Thank You Chattanooga Area
As Summers, Rufolo & Rodgers founder, Jerry H. Summers enters his 51st year of law practice in Hamilton County we want to thank the thousands of clients who have entrusted their legal rights in both civil and criminal cases to our law firm.
Our firm motto is “Where the practice of law is still a profession and not a business.”
Here are a few facts about our law firm:
1. We have six lawyers with the experience, ability, and enthusiasm to handle most civil and criminal cases;
2. We do not exaggerate or made deceptive claims through paid social media such as radio, television, print media, or billboard ads;
3. We do not settle cases at a reduced value because of the cost of expensive social media advertising;
4. If any of our lawyers are on radio, television, or in the newspaper, it is to give legal viewpoints and is not because we pay for that opportunity;
5. We do not claim we are better lawyers because we pay $300.00-$1,000.00 to get into an organization that sells a plaque and grants the right to put an emblem on their website;
6. We do not claim that we are better qualified to provide quality legal services because we have taken a test to become “board certified.”
7. We do not file frivolous and exaggerated lawsuits for publicity purposes that mislead clients and give a false hope of recovery;
8. We do not publicly flaunt our involvement in charitable activities. Our firm has been involved in many worthwhile charitable events over the past 50 years but has not used our efforts as an advertising tool in social media such as radio, television, or newspapers.
9. Any organization that our lawyers belong to has been invitation or by recommendation of lawyers with whom we try cases with and against;
10. Two of our six attorneys (Jerry Summers and Jeff Rufolo) have been inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers, which is considered by the legal profession to be an honorary body that all lawyers strive to be asked to join;
11. We do not claim to have settled a case for a certain amount when said figure may not truly represent the full value of the cases for advertising purposes;
12. We know what the legal ability and ethics of most of the 1,200 lawyers in the Chattanooga area, and the 40-50 who pay for and advertise on social media are not the only attorneys qualified to handle civil and criminal cases;
13. We do not claim expertise because we belong to any voluntary membership organization that included you because you have attended some seminar;
14. We do not claim to be “Best of the Best” law firm in a category that did not even exist three years ago. The Best of the Best are the many capable and non-advertising majority of lawyers in the Chattanooga area;
15. Our offices have been in two locations in Hamilton Count since January 1, 1973, (5th and Lindsay and the James Building). We are a local law firm with a fulltime office staff;
16. Since the 1970’s we have locally settled and tried hundreds of asbestos related cases for our clients without the need to solicit cases by buying a newspaper ad as is being done b y a Mississippi firm without a local Chattanooga office;
17. In criminal cases we do not send next day letters to defendants soliciting their case or get referrals from bail bondsmen or jail trustees in violation of state law;
18. We do not have ties to local funeral homes and preachers in local churches that recommend out of state law firms without a local office;
19. The bulk of our law practice comes from satisfied clients and referrals from other law firms. That has been our main method of getting clients for 50 years and we don’t plan to change;
20. We will regularly publish articles on this website to inform the readers of certain legal issues that will help them make a decision in choosing a law firm.
We suggest you “try local” when you need a law firm to handle your personal injury, bankruptcy, social security, divorce cases, etc.
It doesn’t necessarily mean you should hire Summers, Rufolo & Rodgers but it is respectively suggested that you talk to more than one law firm in addition to the social media lawyers with their glitzy and possible deceptive messages.
Thank you for your confidence displayed in Jerry Summers and the other present and past attorneys at Summers, Rufolo & Rodgers.