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late-model car
Phantom power
Dec 4, 2009 20:30
15 yrs ago
English term

family lawyer who also chases ambulances on the side

English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
But Stan, the kind of family lawyer who also chases ambulances on the side, beams brighter than the sun.

in other words, what kind of family lawyer is he?.. what does chasing ambulances stand for here?
Responses
5 +17 1. attorney specializing in family law & 2. ambulance chaser
5 +4 ambulance-chaser
3 -3 incompetent lawer which often asks for professional help on the side
References
Definition
Change log

Dec 4, 2009 20:30: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (2): Tony M, Travelin Ann

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Discussion

eesegura Dec 4, 2009:

Chasing ambulances refers to a lawyer who looks for clients who have suffered damages of some sort, who he can represent in a damages lawsuit, and thus increase his own income. For example, a pedestrian who has been struck by a vehicle, and is taken away in an ambulance - hence, the term.

Responses

+17
6 mins
Selected

1. attorney specializing in family law & 2. ambulance chaser

Ambulance chaser is a derogatory phrase sometimes used to describe a trial lawyer who specializes in representing accident victims. It typically refers to attorneys who solicit business (sometimes called barratry) from accident victims or their families at the scene of an accident or disaster (or immediately thereafter). In the United States, such conduct violates Rule 7.3[1] of the American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Some bar associations strongly enforce rules against ambulance chasing. For example, the State Bar of California dispatches investigators to large-scale disaster scenes to discourage ambulance chasers, and to catch any who are foolish enough to attempt to solicit business from disaster victims at the scene.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambulance_chaser
Peer comment(s):
agree Tony M
4 mins
Thank you.
agree eesegura
4 mins
Thank you.
agree Eng-Rus/Rus-Eng : of course
5 mins
Thank you.
agree Polangmar
6 mins
Thank you.
agree Demi Ebrite
8 mins
Thank you.
agree John Detre
19 mins
Thank you.
agree Alp Berker
23 mins
Thank you.
agree David Knowles
36 mins
Thank you.
agree Mark Nathan : Overly insistent lawyers who take the high moral ground, but purely with a view to financial gain. He is probably beaming because there is an opportunity to sue somebody.
39 mins
Thank you.
agree Alexandra Taggart : http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_go_chase_an_ambulance_me...
4 hrs
Thank you.
agree Liam Hamilton
11 hrs
Thank you.
agree Vicky Nash
12 hrs
Thank you.
agree Jutta Scherer : Wow! I knew the term from the crime fiction I read - but never read such a good and succinct explanation of it!
16 hrs
Thank wiki. And thank you!
agree airmailrpl : -
16 hrs
Thank you.
agree Rolf Keiser
17 hrs
Thank you.
agree Kay Barbara
1 day 14 hrs
Thank you.
agree Phong Le
2 days 7 hrs
Thank you.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks, everyone! "
+4
10 mins

ambulance-chaser

'ambulance-chasers' are a special (informal, pejorative!) category of lawyers, who specialize in damages claims in personal injuury cases; they are so called because they have the reputation of following ambulances to the hospital, in order to try and 'recruit' the injured person as a client, so they can sue the party responsible for damages etc. Amounts are often very high, and so are the fees — though often on a "no win, no fee" basis, so they are taking quite a gamble.

So the writer is saying that although the person concerned is basically a respectable 'family' lawyer, s/he also does some of this other, rather more disreputable (but lucrative!) business on the side

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 31 mins (2009-12-04 21:01:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Indeed, clearly not simply 'disreputable', but actually outlawed.
Peer comment(s):
agree Demi Ebrite : Exactly.
9 mins
Thanks, Demi!
agree John Detre : But I'm not sure the text is saying that the person is "basically respectable." I think the words "the kind of family lawyer who..." probably imply that he is basically disreputable.
22 mins
Thx, J! Yes, on re-reading, i think you're right: they say 'family lawyer' to suggest he ought to be respectable — which is not in fact the case...
agree airmailrpl : -
16 hrs
Thanks, airmail!
agree kmtext
19 hrs
Something went wrong...
-3
4 hrs

incompetent lawer which often asks for professional help on the side

"side" - someone he knows, one of his friends experienced in law

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2009-12-05 01:22:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

He is an opportunist, he has second income, grubbs some clients on the side
Peer comment(s):
neutral Travelin Ann : -
55 mins
disagree Woodstock (X) : Your answer is inadequate on several levels. You might want to do more research before providing misleading answers.
5 hrs
You are right, sorry.
disagree Jim Tucker (X) : Nothing suggests incompetence; only immorality. "Which" is not English here. "On the side"does not refer to friends. Look up "ambulance-chaser."
6 hrs
I realised my mistake when I remembered "Robodoc", this film, actually starts with a situation and the whole film is a parody on modern relations between doctors and a lawer.Agree with "which".
disagree Tony M : Agree with Woodstock and JT
7 hrs
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

5 hrs
Reference:

Definition

In fact, an ambulance chaser does not necessarily have a degree in law. Since lawyers (at least in the US) are prohibited from soliciting/encouraging accident victims to sue for damages, some retain hospital staff to help them find clients, who are accident victims.
Reference:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-ambulance-chaser.htm

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,732010,00.html

Peer comments on this reference comment:
neutral Tony M : Yes, that way round is true; but here, we already know he is a lawyer... 'chasing ambulances' (even by proxy) is clearly a sideline ;-)
6 hrs
True that we know, in this case, that the individual is a lawyer. I was simply trying to provide some background, since at least one answerer did not understand the meaning of ambulance chaser.
Something went wrong...
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