WHY DO LAWYERS USE PRESS RELEASES TO MARKET THEMSELVES?

Every day when I go online, I see  press releases that attorneys put online telling the world about what they do for a living. Most of these press releases are typical of the 30 second TV commercial we have grown to hate over the years. Most ads for lawyers and TV commercials lack any real information that help explain why you as a consumer of legal services should choose that particular attorney over any other attorney.

There are certain instances where lawyers have achieved remarkable results, and in those instances, I can clearly understand why an attorney would put out a press release announcing a fantastic result he was able to achieve.

However, I monitor various attorney keywords on a daily basis, and unfortunately most attorneys use press releases simply as another tool to market their bland and ineffective message.

You should also ask "Why is an attorney using a press release to explain that he practices law?"
Many attorneys simply pay a service a monthly fee to create press releases and send them out on a regular basis.

When you see a press release with an attorney's name or law firm, obviously you will Google them to see what else they have online. Take it one step further. Type in the specialty that they practice together with the geographic area where they are located, and see where they come up on the Google search engine ranking area.

Press releases are just another way to shout out to the world "Ooh Ooh pick me, pick me" without giving the viewer any real reason or explanation why you should choose him over any other lawyer.

NY Accidents & Injuries- "Why Isn't The Store Responsible For My Injuries?"

I was asked this question today by a very educated man. He knew someone who had walked into a store, gotten hurt while taking something off a shelf, and assumed that the store was totally responsible for the other man's injuries.

I asked "Did the store know about the dangerous condition before this man pulled the object off a shelf?" "Why is that important?" asked this intelligent young man.

It's important because in the legal world, in New York, I must be able to prove that the store had "Notice" about a dangerous condition and that the store failed to time act to correct the problem before someone got hurt. This man felt strongly that the store should be held accountable for any injury or accident that takes place within its' premises. An encouraging thought for an injured victim, however, that is not what the law says.

In order to hold a store responsible for an accident that causes injury in New York, the employees of the store had to know about the dangerous condition and fail to timely fix the problem. If the people who worked in the store did not know about a dangerous problem, how then can they be held accountable for any injuries that happen while in the store?

There is another instance where a store will be found responsible for injuries arising out of an accident. Let's say that a dangerous condition existed for a lengthy period of time, so that "everybody" who went by that area of the store knew there was a problem, yet nobody fixed it.

Where the defect is present for such a long period of time, the law says that the store, or its' employees are deemed to have "Constructive Notice" of the defect, and they should have fixed it long ago.

Here's a good example: You're in the produce section of your supermarket. A shopper immediately in front of you accidentally drops a few grapes, and seconds later you step on it. You fall and fracture your leg. Is the store responsible? In New York, the answer likely is no. Why not? Because the people who worked in the store didn't know, and didn't have enough time to know of the dangerous condition. Therefore, there was no way they could have cleaned up the grapes before the accident happened.

Ok, here's another example: What if a shopper accidentally knocks a jar of tomato sauce to the ground, causing the jar to shatter and tomato sauce to splatter all over the aisle. Suppose that ten shoppers reported the damaged jar with sauce on the floor, and after ten minutes nobody has cleaned up the mess. Along comes some oblivious shopper, mindful of only herself and her grocery list.

You know what's going to happen, right? She slips, falls, and fractures her hip. Is the store responsible? As long as we could prove that the store had a policy of cleaning up their messes within minutes of being notified, then a gap of ten minutes without a clean-up might be construed as showing they had sufficient time to clean up the problem and failed to do so.

The bottom line is that when an accident happens in a store, you must notify the management immediately; have them complete a written report, and you should immediately go to the hospital for treatment if needed.

Traumatic Brain Injury

The brain is a complex and vital organ that shapes who we are. It allows us to understand questions and solve intricate problems, it produces our emotions while crafting our personality, and it helps us to live on both a biological and spiritual level. If it should experience damage than the essence of who we are could be lost forever. This is why traumatic brain injuries can cause grave damage to the life of its victim.