Ethics Observations:
1. Yecchh! It is both icky and unethical, indeed technically (under the Rules of Professional Conduct) so, and generally.
2. In case you couldn’t figure it out (I had to check myself), the spokesperson calling himself “Your Favorite Attorney” is an actor, indeed a stand-up comic named Shaun Jones. All of the jurisdictions prohibit lawyer advertising in any form that is misleading or that includes false information. A lawyer can’t call her firm a “law group,” for example, if she’s the only lawyer in the firm. Putting a non-lawyer in front of a camera and calling having him call himself an attorney is an undeniable violation, and an intentional one.
3. Another technical point: although I suppose it is (slightly) possible that the stand-up comic has a law license, he can’t call himself an attorney unless he has clients. Jones also says that if the client doesn’t make money, “I” don’t make money. That is deceit. The firm will argue that the actor is only saying that if the firm doesn’t win its cases, the actor won’t get paid. But his statement is intended to refer to contingent fees for attorneys, and he isn’t one.
4. The fact that the spot is funny (at least to non-lawyers and non- ethicists) doesn’t make it more ethical. Sure, the character is an obvious nod to “Seinfeld’s” huckster lawyer “Jackie Chiles,” a character evoking O.J. Simpson’s “Dream Team” lawyer Johnny Cochran of “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit!” fame. It may not be obvious to everyone, however; indeed, any viewer inclined to engage a law firm that presents itself this way probably has a tough tine remembering “first socks, then shoes.”
5. Who is this ad trying to appeal to? It’s it’s blacks, and I fear it is, what a degrading stereotype the firm has chosen to do it! On the old “Amos ‘and ‘N’ Andy” TV show, there was a slick black lawyer named Algonquin J. Calhoun, played by Johnny Lee. In the radio episodes where the lawyer character was introduced, Calhoun was derisively referred to as “Five Percent Calhoun” because his fee was only 5% of whatever he got for his clients. (That’s ethical for a lousy lawyer: today’s lawyers, including the lousy ones, often charge 40% despite the rule on fees requiring that they be “reasonable.”) Here’s Johnny:
6. Explain this for me: “Amos ‘N’ Andy” episodes have been banned from TV for decades on the (false) grounds that the show is racist in its depiction of African Americans, yet Jones’ character is being used on national TV ads to appeal to blacks…or racists, I guess. Or “Seinfeld” fans. Or “Amos ‘N’ Andy fans, who must be over 80 by now…
7. Just yesterday, a prominent D.C. lawyer told me that he believed lawyer advertising and marketing was largely to blame for the profession’s crashing ethical standards. Everyone in the room immediately pointed to this commercial as a prime example.
8. The ad is also damaging to the professional image of lawyers in general. So far, at least, bar associations don’t appear to care.
Ethics Alarms 
Guess they couldn’t afford to hire Stephen A. Smith as a “non-attorney spokesperson.” Clearly, this guy’s script is a Stephen A. knock off.
My late, great, college buddy/roommate’s favorite “Amos ‘N’ Andy” line: “Is you representin’ the fuckee or the fuckor?”
“Ambulance chaser” ads such as the above are always annoying, even when actual attorneys from that firm are promoting the firm’s services. A couple of things our small law practice has noticed from dealings (or our clients’ dealings prior to hiring us) with such firms:
1. The senior partner usually appearing as the spokesperson in the ad is rarely the attorney who actually meets with new clients who’ve called the phone number in the ad; it’s usually a lowly associate instead.
2. The TV ad law firms are usually in one of the major cities in that state, and are quite reluctant to appear at in-person hearings in small rural counties like ours, in “here be corn dragons!” central IL. (Zoom hearings give them less of an excuse, though.) On a somewhat related note, one way we often win collection defense cases is that out-of-state creditors tend to hire big-city law firms, and usually can’t provide a witness for a bench trial, even if opposing counsel were willing to make the trip to our county for a bench trial.
3. TV ad law firms typically handle a LOT of cases of the type they advertise about, and often do not provide the level of personal attention prospective clients might expect from viewing the ad, especially given the fairly high rates such firms often charge.
Maybe if they had dressed him as a dragon…..
I’d submit that it’s the mandatory labels on hair dryers that say “DO NOT SUBMERGE IN WATER” and on lawn mowers that say “DO NOT LIFT OFF THE GROUND TO MAKE VERTICAL CUTS TO HEDGES” that turn the general public against the image of lawyers.
In very large part, they are “the reason why we can’t have nice things.”
–Dwayne
He is funnier than hell! 🤣
It is a commercial for Allied INJURY Group. Not Allied Law Group.