They spend millions on lobbyists in DC and in state legislatures all over the nation. They write legislation that puts caps on punitive damages. They use computer software to minimize the claims that they have to pay out. And sometimes, like in the case of Hurricane Katrina, they just deny claims outright.



Despite all this shabby behavior towards their customers, despite renting umbrellas to the entire country and then taking them away when it starts to rain, they have managed to convince the great majority of Americans that the problem is the lawyers.

Who else has been able to hoodwink so many people on such a scale? I can't think of any person, group or organization that has been able to get so many people to act completely against their own best interests. The term "sleazy trial lawyers" gets thrown around a lot. So does the idea that it's nothing but lawsuits that are causing insurance rates to rise. They wave the flag and urge people to "Take the Country Back!" They scour the surface of the earth to find stories like the woman who spilled coffee on herself, or better yet, the administrative judge in DC who filed the multi-million dollar suit over a pair of pants. And as much as we know that these cases are newsworthy only in that they are utter anomalies, insurance company funded tort reform organizations make it seem that absurd cases like the pants lawsuit are happening every day.

The end result of this is that people have become quite hesitant to consult with attorneys, even when they should. They accept ridiculously low settlements or, in some cases, a total denial of a claim, and they do so because they think that doing otherwise is part of the problem. They don't want to go to court. They don't want to get some "greedy trial lawyer" rich. They don't want to go through the hassle or inconvenience of it all.

So now, unfortunately, part of your job is to convince clients that they do have rights beyond what they are told by their insurance adjusters, and that your job isn't to bankrupt anyone. Your job is to get for your clients what the insurance companies were supposed to give them in the first place, but didn't. This is why updating your site with information is crucial towards getting new clients.

To be sure, search engine placement should be your primary goal, but a secondary function of your site should be to educate potential clients who are on the fence about initiating legal action, or informing them that they have in fact been taken advantage of without even knowing it. While this might sound like a mammoth undertaking, it isn't as hard as you think. Insurance companies do a pretty wonderful job of making themselves look bad if you look a little deeper than the talking points. The astronomical profits that they make every year are a pretty good place to start.

You can also look into how they are automating the claims process, and explain how database software keeps injury victims from getting what they should. You should also take the time to post your thoughts on the tort reform movement. To be sure, many of you are probably busy enough without having to preach for the AAJ, but describing how big insurance is conspiring to limit the compensation of the injured in order to maximize their own profits can have a very galvanizing effect on clients who aren't yet convinced about initiating legal proceedings.

There are several sites that you can visit regularly in order to get informed, and then you can set about the fairly simple task of educating the visitors to your website. Having the right information could cause a few people still sitting on the fence to fill out that contact form or pick up the phone.

The National Center For State Courts is a great site to get statistics that you can use to stop some of standard tort reform arguments dead. They are a non-partisan and unaffiliated organization that counts and categorizes the type of cases that are on state dockets all over the country. You'll find that the argument that "frivolous lawsuits are clogging up our legal system" doesn't hold much water at all.

Tortdeform.com is a blog run by the Drum Major Institute that stays very current on the latest in the Tort Reform movement. They cover all the bases, from medical malpractice to punitive damages caps to arbitration. If there is something going on in your state, they definitely know about it.

Tortburger.com is also a decent site that keeps you up to date on recalls, settlements and judgments. Again, the point of your website is to get you noticed and to get you clients.

Working the key phrases and updates will help you with the search engines, but getting the clients requires you to inform people and empathize with them. Providing them with a description of the behavior of insurers should help you do both.