Every state Bar has a board of ethics (that go by different names) that punish attorneys who violate the state’s code of professional ethics. To the best of my knowledge, the legal profession has one of the most strict (if not the most strict) and most commonly enforced code of ethics. These people do not play around.
Dave claims that most people don’t complain about their lawyers… he says it’s because they’re scared. More likely, actually, it’s because 1) most people don’t need lawyers to nearly the same degree as they do other “service professions”, 2) becoming a lawyer is more difficult than about anything else (outside of a physician), and 3) the rules of ethics are not a joke.
If Dave really thinks that what’s going on here is unethical or wrong, his recourse is to take it up with the California Bar, not libel the attorneys on the internet. If it’s not wrong or unethical, then he’s really just complaining that his former attorney is now doing something that he disapproves of… and, truthfully, I don’t really see his point. It seems, to me, as though Russo & Hale are acting in good faith.
In the end Dave needs to be less concerned with “charting a course” for bloggers and more concerned with not committing libel.
This is so bizarre. I thought Dave didn’t like the EFF and now he’s reading their advice.
The EFF refused to protect Dave’s “words” from Google’s Toolbar. Which is really odd because dave doesn’t own any specific words… just a few acronyms: RSS, OPML, XML-RPC. Which we can borrow at anytime if we remember where we got them.
FYI: The “California Bar” is a gay bar. Doesn’t bother me… I’m just sayin’. Different strokes…
Pattern:
1) person wins a large amount of money. 2) other people consider the possibility that they might get some of that money. 3) the person’s life goes steadily downhill due to conflict generated over the money and it’s pressures. 4) the money is soon all gone in legal wrangling but the pain lingers. or 5) sometimes… the person takes too much medication and it ends badly and the money goes to heirs (see Anna’s story).
It’s a pattern called… “life in the big city”. Play at your own risk.