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Lawyer calls for ban on ‘uninvited legal approaches’ following client bombardment
A partner at Adviceline Injury Lawyers has called for a ban on “uninvited legal approaches ” after one of his clients, whose mother was dying in the hospital, was approached to contact three different law firms, unprompted.
Emma Musgrave
Adviceline Injury Lawyers partner Michael Lombard has called for the banning of all unsolicited approaches to the injured by law firms, following one of his clients being targeted while taking care of her ailing mother.
“I have just left a client whose mother was dying in hospital due to injuries and complications from a car crash,” said Mr Lombard said at the time.
“Her mother’s hospital room had been entered without authority by people asking how her mother was injured. These ‘spotters’ then handed her cards from the legal firm urging her to contact them about her TAC claim.
“This is abhorrent and should be exposed for the predatory conduct that it is. Banning lawyers advertising won’t change this, unfortunately. It needs to be reported to the independent Legal Services Commissioner and dealt with.”
Lawyers Weekly spoke to Adviceline Injury Lawyers about the incident and asked who specifically was pressing his client to contact the law firm about a TAC claim.
“Our client has indicated that she was approached by three different legal firms,” a spokesperson for Adviceline said.
“With regards to identifying the firms, we felt that whilst she was by her dying mothers side it was not appropriate to press her for details.
“The purpose of our release is notify the media that these questionable practices are not only limited to one firm.”
Late this month Slater and Gordon came under fire for allegedly using the controversial practice known as claim farming to nab more clientele — something that it has subsequently denied.
The news prompted an outcry from other lawyers in the profession, further debate about the issues surrounding harvesting of client information, and commentary from Law Society of NSW president Doug Humphreys, expressing concerns about the future of professional standards in Australia's legal profession.
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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