plaintiffs’ bar, which is having a more and more difficult time waging complex, expensive legal fights. Non-lawyer ownership of firms would immediately address the capital needs of firms, and level the playing field against defense firms whose corporate and insurance clients have deep pockets, plaintiffs’ lawyers say.

Opponents to such a change, most of them inside the legal profession, argue that non-lawyer ownership of firms would undermine the integrity — and erode the fairness of — the legal system itself by creating a web of business conflicts.

Jacoby & Meyers became a familiar brand with its national advertising that promoted its personal injury representation in the 80s and 90s. Its experience — deploying multi-million dollar national TV budgets and employing more than 300 lawyers in many states — turned out to be unsustainable. Today it has fewer than 150 lawyers and has diversified away from personal-injury law — in part, ironically, because of the high cost of marketing and promotion to secure cases. Many personal-injury firms have discovered in recent years that high marketing costs are hurting the economics and raising risks in the profession.

In a reflection of how little momentum such a proposal has, The American Association for Justice (formerly ATLA) hasn’t publicly commented on the Jacoby & Meyers initiative.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703421204576331531008464712.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNews#articleTabs%3Darticle

( Digital Press International – 5/27/2011 )