Consumer Alert--Tread Cautiously With the Lawyer Directory Websites

Ben Glass
Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 320
Posted by Ben GlassJune 25, 2008 10:21 PM

An email sent today to lawyers across the country should cause consumers use extreme due-diligence when searching for a lawyer on the Internet.

DUI1.com, a very popular and highly ranked (in Google) website solicits people who have been charged with drinking while driving and who are looking for a lawyer to defend them.

Their site says:

If you're charged with a Driving While Intoxicated offense, it's possible to have your charges dismissed with the assistance of a skilled DWI legal counselor. You must act NOW! Click on a state and then county or city to locate a fully qualified drunk driving defender or use our easy search to locate a defender via county, city or zip code.

But, in an email sent to thousands of lawyers across the United States today, they solicited lawyers to sign up to be one of their fully qualified drunk driving defenders.

Know what their stated qualifications were to let a lawyer represent you?

Here's the text:

Do Your Know How to Plead a Client Guilty? If Yes, You Are a Qualified DUI Lawyer. DUI1.com will run TV ads nationally this 4th of July weekend and all 6 major US holidays. You can see the ad here or visit the following link:

. While we are the Number 1 result on Google for DUI related term, we remain committed to increasing our member's case loads and set a new standard in DUI Defense. Over 99% of DUI cases are pled before going to trial. This makes DUI Defense one of the most lucrative areas of the criminal defense practice. At DUI Defenders we remain committed to producing results for our members.

(The actual full email is here....read it if you don't believe me.)


Ok, so they can run a business and get lawyers to pay fees to be a member of their website. The teaching point for consumers is that you better look a little closer than the fancy copy on the website! For example, Richmond, Virginia attorney Bob Battle has written a book for DUI defendants in Virginia that explains just what questions you need to ask your lawyer. DUIAnswer.com, another lawyer directory, offers free books that explain the process and the questions you should be asking.


I've written a book for consumers, the Truth About Lawyer Advertising. Its available at Amazon.com

4 Comments

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William Maze
Posted by William Maze
July 02, 2008 5:02 PM

Thank you for posting this information! I am a DUI defense attorney, and I dedicate a lot of time to studying the science of breath and blood testing as well as developing defenses in drunk driving cases. I cannot begin to describe how angry I was after reading the spam I received from DUI1.com, which advocates incompetence, easy money, and a dump-truck lawyer mentality.

The owner of DUI1.com, Mr. David Sheehan aka Saeed R Sehizadeh, is a California attorney who specializes in developing legal directories and spamming attorneys with get-rich-quick schemes. Reportedly, he does not even practice law. He has engaged in similar schemes in the field of personal injury law. From across the nation, the outrage from other dedicated dui defense attorneys like myself has been so overwhelming that Mr. Sheehan has lost several customers. Still, many attorneys continue to market under Mr. Sheehan’s duplicitous website.

A far more reputable organization for consumers to turn to is the National College for DUI Defense (More ... ). Although membership does not imply that any particular attorney is a “good” lawyer, the best DUI defense attorneys in the nation are members of NCDD. Moreover, the NCDD requires members to maintain specified levels of involvement as well as ethical standards.

William Maze

DWI
Posted by DWI
July 03, 2008 8:55 AM

They're not alone. We have an attorney in upstate NY who advertises on the radio. The advice he gives in the ads is not all that great. He markets heavily on the web (I do too). I recently found him advertising his business model as well:

DWI
Posted by DWI
July 03, 2008 8:56 AM

Not sure why my link didn't appear. Do a Google search for:

DWI
Posted by DWI
July 03, 2008 8:57 AM

google search for albany lawyer smelly returns. Apparently colons don't work in your comments.

Comments for this article are closed.

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