YOU GOTTA WATCH
These television ads conceived and created by lawyer Norton Frickey’s Lakewood-based TV production company. Frickey died Sunday in Golden at age 84.
• “So Much Love” — http://www.netaff.com/legal/ad_pi5.htm
• “Voice” — http://www.netaff.com/legal/ad_pi10.htm
• “My House” — http://www.netaff.com/legal/ad_pi4.htm
• “Hope For The Future” — http://www.netaff.com/legal/ad_pi7.htm
• “Room Of Strangers” — http://www.netaff.com/legal/ad_pi8.htm
• “Insurance Company” — http://www.netaff.com/legal/ad_pi9.htm
• “Car Crashes” — http://www.netaff.com/legal/ad_pi.htm
• “Last Time” – http://www.netaff.com/legal/ad_pi2.htm
— Law Week Colorado research
Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters
By Cara DeGette
LAW WEEK COLORADO
GOLDEN — Norton Frickey, founder of the Frickey Law Firm and the man who revolutionized television advertising for lawyers, died Sunday. He was 84.
A generation of Coloradans grew up on Frickey’s trademark televised vows for superior client services, including, “He’s in your corner,” and, “Because your rights are worth protecting…”
Frickey was a trial lawyer for more than 30 years who became a pioneer by branching into legal advertising. Before 1977 attorneys were not allowed to advertise their services. But, in the landmark case Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that barring lawyers from advertising is a violation of their First Amendment rights.
Frickey, recognizing that growing a firm entails much more than just handing out business cards, three decades ago founded Lakewood-based Network Affiliates, Inc.
Now, Network Affiliates, Inc., now run by Norton “Norty” Frickey II, is the largest legal and medical advertising agency in the country, representing 72 law firm clients in 110 television markets.
In addition, Frickey also launched a post-production facility, operating under the name Crosspoint. And, in the 1990s, he launched Frickey Investment Management Co., an oil and gas production company, which operates oil and gas leases in more than 15 states.
“No matter how successful he was in all his businesses, he always defined who he was and what he was by being a lawyer,” daughter Janet Frickey Gustafson told Law Week Colorado. “One of the things he was always proudest of, and felt the strongest about, was in helping the people — he called them the working-class man and woman.
“What he did was open up access to the legal system to people who may not know where to go and not have a family lawyer,” continued his daughter, who has taken over the family law firm. “He took great pride in helping people who otherwise may not have had access to the legal system.”
Mike Feeley, former state senate minority leader from Lakewood, praised Frickey for his law work, his marketing acumen and his generosity. During Feeley’s two successful Senate runs in the 1990s, Frickey opened up his law office to Feeley’s campaign volunteers, who used the firm’s phones to drum up support. On Monday, Feeley, now an attorney with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Denver, described Frickey as a “marketing genius, and frankly, a helluva lawyer.”
“His daughter has continued his work and she’s just a tremendous lawyer who cares about the community,” Feeley said. “People do not want to see her in court ‘cause she’ll pin your ears back — just like her father did.”
Frickey is survived by sons Norton “Norty” Frickey II and Doug Frickey; three daughters, Janet Frickey Gustafson, Charmaine Frickey and Kim Rhunke; and nine grandchildren. Frickey’s wife, Emma, preceded him in death.
Frickey Gustafson said her father’s funeral will be Friday at Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church in Lakewood, 920 Kipling St. The time had not been determined at the time of this publication.
Distributed by Colorado Capitol Reporters
