First, sorry to have been in hiding for months. Certainly doesn’t mean that the world of legal “unethics” has resolved itself; simply means I haven’t been sharing!

I went to the website of a lawyer that I met recently at a networking event. In the description of his background on the home page and on the “attorney” page, it says he “is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center” with a Master of Laws in Securities and Financial Regulation. Most of you probably recognize Georgetown University as having a top notch law school and reputation. I was actually sort of surprised, given other things I know about this lawyer, that he had gone to law school there. Well, it turns out he didn’t exactly get his law degree there – when I did a little more checking, turns out he got his J.D. (juris doctor/law degree) at a law school in Michigan that’s been around since 1972.

Seems misleading to me. Crime of omission? Puffing, as they say in the law? I don’t like it. Can’t say yet whether it’s technically an “ethical breach,” but it has that whole “walks like a duck” look to it.

I wouldn’t have been so nosy about the whole thing, but this particular lawyer went out of his way during a group presentation to say that if you do your estate planning (wills) using a website (like Legal Zoom, where I got my will) instead of hiring a lawyer (him) that it wouldn’t be “legal.” Again, very misleading. Actually, not true. So, I might have given him a break on the badly worded website if it hadn’t been for the misleading comment.

Moral of the story – same old, same old – Don’t check your common sense at the door. Trust your instincts. If it seems “fish” or “duck-like,” check it out. Just because it’s on the Internet, doesn’t make it true, or complete.

Signing out of 2011 – see you again in 2012.