Spring 2001 Postings Volume 3 Issue 1

Texas and Virginia Law Firms Hire PPI

In February, PPI President Marti Mackenzie traveled to Houston and Charlottesville to meet with Partners at two law firms:
Chandler, Franklin & O’Bryan in Virginia and Blizzard & McCarthy in Texas. She is very pleased to announce that both law firms decided to become clients of Professional Profiles. Significantly, in-house marketing and administrative directors of both firms learned about Marti and PPI on the web. She says “The best marketing decision I ever made was to develop a web page. Fortunately, I did it when the perfect name for our web site was still available: www.lawyerpr.com.”

PPI is handling media relations and development of marketing tools for the highly respected Houston, Texas firm of Blizzard & McCarthy, L.L.P. and the prominent Virginia law firm of Chandler, Franklin & O’Bryan (CFO) with its home office in Charlottesville and 26 affiliated offices in Virginia, an office in Seattle and an active Latin American Division.

Excitement at J.F.K. Elementary School:
“It’s the Trial Lawyers! The Trial Lawyers Are Here!”

When I arrived at Houston’s John F. Kennedy Elementary School with Steve McCarthy, students who saw us walking down the hallway began to shout “It’s the trial lawyers! The trial lawyers are here!” Their excitement at seeing Steve, a weekly volunteer at the school, was delightful.

In his altruistic state of mind, I realized that Steve McCarthy, a partner at Blizzard & McCarthy, didn’t fully appreciate the significance of the impact the trial lawyers program is having among students. When I asked him “How often do you hear trial lawyers heralded like that?” he suddenly saw what I meant. “You’re right.” he said, “We’re always hearing or reading something negative about lawyers and trial lawyers are singled out for abuse.”

This volunteer program in Houston’s school is a project of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. When we walked into the classroom where he volunteers, a dozen or so kindergartners began clamoring for his attention. Since we were there to photograph Steve working with the students, the excitement in the room only intensified.

After we got a few candid photos for use in the firm’s first newsletter, I convinced the students to gather together on the story-telling carpet while Steve sat in a chair in the middle. I got their attention only when I began to tell a “Steve story,” that started like this: “I was in Mr. McCarthy’s office this morning. It’s in a very tall building and many nice people work there. In his office was a big chart with photos of a lady who was killed by a drunk driver. She had a daughter, who now has no mother or father. Mr. McCarthy is helping this little girl who is living with her grandmother now.”

Although the students at J.F. Kennedy Elementary School are poor, minorities and often from struggling single-parent homes, the students there are benefitting tremendously from the kind and generous involvement of lawyers like Steve McCarthy. They will grow up associating “trial lawyer” with someone they admire and who cares for them. Some will also remember that trial lawyers help people who suffer from tragedies.

New Assistant Making Outstanding Contribution to PPI

In January, Denise Hamilton joined Professional Profiles. In just five months, she has helped to make the office more efficient and productive. Denise’s help comes just in time to meet the increased responsibilities of serving two new law firm clients.

In addition to her excellent work ethic and organizational skills, she has background in medical transcription and Workers’ Compensation insurance that gives her a very useful command of vocabulary when reviewing articles regarding medical malpractice and other tort law cases. Another valuable skill is her ability to decipher Marti’s and some of her clients’ scrawl they call handwriting, she also helps proofread for typographical errors, content, grammar and punctuation.

Denise was born in Tampa and grew up in Orlando. She spent three years in Germany with her husband during his Air Force career and enjoyed the opportunity to visit other countries throughout Europe. They have two children and a daughter from her husband’s first marriage.

Perhaps one of the best non-working-related characteristics she brings to PPI is her love of dogs. Denise and Jake get along great - a huge benefit when Marti has to keep appointments outside the office.

Amnesty International Event

In November 2000, long-time Orange County, Florida public defender Joe DuRocher was honored by the local Amnesty International Chapter. Earlier in the year, Marti was recruited to handle public relations for the event. Amnesty International, a respected non-profit organization, works for a cause Marti believes in and supports: opposition to the death penalty. She downsized her fee significantly, but did request three tickets to the event, to include daughters Alexandra (15) and Jillian (13). She also set out to make it not only a well-attended affair, but a financial success.

Attorney Ray Barber (the local Amnesty facilitator) and his committee had already scheduled Sister Helen Prejan, renowned author of Dead Man Walking, as the keynote speaker. Since Susan Sarandon won her academy award for her portrayal of Sister Helen, Marti recommended inviting her to the event as well.

Publicity for Ms. Sarandon’s appearance to hear Sister Helen speak included the inside front page of the local Orlando Sentinel the day before the event. The local NBC affiliate also came through for Marti with an in-depth interview of Joe DuRocher and a look at his 20-year career as public defender and death penalty opponent.

It was gratifying to work with Mr. Barber and other Amnesty members who helped with necessary travel and accommodations for Ms. Sarandon. Marti’s ideas became reality when over 250 people attended the event and the auction of several first edition books raised over $1,000. Three first-edition, hard cover copies of Dead Man Walking, which Marti located through the internet, were signed by Sister Helen and Ms. Sarandon. The highest bid was $300 for one book. The sale of two other hard-back copies and another five soft cover copies sold further increased the revenues for the Amnesty Chapter. PPI also donated the design and typesetting of the invitation and flyer promoting the event.

Marti enjoyed her role in this Amnesty fund raiser, including introducing Ms. Sarandon at the event, seeing Joe DuRocher honored and meeting Sister Helen and hearing her eloquent words.