The ABA Magazine reports
Thanks to social media and the internet, it’s never been easier—or more affordable—for lawyers to advertise. On the other hand, having so many avenues available to lawyers makes it more difficult for anyone to stand out from the crowd.
So when Waco, Texas, lawyers Will Hutson and Chris Harris got more than 500,000 views on YouTube for a clip showing them playing guitars and singing about the legal consequences of swallowing, destroying or concealing marijuana in front of police officers, it was almost like winning the lottery.
“Tampering with evidence doesn’t make any sense. Let the cops find your weed,” the two sing in a folk-country style, complete with a Waylon Jennings-esque drawl while strumming guitars on their music video, “Don’t Eat Your Weed.” “There’s a kind of probation called deferred adjudication, and there’s lots of other ways to plead. It’s just a misdemeanor. You can hire a cleaner to get it off your record.”
However, if you make the mistake of destroying, swallowing or trying to hide the evidence, it becomes a felony in Texas.
“As the officer approaches, you try to eat your roaches and you throw your weed out the door. Oh no, the cop sees you ’cause that’s what he’s trained to do. And now you’re in big trouble!” they sing.
The two became friends 10 years ago when Harris, a civil litigator, moved to Waco from another town in Texas and rented office space from Hutson, a criminal defense attorney. They soon decided to merge their practices, and, one day, they were driving to an immigration law conference and started singing to a song on the radio.
“Chris began to sing, and I started harmonizing, and our legal assistant’s eyes got big, and from there it kind of took off,” Hutson says.
Both men came from musical families and could play guitar, so when it came time to do marketing for their firm, music became an obvious solution for them.
“When we were setting up our website, a friend encouraged us to write legal blogs,” Harris says. “I felt like it was tedious, and I wasn’t extremely motivated. But then, kind of as a joke, he was like, ‘Why don’t you do a song about something?’ That piqued my interest.”
In addition to “Don’t Eat Your Weed,” the pair have tackled other subjects, including Miranda rights, what happens if you’re pulled over on suspicion of drunken driving, and what can you do if your home is damaged and your insurance company won’t cover you.
Source: http://www.abajournal.com/legalrebels/article/rebels_podcast_episode_049
