Ambulance chasing, also known as barratry, is an American term which refers to a lawyer soliciting for clients at a disaster site. The term "ambulance chasing" comes from the stereotype of lawyers who follow ambulances to the emergency room to find clients. "Ambulance chaser" is used as a derogatory term for a
personal injury lawyer
A personal injury lawyer is a lawyer who provides legal services to those who claim to have been injured, physically or psychologically, as a result of the negligence of another person, company, government agency or any entity. Personal injury l ...
. Ambulance chasing is also associated with runners and cappers, non-attorneys who are hired by lawyers to seek out client leads (such as through trawling social media feeds or directly soliciting the attorneys' services towards victims).
History
In 1881,
Edward Watkin
Sir Edward William Watkin, 1st Baronet (26 September 1819 – 13 April 1901) was a British Member of Parliament and railway entrepreneur. He was an ambitious visionary, and presided over large-scale railway engineering projects to fulfil hi ...
of the
South Eastern Railway (England)
The South Eastern Railway (SER) was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbur ...
complained about attorneys who solicited business from passengers after accidents:
"Now, there is a very admirable body called the '
Law Association, Watkin added. "Why does not the Law Association take hold of cases of that kind?"
Description
Ambulance chasing is prohibited in the United States by state rules that follow Rule 7.3 of the
American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct
The American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct (MRPC) are a set of rules and commentaries on the ethical and professional responsibilities of members of the legal profession in the United States. Although the MRPC generally is ...
. Some
bar associations
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
** Chocolate bar
*Protein bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of ...
strongly enforce rules against ambulance chasing. For example, the
State Bar of California
The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law ...
dispatches investigators to large-scale disaster scenes to discourage ambulance chasers, and to catch any who attempt to solicit business from disaster victims at the scene.
In the UK, Indicative Behaviour (IB) 8.5 of the
Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the regulatory body for solicitors in England and Wales.
It is responsible for regulating the professional conduct of more than 125,000 solicitors and other authorised individuals at more than 11,00 ...
Code of Conduct 2011 specifies that "approaching people in the street, at ports of entry, in hospital or at the scene of an accident" is to be taken as an indication of non-compliance with the SRA Principles.
Other uses
The term has also been used to refer to disreputable
motorsport
Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...
journalists who cover racing crashes in a
tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism, which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as a half broadsheet. The size became associated with sensationalism, an ...
-style with little respect for those who may have been injured or killed.
In scientific literature, the term "ambulance chasing" refers to a socio-scientific phenomenon that manifests as a surge in the number of preprint papers on a particular topic. In particular, it refers to interpretive papers published quickly after a new anomalous measurement has been produced.
[Mihailo Backović]
"A theory of ambulance chasing"
/ref>
See also
* '' NAACP v. Button'' (1963)
* '' In re Primus'' (1978)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambulance chasing
Abuse of the legal system
Informal legal terminology
Legal ethics
Personal injury