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Blog entry could ruin lawyer’s career

Not the case of a lawyer here, but the case of an outdoor writer ruining his career because of a blog post should serve as a wake up call to lawyers blogging on controversial subjects.

Career outdoorsman and hunter Jim Zumbo recently blogged about the utility of assault rifles in the sport of hunting and the lack thereof – and called them weapons for terrorists. His blog post, as reported by The Washington Post:

As hunters, we don’t need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them. . . . I’ll go so far as to call them ‘terrorist’ rifles.

This resulted in a blog swarm and strong backlash against Zumbo. The result as reported by Tony Hung at the Blog Herald, my source for this post:

Mr. Zumbo, who has spent his career writing about the outdoors and hunting, was once the editor of a prominent hunting magazine, the beneficiary of lucrative sponsorship from gun companies, and who has traveled extensively with the NRA to discuss the rights of gun owners has now found himself shut out.

He has resigned from his writing post.  He has lost his sponsorships.  And the NRA has disengaged all professional communications with the man.  Which doesn’t say anything about the blogospheric outcry the post has caused.

Even after some profilic apologizing.

There are some topics which practicing lawyers too are going to have to treat as the third rail. They’ll be off limits for risk of losing existing clients, alienating potential clients, and causing law firms and partners to terminate your relationship with the firm.

Of course taking a stand on certain issues in your blog insight and commentary makes for a good blog. Keep that up. Just recognize that when taking a strong position on controversial issues in your blog word gets around quickly and you’ll have to live with the consequences.

  • http://www.insurancecoverageblog.com David Rossmiller

    Given that Zumbo was involved with hunting and the NRA for more than 40 years, it would seem he was well-aware of the danger of going to the other side in the assault rifle debate. It would seem his instinct for self-preservation was out to lunch at the time of this particular post.
    However, let’s remember this is roughly equivalent to a lawyer who handles all Nike’s contract litigation going public with concerns about its labor practices overseas. This isn’t just a “controversial” statement but a suicidal one. A very, very few people fall into the category of those who have been swallowed up by some controversial, dumb or offensively wrong remark, ala Jimmy the Greek Snyder. The bigger and more frequent danger for bloggers and other writers is writing boring things about boring topics. Just because I see a guy run down while running across a busy six-lane street at rush hour doesn’t mean I should be afraid to cross at the light. I’m not advocating that people become suicidal, or court controversy, or say offensive or rude things for the sake of being offensive or rude. However, let’s look at this Zumbo affair for what it is, and not hide behind boring, inexpressive prose that is too often the byproduct of writers seeking to write without really saying anything.