MyShingle’s Been Sued in Rakofsky v. the Internet
After seven and a half years of blogging at MyShingle, I thought that I’d seen the last of my firsts. But thanks to Joseph Rakofsky and the Rakofsky Law Firm PC, MyShingle.com is one of multiple defendants named in this first ever law suit against my site, keeping company with Above the Law, the Washington Post, the American Bar Associationand a whole host of other bloggers. Here is what I have to say about this matter. First, I stand by everything I’ve written on the matter and I have a longstanding policy of not taking down blog posts. Second, I will not be bullied. I will continue to write posts sharing my opinion — whether complimentary or critical — on the conduct of other lawyers consistent with my blog’s mission to educate solo and small firm lawyers. Though this lawsuit isn’t a club to which I ever wished an invitation, nonetheless, I intend to vigorously defend against this matter. I am proud to stand in the company of the other bloggers who take the time to post on ethical standards and appropriate lawyer conduct within our profession and grateful to have the collective support of so many solo and small firm lawyers.
Update: The co-defendant posts are coming in. Here’s Scott Greenfield at
Simple Justice. (I’m busy today but I’ll do a full update tonight).
Give ’em hell, Carolyn.
Carolyn,
According to the other blogs and comments I’ve reviewed, you must be delighted to be named as a Defendant in this debacle.
The defendant list is populated with huge entities such as The Washington Post, Amercian Bar Association and dozens of well-respected legal blogger and websites, in additon to My Shingle. There are even rumors that a number of well known blogs are almost embarassed not to be named, and some of them are attempting to be included.
Any publicity is better than no publicity! Carry on!
Cheers! Pat Joyce
Carolyn, I have appreciated much of your work (book, blog, and website) which provide support, guidance, and personal time where possible, to the solo and small firm attorney as well as the future of the law practice. It is unfortunate that Rakofsky has chosen this course of action, but I admire your position and resolute defense of your blog and actions. As has been expressed by many on Solosez there are many of us, who will never be able to truly repay you for all you have provided us over the years, but are willing to help in any way possible with the defense of this matter.
Best Regards,David Ogwyn
You have a very good blog. Don’t back down!
http:// hawaiiattorney. blogspot. com/
Rakowsky and the attorney that is handling the case for him in New York, Richard Borzouye, Esq.,
are doomed to lose from the onset, and they will get their asses
kicked. The only question remaining is: how badly? If the judge
assigned to the case is not amused, sanctions of $10,000 for each
defendant may be ordered. Sanctions for frivolous defamation claims are
mandatory in New York. How much the judge will impose is anyone’s guess.
Non-payment of the sanctions could also result in disciplinary action
for both Radkowsky and his New York cohort Richard Borzouye, Esq. I’m sure that the Departmental Disciplinary Committees are waiting in the wings to pounce on these cretins after the case is over.
Once you get over the initial shock of being sued, and you know that
there is no downside for you except maybe the expense of defense, then
you can sit back and relax and enjoy the show!
Sooooo, Carolyn, grab a chair and watch the show!
Rakowsky can always get a job sweeping the subways
I know of someone who is being sued for their blog post. They have outed a large Intuit Authorized Accounting host company that even after being warned would not fixed security flaws with their network. Then he went to the social media two years later. Rightnetworks is letting anyone with little to no knowledge hack into their networks and steal CC, EIN, SS numbers and personal information for many many companies because they do not put their RDP behind a VPN or SSL Gateway and instead only put a security certificate on the RDP internal network and the port the server to the outside world. Anyone that knows about security or Microsoft Best Practices knows what im talking about. Very High Risk.
They retained a litigator trying to hide the info. Talk about Ethics. I guess it is easier for them to hide the info then fix the issue.