A new legal website is in the making called SueEasy. It apparently hasn't gone live yet, but let me be the first in the legal blogosphere to shred the idea as incredibly stupid. And further, that any attorney that participates for a personal injury case may be committing legal malpractice.

The story comes via Peter Lattman at the WSJ Law Blog a few days ago who got it from TechCrunch.

The website urges people to contact them with their complaints and post their confidential legal papers, and then attorneys they have never met, spoken with or vetted, will bid for their business and the winner will get the case.

Just think of the trial testimony, regarding conduct that takes place before any attorney-client privilege is created:

Defense Counsel: How did you find your counsel?
Client: I used a website called SueEasy.
Defense Counsel: What is that?
Client: I submit information to a website and lawyers bid for my case.
Defense Counsel: Lawyers you've never spoken with?
Client: Yes.
Defense Counsel: So your lawyer bid for your case before ever speaking with you?
Client: Yup.
Defense Counsel: Based on information you submitted before s/he was retained?
Client: Yup
Defense Counsel: And xyz wasn't in the packet of information you sent in to SueEasy, was it?
Client: No.
Defense Counsel: So your lawyer was asking for this case without even knowing about xyz?
Client: Yes.

This kind of crap, presented ever so briefly here, can easily go on for a half-hour or more, all about how the client used some anonymous website -- that pitches how easy it is to sue a company or person -- provided limited information, and found an attorney willing to bid on the case on that basis.

If one is looking to distract from the merits of a personal injury case and help drive a nail into its coffin, then using such a website is a great idea.

According to TechCrunch:

The site is kind of a reverse directory for lawyers that's sure to be a haven for personal injury lawsuits.

The biggest beneficiaries will no doubt be defense lawyers and insurance companies who will have a field day with anyone caught using such a system. Any case that is close on the merits is surely likely to suffer from any halfway decent cross examination.

And I think that any practitioner that uses it should make sure their professional liability premiums are fully paid up. While the client may not know better, the attorney should.

Addendum, 10/24/07:

• Ben Glass thinks SueEasy is a hoax perpetrated by tort "reformers."
• TortsProf Bill Childs thinks it is not a hoax, and explains why.
  

(Eric Turkewitz is a personal injury attorney in New York)

Labels: Attorney Ethics, Personal Injury