Lawyers - Get Grassroots!
I spent some time working for a nonprofit a while ago that canvassed neighborhoods to build support for alternative energy sources. I learned a great deal about how to run a grassroots campaign, and wanted to offer all of you an easy way to help fight the corporate factions that relentlessly lobby for tort reform.
Below is an image of a postcard in Microsoft Publisher format. After you settle or otherwise resolve a case for a client, ask him or her to sign this postcard. You can either preprint the address and salutation, or provide it for the client to fill in. Depending upon how your state's political system works, you could have the client sign one for his representative, senator, governor, assemblyman, etc. I would try not to ask them to sign more than two, because patience wears thin.
You can either mail them off as clients sign them, or you can work with your local trial lawyers' association and arrange for a lobbyist to drop them off en masse every couple of months.
I urge you not to underestimate the power of postcards and letters from constituents. I've personally seen politicians vote against powerful special interest groups (including large contributors) because of grassroots campaigns.
Obviously, I urge you to check the laws in your state to make sure there's nothing illegal or unethical about doing this. And if there is, I urge you to challenge it.
Any office supply store will have prescored postcard paper, or you can simply print them on cardstock and use a paper cutter to cut them out. If you need assistance in figuring out which politicians to send the postcards to, don't hesitate to ask.
You have my permission to alter the wording on these postcards to suit your needs. If you need a format other than Publisher, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
