I used to work at a tv station in Rochester, NY where these commercials ran. One of our reporters once did a special report with "The Hammer." In the story he asked him to get wound up like he does in the commercials, but he couldn't quite muster up the anger and emotion.

Also, Shapiro and the station experimented with a series of one second commercials that would say things like "Hurt!" and nothing else.

If he is a decent lawyer he should at least have a couple extra bucks to spend on some acting lessons. He seemed to me like he was having a nervious breakdown.

It was Lowell "The Hammer" Stanley in my area...

Ha! We used to see these all the time in Syracuse, where my husband was a law student. They used these commercials in his ethics class (as an example of what not to do).

I'M THE HAMMER, AND THIS IS MY POORLY-RENDERED CGI HAMMER TO PROVE IT! FEEL THE FURY OF 1987 GRAPHICS TECHNOLOGY!

Man, I remember seeing those commercials all the time. "I may be an SOB, but I'm your SOB."
Now if we could only get Billy Fucillo off the air.

Brutally honest.

@jcase757: he's still in my area - judging by your name i'd guess you're in Hampton Roads too. late at night his commercials come on, but they're even funnier.. "we'll kick their asses and make them pay for it! call Lowell 'The Hammer' Stanley!"

He was disbarred in NY and FL. So says wikipedia.

Man, first Billy Fuccillo and now Jim Shapiro...what other upstate advertisements are we going to see next on the Consumerist?

@jcase757: I live in the Hampton Roads area too. LOL - I thought of Lowell "the Hammer" Stanely as soon as I saw this entry!

If he ran that advertisement in Florida today he would likely be disciplined for it. Florida Bar v Pape (Holding that an attorney portraying himself as a pitbull and including images of pit bulls in television commercials had mislead consumers). However I do like the explosions and am sure that they are vital to the determination of legal representation.

Yes! Jim The Hammer was the best, I actually miss those.
I'm a big fan of Diogaurdi (or whatever) Auto Sales now days.

Thanks guys for putting up my recommendation for great moments in commercials,and especially meghann "The hottie" marco for posting it especially rawrr.

Another of Rochester's finest...now for the Trifecta, someone needs to find either Marina Dodge (for the worst theme song ever) or Irondequoit Dodge (for the horrible Italian-American stereotype)...