Legal Ethics
Ga. Bar Probes Reports of Lawyer Solicitation Following Refinery Blast
Posted Feb 15, 2008, 09:57 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The State Bar of Georgia is checking out complaints that lawyers personally solicited business from victims of last week’s explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery.
The Associated Press reports that many residents who live near the refinery are “disgusted by the audacity of lawyers trying to round up clients.” Some are unhappy with lawyer ads, while others reportedly claim lawyers personally solicited business at a burn clinic, the AP story says.
The Georgia bar’s general counsel, general counsel William Smith III, traveled to Savannah yesterday to investigate solicitation complaints, according to the Fulton County Daily Report. He said he will use reciprocity agreements with other states to pursue disciplinary action against any lawyers who are not licensed in the state.
However, Smith said lawyers’ newspaper ads and Web sites do not violate the state’s ban on in-person solicitation. "There is a big difference between me hunting for a Web site and a lawyer coming to me unannounced and trying to induce me to hire him," he told the Fulton County legal publication.
The Feb. 7 blast claimed eight victims. At least one worker is still missing.
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