Waco Tribune-Herald by Tommy Witherspoon
Alan Nelson is quoted in today's story on the law suits that have been filed and lawyer marketing related to the West fertilizer plant explosion.
Disaster marketing
“It is called disaster marketing or cause marketing. Even if lawyers are not breaking any rules, some of the advertising while they are still pulling bodies out of the rubble or before the funerals certainly is in bad taste,” Nelson said. “It turns my stomach.”
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[A]ttorneys are running newspaper, television and radio advertisements and have sent teams to West in an effort to “help the victims recover,” according to one ad from a Houston law firm that ran in Sunday’s Tribune-Herald. The ads have become so pervasive that the State Bar of Texas issued an advisory, informing the public that solicitation of a potential legal case is a crime unless the lawyer has a past or present relationship with the client.
The state bar urges those who have been illegally contacted by lawyers or their representatives to contact police or the bar.
“We are monitoring that situation as much as we can to make sure that people are not being taken advantage of,” state bar spokeswoman Kim Bueno said. “We want to make sure the advertising rules are followed carefully because we are expected to protect the public and we want to make sure lawyers are held to the highest ethical standards in Texas.”