Alexander & Catalano

Infobox_Company
company_name = Alexander & Catalano
company_
company_type = Limited liability company
foundation = 1995
location = Syracuse, New York
key_people = James L. Alexander, Peter Catalano
num_employees = 8 attorneys plus support staff
industry = Legal services
products = Personal injury legal representation
revenue =
net_income =
homepage = [http://www.alexanderandcatalano.com/ 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" [http://www.thelen.com/tlu/AlexanderVCahill.pdf, p.3] . 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 [ [http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070201/NEWS01/702010341/1002/NEWS | democratandchronicle.com | Democrat and Chronicle ] ] (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. [http://www.thelen.com/tlu/AlexanderVCahill.pdf, p.6] . 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 [ [http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1176727156473 Law.com - Suit Over N.Y. Rules on Lawyer Advertising Goes to Trial ] ] . 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 [ [http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=18840 firstamendmentcenter.org: news ] ] .

A similar attorney advertising case surrounding the use of client testimonials also occurred in Ohio [ [http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=14761 firstamendmentcenter.org: news ] ] .

Three other law firms are also known to have used the slogan "The Heavy Hitters." Attorneys Glen Lerner in Las Vegas, NV [http://www.glenlerner.com/index.html] and Darryl Isaacs in Indiana currently use it, while Martin, Harding, and Mazzotti in Albany, NY [http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/blogs/gems/ethicalesq/HeavyHittersCover.jpg] used the slogan in the past, but did not continue using it after Scullin's ruling. [http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2007/07/28/heavy-hitters-back-on-deck/]

References

External links

* [http://www.clipsyndicate.com/publish/video/356788/quot_jingle_quot_advertising_for_lawyers_okay_once_again?wpid=0 WSYR ABC 9 report on the court case]