SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 98
(By Senators Chafin, Yoder and Jenkins)
Requesting the Joint Committee on Government and Finance study the
feasibility and attendant legal ramifications, part and
parcel, of any proposed legislation designed to stringently
restrict and suppress the current perimeters within which
lawyers advertise.
Whereas, Since the opening of a proverbial Pandora's Box,
which gave license to lawyers for seemingly unrelenting and
increasingly bawdy, misleading and objectionable advertisements,
the legal profession's public image, once perceived as honorable
and noble, has eroded into a carnival-like thing, akin to a blue-
light special, touted on a used car lot; and
Whereas, The general public's current perception of the legal
profession, quite contrary to the once held view of a noble
endeavor, has over the decades, sunk into a doleful chasm, wherein
lawyers are equated with used car salesmen, moneygrubbers and
shysters. This unfortunate state of affairs has regrettably
occurred due to the sheer and continual increase in the number of
lawyers per capita, and the resulting massive aggregation of
tasteless, unprofessional and gaudy advertisements that lawyers
apparently are compelled to publish in an effort to compete with
one another while clinging to the ultimate dream of hitting the grand prize of the injury lottery; and
Whereas, Since this once indomitably noble profession has been
allowed to descend into the ooze of its increasingly unprofessional
and ignoble state of affairs (antithetic to its original and
honorable callings), a state of affairs that beckons the public
with the ever-so-familiar banner query of "injured?", while
promising monetary jackpot recoveries that appeal to the basest of
human instincts, a cancerous growth has materialized which begs for
substantial containment, if not outright excision; and
Whereas, In the eyes of the public, the legal profession's
intended virtues of promoting public justice, upholding the rights
of citizens, and resolving conflicts without resort to violence
have been relegated to the annals of history, while being replaced
by catchy limericks, jingles and punch-lines, endemic in the
massive advertising budgets (once the exception - now the rule)
extolling the self-appointed "heavy hitter",
"won't-take-no-for-an-answer" "lawyer-who-will-fight-for-you"
wannabes; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is hereby
requested to study the feasibility and attendant legal
ramifications, part and parcel of any proposed legislation designed
to stringently restrict and suppress the current perimeters within
which lawyers advertise; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and
Finance report to the regular session of the Legislature, 2006, on
its findings, conclusions and recommendations, together with drafts
of any legislation necessary to effectuate its recommendations;
and, be it
Further Resolved, That the expenses necessary to conduct this
study, to prepare a report and to draft necessary legislation be
paid from legislative appropriations to the Joint Committee on
Government and Finance.