Leonard Jacoby, pioneer of legal advertising on billboards and TV, dies at 83
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Leonard Jacoby, half of a law firm duo that pioneered advertising for lawyers and revolutionized their industry, died at 83.He died Monday in New York from complications of cardiac arrest, according to his wife, Nancy Jacoby.Jacoby & Meyers, the firm he co-founded, is now a mainstay on billboards across the nation.They were among the first to offer legal services to the middle class, soliciting clients through a then-novel advertising blitz that would become the blueprint for thousands of law firms.Today, it’s hard to turn on the TV or drive a few blocks in Southern California without seeing an attorney ad.
In 1972, when Jacoby and fellow UCLA law school grad Stephen Meyers kicked off their practice, such advertisements didn’t exist.Lawyers couldn’t even talk about their firms with the press.Nevertheless, the duo decided to hold a news conference to herald the opening of their “legal clinic” in Van Nuys, considered to be the center of the middle class they hoped to make their target market.
Rich people could afford lawyers, they figured, while poor people could get free legal aid.It was the Californians stuck in the middle who had no one.They wanted to change the game with low-cost, high-volume legal services.
They accepted credit cards, offered flat fee rates, stayed open late and put offices in department stores.Reporters at the time called it the legal equivalent of a Big Mac — “quick, simple, convenient service at low cost.” The State Bar hated the news conference, disciplining the duo for what they considered an act of unethical and distasteful advertising.
California Records reviewed by The Times found several law firms behind costly sex abuse litigation in California are backed by opaque out-of-state investors.“You can’t imagine it was so different,” said Nancy Jacoby.“The lawyers who practice in these expensive law firms were appalled.”...