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But critics charge that the provocatively named venture is giving the legal profession a bad name.

Attendees at the American Bar Association's annual meeting in New York earlier this month got a taste of what WhoCanISue.com is all about when they saw two hired models in tight-fitting nurses' outfits staffing the company's booth, handing out information and seeking to sign up lawyers. WhoCanISue is promising to waive the $1,000 annual membership fee for the first 500 lawyers who join.

The following week, WhoCanISue's founder and chief executive officer, lawyer Curtis Wolfe, proclaimed the response at the ABA meeting "fantastic" and said that "hundreds" of lawyers had signed up to be part of the service's network when it launches on Sept. 1.

According to Wolfe, WhoCanISue is different from other legal matching services because it is "focused on the user experience."

One of the problems with other matching services, he said, is that potential clients are asked to describe their case to allow lawyers in the system to evaluate whether they want to take it or not.

The problem with this arrangement, he said, is that it could result in the waiver of attorney-client privilege and be used against the client in court.

With other services, "Someone could write, 'I got in an accident that really was my fault, but the other guy's a rich jerk. Can I sue him anyway?' I don't know how someone wouldn't find that in discovery and use it," Wolfe said.

With WhoCanISue, however, consumers will be presented with a series of questions asking them about their case, he said. The questions will be designed to flesh out cases so that lawyers can determine their value.

Lawyers get access to cases by bidding on ad placements – usually limited to five attorneys – that are then directed through banner advertising on the website to the consumers who have answered the questions.

Wolfe contends that traditional legal matching services often violate ethical rules governing lawyer advertising by essentially sending "leads" to lawyers, who then decide whether to pursue them or not.

"The lawyer shouldn't be selecting clients," Wolfe said. "That's ambulance chasing."

Critics: WhoCanISue tarnishes profession

But WhoCanISue is also being criticized on ethics grounds.

"Basically, I'm very pro advertising," said Larry Bodine, a legal marketing consultant in Glen Ellyn, Ill. "But I think that a service that calls itself WhoCanISue brings disrepute on the legal profession. I'm a lawyer and this makes me look bad."

Bodine accuses WhoCanISue.com of engaging in "barratry," which he said means "stirring up disputes and lawsuits."

"It's going to attract people who want to make trouble," he said. "It's going to stir up nuisance plaintiffs."

Some plaintiffs' lawyers also are critical.

Newport Beach, Calif. plaintiffs' personal injury lawyer John Bisnar has chastised WhoCanISue on his California Injury Blog, pointing to the service's website, which features the image of a man slipping on a banana peel and the tagline, "The Legal Process Made Easy."

"It infers that holding a wrongdoer financially accountable for injuries they have caused is easy," Bisnar wrote. "It makes fun of lawyers and lawsuits, implying that lawsuits are frivolous and an easy way to make money."

Wolfe counters that critics make too much of the name and the publicity campaign.

"The name is somewhat controversial, but that's kind of by design," he said. "If you're going to do a branding campaign, you want people to remember your name."

There's not much in Wolfe's history to suggest that he's a lawyer prone to outrageous acts. A graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law, Wolfe began a career as a corporate and intellectual property attorney in 1995. From 1998 to 2004 he practiced at Steel Hector & Davis in Miami, becoming partner and developing a corporate transactional practice.

After he left the firm, Wolfe entered the online marketing field by founding mRevolution LLC, which is the holding company of WhoCanISue.com.

He attributed the creation of WhoCanISue in part to his new career in online marketing, but also to serendipity.

He said that his wife asked him to recommend a divorce lawyer to help a friend of hers. He didn't know any, and he said the process of finding one for his wife's friend was far more difficult than he imagined.

"If you're a common person, I don't know how you ever find an attorney other than by going to the Yellow Pages, looking at someone's ad, dialing and hoping," he said.

"I looked around at what was out there and I wasn't very impressed. I thought there has to be a better way to do this, so I set out to build a better mousetrap. In my humble opinion, that's what I've accomplished."

Questions or comments can be directed to the writer at: dick.dahl@lawyersusaonline.com