I am new to marketing. My law practice has always been quiet and low key. Starting this law firm, dedicated to the representation of people and businesses with unmanageable unsecured debt problems, is a different kind of venture for my partners and I. While we have always handled financial work, putting it in a package so that we can deliver the service cost effectively is a real challenge.

And like most of us, I don't have much money to throw around on anything but my family, four sons in college, home and business expenses, etc. So I've been trying to be creative in getting the word out.

I heard a local talk radio host the other day, as I was driving to court, bemoaning the fact that there is no good news anymore, that everything is dismal, asking people to call her with something positive.

I would never call in to a radio show. I have become comfortable talking in front of a crowded courtroom, but the thought of conversing with these hysterics, who often cut callers off before they can make any point, is quite unnerving. As thick as my skin has become in 20 years, I must admit I am not ready for that. I do also admit that I listen in the car pretty regularly.

So I sent her an email, told her that most of her listeners are probably struggling with money, that we are lawyers who can help them without ripping them off, and maybe she would want to talk about it off line.

Her response was that if I was doing this "out of the goodness of my heart" then she'd talk, Otherwise, she wrote, I should call her "marketing department."

This bit of advice really gave me some pause, as I am really not used to my motives being questioned. I hear lawyers (or now indicted investment guys or contractors) on these shows often, many of whom I know or know of, talking about school board bribes, cheerleading "the Feds" or opining on important topics like cats getting their ears pierced, commonly making little or no sense as they do so. That's fine with me. It is mostly entertainment.

I never hear anyone talking about regular Americans getting toasted every day over a bonfire of credit card bills. A solution to this seemed to me a good thing.

In any event, she was a bit rude, as I would try never to be to a stranger, but she is in a rude business, and she actually did me a favor. Why are we doing this? There are a lot of reasons.

First, this law firm is like any business. It absolutely has to make money or I won't be able to continue providing. Like many people, I want to keep my family from living in a cardboard box.

Second, the product we are selling, critically needed legal services for the financially walking wounded, has to be of the highest quality and delivered at an affordable price.

Third, of all the legal work I've done in many areas of the law, some involving many tens of millions of dollars in complex commercial litigation and transactions, the most rewarding and professionally important work I can do is to sit with a troubled person and present them with a plan to handle problems which the day before appeared to them to be absolutely without any solution at all. Countless people have come to us thinking they are losing their home or even going to jail, sleepless due to fear of the unknown, and when they leave, they feel much better.

Fourth, no other lawyers are doing this in Northeast Pennsylvania, which is a poor region to begin with, comparable maybe to West Virginia in terms of poverty.

Finally, the people and small business owners for whom this firm has been developed represent the solid core of American strength, honorable, bill paying people in way over their heads. They work and take care of their families, no babies in the dumpster with these people. They want to pay for good service, and we will save them enormous stress and often a great deal of money in the process.

It takes capitalists to solve the big mess created by simple greed, by bad loans and dumb borrowing. I'm not sure altruists could litigate with Chase and Visa and come away standing.

So thank you radio show lady. And by the way, I think I'll call someone else's marketing department when I scratch together the dollars to run some ads.