Heartbreak Hill: Lawyers Should be Respectful in Marketing Following a Tragedy

There has been a long series of acts of terrorism against the United States, and the uniting colonies. As it now stands, those events can be said to begin and end in Boston; and, of course, that is always the hope: that senseless acts of coordinated violence against innocent and unsuspecting persons, like the Boston Marathon bombings, will finally come to an end.
As children and adults are murdered and maimed, talking about it does very little, and yet very much; and, while the vague notion that an inanimate city might endure offers us a fleeting sense of permanence, this provides little actual comfort for those who have lost family members to sneaking assailants, numb to the bonds of human affection.
Since there can be no good that comes of a tragedy of this scope, the only small consolation that may be taken is that there are almost always large numbers of persons who are willing to help others, without thought of their personal safety. While that sort of heroism is reserved for the point of impact, everyone else is now able to help the victims of the Marathon attacks, and to assist the city of Boston in its recovery. There is no shortage of ways to help, as this article, from ‘USA Today’, illustrates.
Any time that a national disaster of this magnitude occurs, lawsuits will follow. Attorneys are, naturally, interested in using their skills to bring justice to the unfortunate victims of circumstance traumatized by these events; but, lawyers should be respectful in the tone and careful in applying the mechanisms of their advertising as it relates to attempting to reach those individuals.
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Certainly, the Marathon attacks represent a significant trauma for many local residents, including those who escaped physical injury. To that end, Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, LOMAP’s parent organization, offers free psychological consultations to lawyers, their families and law students, who would like someone to talk to in the wake of this tragedy.
This post originally appeared in the Massachusetts Bar Association’s e-Journal.