f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

A month ago, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that attorneys

John Pape and Marc Chandler acted unethically by using a

pit bull logo and an 800-PIT-BULL phone number in marketing

their services to persons injured in motor cycle accidents.  The

Court said the Pit Bull image demeaned the legal profession.  

Consumer and First Amendment advocates, legal ethics experts,

and the public in general, replied scornfully to the Court’s argument

and hoped Pape & Chandler would take the case to the United

States Supreme Court. (see our prior post, which collects many

links) 

 

 

Marc Chandler has informed f/k/a that Pape & Chandler won’t just heel

and whimper.  Instead, they have hired Rodney A. Smolla, Dean of the

Richmond School of Law and well-known First Amendment author and

advocate, to seek review of the case at our nation’s highest court.  [In

2003, Smolla successfully represented the respondent in Virginia v. Black,

538 U.S. 343, a cross-burning case.]

 

Of course, the certiorari hurdle is always great, but I’d be interested

in hearing predictions on how the various Justices might vote, should

they take the case.  Would the Court conclude that pious notions of

“dignity” only make the legal profession look silly and are inadequate

reasons for limiting commercial speech and First Amendment rights

of lawyers and consumers?

 

 

christmas morning

the old retriever gets

all the innards

 

            ed markowski 

 

 

 

 

not much afternoon left–

his dog runs loose

ahead of him

 

“dogHouseN”

 

 

 

letting

the dog out–

the stars in

 

 

 

distant thunder–

the dog’s toenails click

against the linoleum

 

Gary Hotham from breathmarks: haiku to read in the dark 

(Canon Press, 1999)

 

 

 

brand new snowbank

the neighbor’s dog

makes a deposit

 

      dagosan

 

p.s. Here’s a smaller, b&w version of the logo in question:

 

 

fresh scent–

   the labrador’s muzzle

        deeper into the snow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas morning—
bird dog in the stubblefield
chasing sparrows

 

    Lee Gurga from Fresh Scent (1998)