Leonard D. Jacoby, Founder of Low-Cost Legal Clinics, Dies at 83

Leonard D. Jacoby, who co-founded the law firm Jacoby & Meyers and helped bring low-cost legal services and advertising to everyday Americans, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 83; his stepdaughter Lindsey Schank said the death, at a hospital, was from complications of cardiac arrest.

Mr. Jacoby and Stephen Z. Meyers opened their first low-cost “legal clinic” in 1972 in a San Fernando Valley storefront, offering flat fees, paralegal intake and referrals to lawyers. The firm opened clinics in suburbs and strip malls, kept late hours and weekends, and handled services such as no-fault divorces, wills and personal bankruptcies.

"We set out to be the Sears of the legal profession, good value for a reasonable price," Mr. Jacoby told the Los Angeles Business Journal in 1999. The partners challenged restrictions on legal advertising. After inviting reporters to their first opening and drawing attention with a $15 repossession recovery, the State Bar moved to censure them; in 1977 the California Supreme Court and, in a separate case, the U.S.

Supreme Court found bans on legal advertising unconstitutional. Jacoby & Meyers ran its first print ad in The Los Angeles Times the next day, followed by frequent television spots, using the slogan "Jacoby & Meyers: It’s about time." By 1982 the firm had 43 offices in California, 18 in New York, about 9,000 new clients a month and was spending roughly $1.9 million a year on advertising (about $7 million today).

Key Topics

Business, Leonard D. Jacoby, Jacoby & Meyers, U.s. Supreme Court, California State Bar, San Fernando Valley