Legalzoom.com TV Commercial, ‘Legal Help Is Here’, or is it?

Cross-posted from Lawtender.com

Has anyone noticed LegalZoom’s TV ads recently? Especially the one above with the lawyers saying ‘we’re here’? Where is here?

We here at Lawtender.com think this is incredibly misleading–making the viewer believe that these lawyers are actually ‘here’, or working for, LegalZoom.

How many people seeing this will think LegalZoom is a law firm, or that LegalZoom can give them legal advice? How about the ethics of the lawyers featured in the ads? Florida lawyers can’t do any advertising that is misleading. If any of these were Florida lawyers, is it okay to try to drum up business in this way? Does doing it through a non-lawyer insulate them? Are non-lawyers like LegalZoom allowed to be misleading while competing against legitimate lawyers whose messages are regulated by the Bar?

Also, this is the first, dangerous step towards ABS. If the general public believes that corporations can already practice law by simply employing lawyers, it is a small step to getting the actual laws changed to allow them to do that.

LegalZoom is not a law firm and the attorneys in these ads do not work for LegalZoom. LegalZoom is merely an advertising agency for the lawyers, as it states it in their disclaimer:

ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT: This portion of the LegalZoom website is an advertisement. This portion of the LegalZoom website is not a lawyer referral service. LegalZoom does not endorse or recommend any lawyer or law firm who advertises on our site. We do not make any representation and have not made any judgment as to the qualifications, expertise or credentials of any participating lawyer. The information contained on this site is not legal advice. Any information you submit through this site may not be protected by attorney-client privilege and may be provided to attorneys for the purpose of determining your need for legal services. All case evaluations are performed by a participating attorney.

And of course, they do not endorse or recommend any lawyer or law firm, since they are just ‘advertising’ for them.

Lastly, since LegalZoom is not a law firm, ‘Any information you submit through this site may not be protected by attorney-client privilege‘, which could end up being detrimental to your case.

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4closureFraud.org

This post was originally published on Lawtender.com