Alexander & Catalano

Alexander & Catalano
Limited liability company
Industry Legal services
Founded 1995
Headquarters Syracuse, New York
Key people
 James L. Alexander, Peter Catalano
Products Personal injury legal representation
Number of employees
 8 attorneys plus support staff
Website Firm Website

Alexander & Catalano is an Upstate New York based law firm practicing in the area of personal injury and worker's compensation related cases. The firm is headquartered in Syracuse, but also has offices in Rochester.

The law firm was notorious for their advertising campaigns using unrealistic depictions such as their lawyers representing space aliens in court, as portraying themselves as Godzilla-esque giants in a city or as blurs of light running to reach a client quickly. In 2007, the firm came under fire for its advertising techniques, which also included the use of lasers and smoke, as well as for the use of their trademarked slogan "The Heavy Hitters" (licensed from Florida advertising agency Group Matrix[1]).[2] The advertising of Alexander and Catalano as well as that of Jim "The Hammer" Shapiro were cited by the Democrat and Chronicle as reasons for the January 2007 amendment of the Code of Professional Responsibility by the New York State Office of Court Administration[3] (which is responsible for attorney regulation and discipline in New York State). The new rules prohibited the use of certain types of advertising methods, including client testimonials, slogans and nicknames, and portraying lawyers with characteristics unrelated to legal counsel.[4] In June of that year, Alexander and Catalano along with Public Citizen, filed a lawsuit in US District Court charging that the new rules violated the firm's First Amendment rights.[5] Senior US District Court Judge Frederick Scullin ruled that certain provisions of the new rules, including prohibiting the use of nicknames in advertising, did indeed violate their First Amendment right to freedom of speech.[6]

A similar attorney advertising case surrounding the use of client testimonials also occurred in Ohio.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "ontv". Group Matrix. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
  2. ↑ p.3
  3. ↑ "democratandchronicle.com". Democrat and Chronicle. 2007-02-01. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
  4. ↑ p.6
  5. ↑ Joel Stashenko (2007-04-17). "Suit Over N.Y. Rules on Lawyer Advertising Goes to Trial". Law.com. Retrieved 2012-05-29.
  6. ↑ firstamendmentcenter.org: news Archived July 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ firstamendmentcenter.org: news Archived September 23, 2005, at the Wayback Machine.

External links

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