“Please Don’t Feed the Trial Lawyers” & Lawyer Bashing: Election Update

Posted by Alan Childress

Earlier this year, St. Louis lawyer-blogger Evan Schaeffer of Legal Underground offered an interesting post on industry and media lawyer bashing.  His rant (and that of his guest ‘Unnamed Associate’) was inspired by a tort reform billboard admonishing, “Please Don’t Feed the Trial Lawyers.”  The sign was “ugly and obnoxious,” he added–sharing a great photo of it (not the generic and healthy one right).  Their blogposts in turn inspired lots of strong (pro and con) Comments, found here and here, and further anecdotes at that time. 

Now Schaeffer has an update following the elections:  How did those tort reform and court reform campaigns eventually fare, after all this talk and spending?  His take (with examples):  not so well.  “In short, they lost.”  That is, he adds, for now

At least now maybe the ugly billboards can come tumbling down.  In Tucson, campaign signs have to, within 15 days of a general election–leading the Land Use Prof Blog to wonder about the First Amendment implications of such semiotic-purging regulations on blatantly political speech.