Girls Gone Wild Wants ME?

This has probably happened to other blawgers, but it’s a first for me.  Yesterday, out of the blue, I received an email from some guy named Brian about a fellow named Joe Francis, the owner of something called Girls Gone Wild.  GGW is apparently some sort of soft-core porn with college girls (or thereabouts, as it turns out).

This is the email:

Scott,

Have you ever heard of a man imprisoned indefinitely over his negotiating tactics in a civil arbitration?

That’s exactly what’s happened to Joe Francis of “Girls Gone Wild” fame. Truly, it is “Justice Gone Wild.” I’d like to point you to the facts of this case, which has had Joe Francis incarcerated since April.

My hope is that an influential law blogger or two will write something about it. There will be some major activity in the case in a couple of weeks.

Joe and his advisers have started www.meetjoefrancis.com to advocate for justice in his case. A summary of the facts is also below.

Thanks for reading.


Following this email was a lengthy description of the Joe Francis debacle, obviously prepared by some PR person desperate to get his meal ticket back.  I read the whole magillah, and there were enough holes in this story to drive a fleet of Mack trucks through.  But of course, it wasn’t prepared by a lawyer and so full of flagrant spin and self-serving rationalizations that it was impossible to get it past the sniff test.

Mind you, this doesn’t mean that Joe Francis, whatever his true situation might be, is not unjustly imprisoned.  He may well be (or maybe not), but one couldn’t tell from this flagrant attempt at spin.

So I had to figure out what to do about this.  While it’s a great thing when someone tips you off to an interesting case, this wasn’t a tip.  This was an overt solicitation to use my blawg in furtherance of this Brian’s scheme.  It’s like using a friendly reporter to put out a scam story.  Was Simple Justice for sale (even if they weren’t offering payment)?

So I wrote Brian back that while I planned to post about this, it probably wasn’t what he had in mind.  I informed him first that I’m a lawyer before blawger, and if he wants my help to advocate for his client, then he is free to retain me.  But that my blawg was not a free substitute for my professional services.  I then told Brian my thoughts about the efficacy of his recital of events, exactly as I did above. 

The more I thought about Brian’s email, the angrier I became.  Is the blawgosphere just another place for paid PR spinmeister wannabes to try to flatter blawgers into doing their dirty work?  Note the “influential law blogger” part of the email; a bit of an appeal to ego?  There was nothing legit about this guy’s approach, and while one could view his email as a good faith effort to get interest in the Joe Francis case in the blawgosphere, his PR spin approach made the whole deal stink.

So what did Brian have to say about my response?

You were written as a blogger, not as counsel. If your blog is simply a business generating tool for your practice, that’s great. But it doesn’t go out of its way to disclose that.

[Wow, did you miss the point on this one]

Joe Francis is well represented by Roy Black, as a casual web search will show. As defense counsel, you know that the appropriate defense of a client includes all legal and productive methods, in and outside the courtroom.

[I should have researched your request?  As for appropriate defense, that’s for the lawyer, not the flak, to decide] 

We are asking simply that people do their own investigation, sort out the facts, and make their own decision. The document you read is an outline of the facts, not a legal brief. And yes, it was done by a PR person.  

[Funny, that’s not what you asked me in the first email]

I trust that further research will help clarify your thinking on this.

[Probably, but why would I spend my time researching so that I can pimp for you?]

Well, I guess he only wants to buy my blawging services and not my legal services?  Who can blame him, with Roy Black as counsel and blawgs as free publicity, available for the asking.  It was my mistake for not thoroughly researching the facts behind an unsolicited email from a flak who seeks to use my blawg to hype his client.  It’s amazing how a fellow can come with hat in hand for free “advocacy” blawg services, and end up trying to win friends by being offensive.  C’est la vie.

I really don’t know if Joe Francis has been railroaded.  I don’t care for Girls Gone Wild, to tell you the truth.  I really hate people who try to blow smoke up my butt and then insult me for noticing.  That doesn’t mean I won’t post later about Joe Francis and end up his biggest supporter.  But not today.

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