Jan. 13, 2026 8 AM PT
To the editor: I thoroughly enjoyed the Los Angeles Times investigation piece concerning the Downtown LA Law Group (“The rise of DTLA: Car crashes, costly surgeries and a $4-billion sex abuse settlement,” Dec. 31). The article was beautifully written. Rebecca Ellis (and Christopher Buchanan, who contributed) did a masterful job weaving all the information into a marvelous informational mosaic.
I was also disgusted by what I read.
When I watch the news at night, I am appalled by the onslaught of televised lawyers expounding their skill and dedication to achieve “justice” for clients. They remind me of televangelists. I suppose the rise of television lawyers was fueled by insurance companies’ callous responses to many real-life personal catastrophes. Still, I find their pleas for clients to be distasteful at best.
The Times story highlights the worst (and predictable) behavior of this profession. DTLA is, I fear, the tip of the iceberg. And all those trumped-up suits only cost all of us by way of higher insurance rates.
Allowing the legal profession to advertise has resulted in sanctioned ambulance-chasing. It’s time to restrict their advertising and return integrity to the legal profession.
Jerrold Coleman, Santa Clarita