{"id":7613,"date":"2007-05-14T15:50:33","date_gmt":"2007-05-14T20:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/05\/14\/better-to-be-mistaken-for-a-knave-"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:48","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:48","slug":"better-to-be-mistaken-for-a-knave-than-a-fool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/05\/14\/better-to-be-mistaken-for-a-knave-than-a-fool\/","title":{"rendered":"better to be mistaken for a knave than a fool"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"spotlightS\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In a posting last week at LegalBlogWatch<\/em> (Road to Riches? Rate Lawyers<\/a>), Robert Ambrogi told us about the recent Houston Chronicle<\/em> article “Publications Cash in on Lawyers’ Egos<\/a>,” by Mary Flood (May 6. 2006).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With names\u00a0such as\u00a0Super Lawyers<\/em>, Top Lawyers<\/em>, Lawdragon 500<\/em> and Best Lawyers in America,<\/em> publications take advantage of the\u00a0vanity of lawyers\u00a0by giving them a chance to purchase ads alongside lists and commentary that tout a firm or lawyer as being especially successful or talented.\u00a0 Ambrogi\u00a0notes that some observers and lawyers believe buying the ads helps secure a top rating.\u00a0 Bob also points to an important additional issue raised by Flood in a follow-up weblog posting at the Chronicle<\/em> (“Lawyer lauding and reader confusion<\/a>“):\u00a0<\/p>\n

“[Flood suggests that] lawyers are contributing to consumer confusion by blurring the line between advertising and editorial. Flood cites her state of Texas, where Super Lawyers<\/em> runs each year as an advertising supplement in Texas Monthly<\/em> magazine. Texas Monthly<\/em> has no say in the ratings of any kind, Flood points out, yet “many local lawyer bios brag incorrectly that they are rated as Super Lawyers<\/em> by Texas Monthly<\/em>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At LawBeat<\/em>, Mark Obbie says<\/a> this practice makes him cringe. “It’s designed to confuse ordinary readers about who’s honoring the lawyers, despite the agate-type disclaimers.”\u00a0 Prof. Obbie also explains, “Mary Flood casts some light on the silly business of shaking lawyers down for advertising while lauding them in meaningless rankings. ”<\/p>\n

To those who might blame the lawyers, Bob Ambrogi says:\u00a0\u00a0\"questionDudeT\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

My sense is that many of the lawyers who wrongly claim they were rated by, say, Texas Monthly<\/em>, are not being disingenuous. Rather, like many readers, they fail to perceive the lines between church and state in a news magazine. If it quacks like editorial content, it must be editorial content. If consumers are not to be misled, magazines need to follow strict guidelines for clearly distinguishing “advertorial” content produced by sales people from editorial content produced by editors and reporters. And whoever is selling these ads, whether it is the magazine or the directory, needs to make sure the lawyers who buy them understand what they are getting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is another instance where I sincerely envy Bob Ambrogi’s experience within the legal profession\u00a0— during an extensive career, he has clearly been exposed to a consistently more benign segment of the\u00a0bar than I.\u00a0 He is also far more trusting of other humans.\u00a0\u00a0To my skeptical mind, it is almost insulting to lawyers who are deemed\u00a0“super” and “best”\u00a0(even if only by ad-peddling bunco-artists, or in their own minds) to suggest they are: a) so naive, b) so lacking in curiosity, c) so bad at issue-spotting, and\/or d) so dimwitted, that they fail to understand exactly who is doing the rating and <\/em>just how misleading the context can be for\u00a0the consuming public.\u00a0\u00a0 At best, the lawyer or firm simply doesn’t want to look too closely.<\/p>\n

\"dunceCap\"\u00a0In our adversarial system, lawyers are constantly called upon — within the bounds of certain ethical and\u00a0professional limits — to spin, cover-up or obscure\u00a0facts, and to mislead the public, opposing counsel, juries and others.\u00a0 In that context. I bet most lawyers would much rather<\/em> be\u00a0thought of as knaves than as fools<\/em> — especially, by those who are in no position to know their state of mind and may very well be mistaken.\u00a0\u00a0Knaves can serve their client’s interests very well\u00a0in a large proportion of matters, and are often sought out.\u00a0\u00a0Fools, on the other hand, are rarely an advantage and never desirable advocates or counsellors.\u00a0 So, if only out of an abundance of kindness, I’m going to lean toward the knave explanation when it comes to misleading preening and vanity advertising by lawyers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"BigSkyRMA2006\"\u00a0\u00a0SuperHaijin<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0 There’s no hype around here when we say f\/k\/a<\/em> features poetry by some of the very\u00a0haiku poets in the English language (plus, thanks to who is knows, the slacker dagosan<\/em>).\u00a0 As we mentioned<\/a> two days ago, a remarkable number of our Honored Guest poets achieved the Haiku Hat Trick this year:\u00a0having three of their poems selected for the prestigious annual Red Moon\u00a0Anthology.\u00a0\u00a0Here are\u00a0the poems from Carolyn Hall, Billie Wilson and Jim Kacian that can be found in the new\u00a0volume\u00a0big<\/em> sky: The Red Moon Anthology 2006<\/em><\/font><\/a>\u00a0(Jim Kacian, Editor in Chief, Red Moon Press<\/font><\/a>, 2007).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

circle of pines
\nGod absent
\nfrom the wedding vows<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

so suddenly winter
\nbaby teeth at the bottom
\nof the button jar<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

plum blossoms\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\nI make plans
\nfor my ashes<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…… by\u00a0Carolyn Hall<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0\u00a0big sky: rma 2006<\/a> \"spotlightS\"\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“plum blossoms” – Spiess 2006 Constest
\n“circle of pines” – Frogpond<\/em> XXIX: 1
\n“so suddenly winter” – The Heron’s Nest<\/em> VIII:1<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Valentine’s Day–
\nhe tells me I’m number one
\non his speed dial<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

letter from the war zone —
\nleaves shift
\nagainst the brick wall<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

late night rain–
\nhe reads to me from the book
\nI read to him<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

……………. by Billie Wilson<\/a> from big sky: rma 2006<\/em><\/a>
\n“Valentine’s Day” – Frogpond<\/em> XXIX:1
\n“letter from the war zone” – Hermitage<\/em> 1 & 2
\n“late night rain” –\u00a0 “Mayfly #40<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

dusklight–
\nI read her poem
\ndifferently<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"spotlightS\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0camping alone one star then many<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

pleasantly drunk . . .
\nfireflies come out
\nof the moon<\/p>\n

………………… by jim kacian<\/a>\u00a0from big sky: rma 2006<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0
\n“dusklight” – Spiess 2006 Contest
\n“pleasantly drunk” – Kaiji Aso<\/em> Contest 2006
\n“camping alone” – Frogpond<\/em> XXIX:2<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In a posting last week at LegalBlogWatch (Road to Riches? Rate Lawyers), Robert Ambrogi told us about the recent Houston Chronicle article “Publications Cash in on Lawyers’ Egos,” by Mary Flood (May 6. 2006).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0With names\u00a0such as\u00a0Super Lawyers, Top Lawyers, Lawdragon 500 and Best Lawyers in America, publications take advantage of the\u00a0vanity of lawyers\u00a0by giving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[555,3513,900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haiku-or-senryu","category-lawyer-news-or-ethics","category-viewpoint"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1YN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7613","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=7613"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12541,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7613\/revisions\/12541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}