Vanity Fare: Costly in-flight radio program has appeal, just not to marketers

The Recorder
Wednesday, November 30, 2005

 

When plaintiff attorney Reed Kathrein agreed to be interviewed on a program that's piped through passenger headsets on some of America's largest airlines, he didn't balk at shelling out several thousands of dollars for the opportunity.
Many lawyers like the Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins partner find attractive the possibility of being featured on Sky Radio Network's Forbes
Radio Channel. The program has featured impressive names such as Alan Dershowitz, David Boies, Dan Webb and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
...
A couple of years ago, Joanne Doroshow, an attorney with the Center for Justice and Democracy, publicly criticized the program for not indicating that it featured paying guests.
...
 Doroshow, whose organization actually contacted the Federal Trade Commission over the disclaimer issue, said she thinks it still is misleading to listeners who believe they are hearing the country's top lawyers, when in fact it is only those who agree to pay.
"It's a vanity piece," concedes Kathrein. "I do think that it is so well done that everybody comes out pretty well. The interviewers are very good. They've got these deep voices."
...
At Thelen Reid & Priest, Vice Chairman Michael Elkin tried the service after several of the firm's lawyers were solicited. Although he found the interviewers to be professional and the program to be well executed, he doesn't think he'll repeat the experience.
  "I thought it was a good experience, and not too much of an expenditure of time or funds," said Elkin. "But I didn't think it was such a worthwhileadventure that I would have other lawyers do it."
 

 
 
For a copy of the complete article, contact CJ&D

 

 

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