Legal Profession Blog Named "Popular Law Professor's Blog"

Posted by Alan Childress

LPB is called that! ...by the "tattoo couture" website needled.com.  That's how LPB gets described in the post, "Not There Yet...," while exploring the body art bias and faux criminal heuristic present in my post here about the GR8 TaT2 Maker (that I had recommended as part of your next Toy Tats For Tots contribution).  The blog adds about my post, "Granted, it could be an attempt at humor -- in my experience, something law professors often fail at."  Ouch.

This follows with a fair point about professionals and tattoos--and hiding them with clothing at work. The reason:  fear of bias from "these old(er) white guys." Yeeouch!  [Memo to self:  change pic on linked webpage to high school shot.  Must photoshop out plaid pants.  Oh, never mind, she must be talking about Lipshaw.]  She adds, "And if you look at who are the majority on US judicial benches, CEOs, international firms, tenured professors ... yup, it's these guys. And they don't like our tattoos." 

Followed by her two Sponsored Links:  "Tattoos and Hepatitis C -- There are ways to get Hep C from a tattoo -- find out if you're at risk:  haveyouever.com."  Also one for "Absinthe:  you don't have a creative block...you're just SOBER!"  [Memo to Paul Caron:  change incessant LPB ad for Black's Law Dictionary to cool ads like this.  No one buys Black's anyway except some old aunt as a going-to-lawschool present sort of like a carton of Camels for a new convict.  Memo to State AGs:  There's millions to be made in suing Absinthe using big-tobacco model.  Just endow me a Chair as a HT.]

In my defense, I'm only as old as I feel.  And today is the last day of the first of my life.  I really don't have much of an issue (apart from the cheesy boys' photos, and maybe its aiming at the low age range) with GR8 TaTs -- nor with its chief rivals Mr. Potato Skull, Barbed-Wire Buns Barbie, and of course the Britney Spears Upskirt Artmongerer. 

I honestly do have a real discussion in Professional Responsibility every year about tattoos and bias by judges or juries:  Does ABA Model Rule 1.7(a)(2) require the lawyer to wear long sleeves and remove piercings at trial?  It is a tough call and a fair debate in class...and by this blogger.  I probably do like your tattoo.  I sure like the Louis Vuitton one adorning Susan Scafidi's house pet.

Jeff's email to me, on hearing the kudos, denied that our blog was named 'popular':  "The popular modifies YOU not the blog.  Except that reading is contradicted by the hyperlinking.  Hmm."  I then emailed back some hilarious re-parsing of the punctuation and its dual meaning.  I am confident that the reality of two guys sitting in front of their laptops giggling about their punctuation-modifying jokes has thoroughly undermined--nay, decimated--needled.com's statement that humor is "something law professors often fail at."  [Memo to Jeff:  There's an at at the end of the sentence.  Hee hee!  The post is "something up with which I shall not put."  Snap!!  Just proved second-grade principal wrong who told my parents, "Alan is not as funny as he thinks he is."  Take that, Mr. Purtlebaugh!]  Inexplicably, Mike bowed out of this exchange, even as Jeff and I continued to laugh about the apostrophe's ambiguity until the laughing made one of us get diet coke up our nose and it really hurt.

I am sure the fine folks at Spin Master make a GR8 product, and I withdraw the lame prison references.  Frank Snyder has already emailed me that he's getting two TaTs:  Jack, 7, likes death's heads while Charlie, 6, likes unicorns.  I'd invest heavily in Spin Master if I thought they would be smart enough to sell official accessories.  "Two AA batteries, GR8 Hep C Test Kit, and Absinthe not included."