In what Internet universe would a lawyer steal the words and work of another and not expect to be caught or called out? Why would a lawyer post “news” on their website by simply trolling the Internet and stealing others news? And, if a lawyer were going to do so, would they just take the easy way out and simply copy what the State Bar has already curated and pass it off as their own?
If you are a lawyer at Brown & Musslewhite in Houston, you would be lazy, plagiarize steal content, and pass it off as if some “author” in your firm wrote it.
Jeff Musslewhite earned his law degree from The University of Baltimore School of Law. Apparently this is one school that doesn’t teach criminal law or copyright. Hell, they may not even teach ethics. Well, maybe it’s not fair to blame the school. After all, his law partner Lori Brown attended the University of Texas and didn’t learn the basics either.
Instead of creating and publishing their victories, successes, thoughts, and business plans, they have a “news” feed that does nothing but regurgitate the blog posts curated by the State Bar of Texas’ Texas Bar Today blog. The folks over at Texas Bar Today spend time reading and then passing on relevant information by providing links to various lawyers’ posts. When they do so, they identify the original writer, giving a link credit to the author, and simply send the interested reader directly to the original post.
Apparently, that’s too much work for the lawyers at B&M. They would rather just copy the work of the Texas Bar Today folks, create a fake author page, and link the readers back to themselves. By creating fake author pages, they give the appearance of the author writing or working for them. And trust me, I do not write for them, and I certainly would not work for them.
To be fair, their posts begin with “Written by JOANNE MUSICK” and “Originally published by JoAnne Musick.” Yet, when you click the link for JOANNE MUSICK, it circles right back to their site and a handy-dandy collection of everything they copied from me (which is only 2 [correction: 4, 2 as JoAnne Musick and 2 as JoAnneMusick] posts so far – but I’m not the only one they are copying – they have also copied HCCLA and HCCLA’s Reasonable Doubt).
They say imitation is flattery. Well, I’m not flattered. I find myself, much like Ruth, pissed:
When you like my blog work, I’m pleased. When you link to my site, I’m flattered. When you request a reprint, I’m delighted. When you rip off my work, even with an attribution, I get pissed!
You like my writing? Great! Let me know and I’d probably give you permission to use it. Want to curate like the Texas Bar Today folks? Great! Give proper links and I wouldn’t care. But don’t just blatantly utilize my words to enhance your google presence and seem relevant.
The interesting questions: Is this their work ethic? Do they really do real lawyer work? Or do they just copy others? Didn’t we learn in grade school that plagiarism was wrong? If they show deceit in their website, will they deceive a client? The court?
I have no desire to find the answers to these questions. I would never hire a lawyer engaging in such practice. It’s unethical and just plain wrong. Color me offended and sad that they have chosen to use my name and my words to try and make themselves look better. Don’t try to make yourself look better; be better!
Update: see what they are copying here