Can bad lawyer commercials turn out any good?

More than often, lawyer commercials tend to be the butt of many jokes. Fact is many lawyer commercials are just plain awful.  Is it because the style is heavily commercialized? Is it because the end product is what the client wants? Or is it a combination of two factors-- the client does not know what s/he wants and the producer is afraid to explore possibilities outside of the "parameters" (for fear of being sued)?  What if someone had balls to explore the possibilities?