About Us
Jacoby & Meyers
became the most familiar full-service consumer law firm in the U.S. because for more than 45 years we have focused on each person’s legal issues one at a time. We’re never too big or too busy to handle your legal issues quickly and personally. We’re here to answer your questions, calm your fears, handle your legal matters and lead your fight for the justice you deserve.
Jacoby & Meyers is dedicated to making sure that quality legal representation is available for everyone – not just the wealthy. No matter what kind of legal issue you’re facing, Jacoby & Meyers has the experience, the resources and the determination to handle your legal problems. Our mission is “to protect the rights of average citizens and provide full legal services to the public consumer.” We represent people, not big corporations and insurance companies.
The legal system can be intimidating, but we know how it works, and we’ll use that knowledge to your advantage. Our whole approach to how we do business is centered around you. We’ve pioneered ways of making legal services more convenient and more affordable for everyone.
History
Leonard Jacoby and Stephen Meyers (1943-1996) met while attending UCLA School of Law, and a few years later, they opened their first law office in Van Nuys, California on September 13, 1972. The pair believed the vast majority of middle income Americans were underserved by the legal status quo. The wealthy could easily afford expensive legal services, while the poor could turn to free legal aid, but the middle class had practically no options. The founders chose the location of their first office in a San Fernando Valley shopping center because they wanted it to be more convenient and more easily accessible for the average person.
For their grand opening, Jacoby & Meyers invited a consumer group to hold an open house at the firm. The move got extensive news coverage by local media; so much, in fact, that it got them in trouble with the California Bar Association. The bar asserted that talking to the media about their unheard of approach to practicing law amounted to advertising, which was prohibited by the bar’s code of ethics.
After challenging the bar’s code of ethics, the California Supreme Court ruled that prohibiting lawyers from giving media interviews violated their right to free speech. In a separate case in 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bates v. Arizona State Bar that attorneys should be allowed to advertise like any other business. One day after the high court’s ruling, Jacoby & Meyers ran their first ad in the Los Angeles Times. A few days later, the firm broadcast the first TV ad for attorneys in the U.S. The firm’s groundbreaking investment in advertising led to Jacoby & Meyers eventually becoming known as “America’s Most Familiar Law Firm”.
Jacoby & Meyers grew quickly throughout Southern California, and became a national firm in 1979 with the opening of offices in New York and New Jersey, managed by Gail Koff (1945-2010,) who became the third partner. Gail also wrote several books to give consumers a better understanding of the law and their rights, including the Jacoby & Meyers Practical Guide to Everyday Law in 1985, Jacoby & Meyers Guide to Divorce in 1991, and Jacoby & Meyers Practical Guide to Personal Injury in 1992.
The firm’s tradition as a leader in revolutionizing the legal status quo continues today. In an effort to keep consumers informed you can find information about prescribed drugs and their possible side effects at our website DangerousDrugs.com