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This law firm will spend more than $25M in legal advertising this year, report says

A handful of law firms will spend more than $10 million this year on television advertising, including a Houston law firm projected to spend $25 million, according to a new report by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform.

The Houston law firm, AkinMears, tops the list for TV spending in the legal marketplace. It is followed by Morgan & Morgan and Pulaski & Middleman, with projected annual budgets of more than $24 million, the report says. A press release is here and the report is here (PDF). Publications with stories include the Daily Business Review (sub. req.), the Wall Street Journal Law Blog and Forbes.

Next on the list of firms and companies expected to spend more than $10 million on TV advertising are Legalzoom.com, the James Sokolove Law Firm, the Goldwater Law Firm, Los Defensores Attorney and Avvo.

The top market for the number of broadcast ads aired by personal injury lawyers is Tampa, followed by Orlando, Atlanta and Las Vegas.

The report also found:

—Spending for legal-related TV ads is projected at $892 million in 2015, an increase of 68 percent since 2008. TV legal ads have grown six times faster during that period than all other ad spending. TV legal advertising is dominated by three topic areas: prescription drug claims, medical device claims, and asbestos and mesothelioma.

—Law firms are paying a premium to buy keywords in Internet searches that produce the firms’ sponsored links. The law firms pay when users click on a link. Out of the top 25 most expensive Google keyword search terms, 23 were tied to legal issues.

—The most expensive Google keyword search term was “San Antonio car wreck attorney,” costing $670 per click. Next most expensive were “accident attorney Riverside CA” ($626 per click), “personal injury attorney Colorado” ($553 a click), and, in a tie, “Motorcycle accident attorney Los Angeles” and “top personal injury attorneys” (at $551 a click).

Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan criticized the report when contacted by the Daily Business Review. “This whole story is being ginned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,” Morgan said. “They don’t want a civil justice system.”

Morgan said he is more disturbed by the money spent on advertising by the insurance, pharmaceutical and tobacco industries.

University of San Francisco politics professor Ken Goldstein worked on the report. He told the Daily Business review the TV ad statistics came from Kantar Media. The report says keyword statistics came from WebpageFX and SemRush.

See also:

ABAJournal.com: “AkinMears owes me $4.2M for arranging loans to buy mass tort cases, ex-employee alleges”

Updated on Oct. 29 to add link.