{"id":4378,"date":"2006-02-13T18:27:51","date_gmt":"2006-02-13T22:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2006\/02\/13\/perspectives-on-nysbas-war-on"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:54:10","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:54:10","slug":"perspectives-on-nysbas-war-on-lawyer-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/02\/13\/perspectives-on-nysbas-war-on-lawyer-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"perspectives on NYSBA’s war on lawyer ads"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

The Albany, NY, version of The Business Review-<\/em><\/font><\/font>bizjournal<\/font><\/em><\/a> tried today<\/font><\/font><\/font>
\nto make sense of the New York State Bar Association’s crusade to <\/font>
\nimprove the image of lawyers by eliminating “sleazy,” inappropriate ads.<\/font>
\n“<\/font>Savvy or sleazy: Bar tackles tricky issue of attorney advertisements<\/font><\/a>,” <\/font>
\nby Eric Durr, Feb. 13, 2006. (treated at length in our prior post<\/a><\/font><\/a>, Nov. 18, <\/font>
\n2005)<\/font><\/p>\n

The article is worth a read, with quotes from: the crusading NYSBA pres-<\/font>
\nident, <\/font>A. Vincent Buzard<\/font><\/a>; a lawyer using “<\/font>heavy hitter<\/font><\/a>” ads; a couple of ad <\/font>
\nagency heads (one of whom does not want p\/i lawyer clients); and the (in)-<\/font>
\nfamous <\/font>E. Stewart Jones<\/font><\/a> (see porior posts <\/font>here<\/font><\/a>, <\/font>here<\/font><\/a>, and <\/font>there<\/font><\/a>). Jones, <\/font>
\none of the biggest lawyer advertisers in the NY Capital Region, is quoted <\/font>
\nsaying about advertising:<\/font><\/p>\n

\"honest\"<\/font><\/p>\n

\n“I think it’s a plague on the profession,” and “I recommend its abolition.” <\/font><\/p>\n

“There are no restrictions on what people can say about themselves. It <\/font>
\ndoes more to misinform. <\/font><\/p>\n

“It has become a necessary evil because it is such a competitive business <\/font>
\nthat if you don’t advertise, you don’t get your name out. You have to fight fire <\/font>
\nwith fire.” <\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jones, who is on local tv being interviewed spouting and spinning defense lawyer clap-<\/font><\/p>\n

trap more than any other attorney, adds: “Many of them are just absolutely tasteless. <\/font><\/p>\n

It’s just a tawdry process. It cheapens the profession. If people see something is on <\/font><\/p>\n

television, they think it’s great.” <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For my money (and my viscera), entertainment and copyright lawyer <\/font>Paul C. Rapp<\/font><\/a>, <\/font><\/p>\n

who teaches those subjects as an adjunct professor at <\/font>Albany Law School<\/font><\/a>, makes <\/font><\/p>\n

the most sense (and, coincidentally, sounds a lot like the f\/k\/a<\/em> gang) on the NYSBA <\/font><\/p>\n

push to approve lawyer ads, in advance, for appropriateness and their effect on lawyer <\/font><\/p>\n

image. Rapp says ” In some ways the whole notion of doing that seems dangerous <\/font><\/p>\n

and misguided.” He adds: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

“The whole idea of trying to maintain the dignity of an entire profession, <\/font><\/p>\n

and especially the legal profession — which I don’t have to quote Shakespeare <\/font><\/p>\n

to you to tell you [that] for centuries this has not been grea t– by trying to <\/font><\/p>\n

control how attorneys represent themselves, seems almost silly.” <\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“buzardMug” <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

a. vincent buzard<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Seeing Vince Buzard continue this battle — his top priority as bar President — against <\/font><\/p>\n

the First Amendment and the forces of competition makes me wonder: Why would <\/font><\/p>\n

any bar association choose him to lead their association? Why, indeed. (hint: see <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\"tiny I wonder what Kobayashi Issa<\/a> would have to say <\/font><\/p>\n

about all this, from his perspective in early 19th Century Japan?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

they even sell
\nthe swamp’s lotuses…
\nleaf and blossom<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

river boat–
\non a night of fireworks
\nstill selling fireworks
\n<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

harvest moon–
\nthe peddler selling
\neight cent sake<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

they even sell tea
\nnot worth a fart!
\nsummer trees<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

selling morning-glories
\nwet with morning dew…
\na tough character<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n


\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n


\n<\/font><\/p>\n


\n<\/font><\/p>\n

Issa<\/strong><\/font><\/a><\/font><\/p>\n


\n<\/font><\/p>\n

translated by <\/font>David G. Lanoue<\/strong><\/font><\/a><\/font><\/p>\n


\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n


\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\"ChickenLittle2005\"<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Albany, NY, version of The Business Review-bizjournal tried today to make sense of the New York State Bar Association’s crusade to improve the image of lawyers by eliminating “sleazy,” inappropriate ads. “Savvy or sleazy: Bar tackles tricky issue of attorney advertisements,” by Eric Durr, Feb. 13, 2006. (treated at length in our prior post, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-18C","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12780,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4378\/revisions\/12780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

our bar & guild<\/em><\/font><\/a> essay)<\/font><\/p>\n