Norton Frickey: A Colorado Legend

Lakewood, Colorado Personal Injury Lawyer Serving Denver, Boulder, and Nearby Areas

Posted: November 2, 2017

“He’s in Your Corner”

Norton Frickey, the founder of The Frickey Law Firm, is a Colorado legend. Besides being a successful Denver injury lawyer for over 30 years, he also innovated personal injury television advertising, starting in 1979.

Before 1977, attorneys were not allowed to advertise. Growing a law practice involved little more than passing out business cards. However, in the landmark United States Supreme Court case Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, it was found that prohibiting lawyers from advertising was a violation of their First Amendment rights. Lawyers were now free to advertise.

A friend of the working man” – A Norton Frickey television ad

Founding Network Affiliates, Inc.

As an entrepreneur with budding ideas, Norton Frickey founded Network Affiliates, Inc. in 1979. The business offered 30-second television ads to law firms and medical companies throughout Colorado, and eventually the entire United States. The ads featured highly recognizable catch phrases like, “we’re in your corner,” which made Frickey a household name.

In the late ’70s and early ’80s, television advertising for lawyers proved to be successful in a saturated market. “There are too many damn lawyers and not enough cases,” said Paul Landauer, a Denver advertising executive who was interviewed in the American Way magazine. “It’s either advertise now or die. It’s that simple.”

Norton Frickey has been featured on ABC’s 20/20, in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News, and many more

Frickey’s pioneering advertising gave law firms of all sizes an edge in the competitive market. Many lawyers who advertised using Frickey’s television commercials reported a dramatic increase in number of cases. Besides increasing business for law firms, Frickey’s television advertising made the legal system accessible to everyday people.

He’s done a lot for lawyers, opened a lot of doors with those television ads” – An attorney’s comment on Norton Frickey. From the Denver Magazine, June 1987 by Chance B. Conner

Today, over 30 years after Norton Frickey revolutionized television advertising for lawyers, it’s hard to imagine the legal marketplace without television advertisements. Although lawyer marketing has expanded to include the Web and other mediums, television advertising is still considered one of the most effective means of expanding a legal practice – thanks, in part, to Norton Frickey.

Because your rights are worth protecting” – A Norton Frickey television ad

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