The American Dream, As Told Through A Photoshop Ethics Violation

A real immigrant story of horrible ethics violations.

The story going around the legal internet today is about the creative advertisements from lawyer Svitlana Sangary. Nobody really knows what kind of “lawyer” she is, but it doesn’t matter. Sangary was nailed with an ethics violation and license suspension by the State Bar of California. The Recorder reports that Sangary photoshopped herself into pictures with famous celebrities.

Bill Clinton, Barack Obama (curious that I named them in that order), George Clooney, Magic Johnson — the list goes on. Protip, Svitlana: People with the kind of “access” you suggest you have don’t like to get their pictures taken.

That this amounts to deceptive lawyer advertising efforts is obvious. You can see the pics below. But if you read the ethics ruling against her, Sangary’s statements do not look to me like a charlatan attorney looking to pull a fast one on unsuspecting clients. Instead, Sangary presents to me as a sympathetic immigrant who bought a bill of goods we call the “American Dream” without bothering to read the fine print. She’s like a person who learned about business from The Apprentice and learned law from Legally Blonde.

Actually, I don’t know how she graduated from law school. I’d ask her, but she’d assert her “first amendment right to remain silent.”…

First, pictures, because I promised them:

You can see a full gallery of these on The Recorder.

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In this case, pictures tell only part of the delusional story. Here’s a section from the California State Bar’s ruling against Sangary:



First of all, Pepperdine. Wow. You guys must be so proud. Anytime you can admit somebody who “passed LSAT” and manage to teach her just about nothing before setting her upon the rest of us, you’ve got a mighty feather in your cap.

But, I don’t know, my heart bleeds for this woman. Natalie Portman did use body doubles to do her dancing in her Oscar-winning dance movie. Stunt doubles are a thing. NFL players don’t look like that just because they eat Wheaties. You think they don’t know who is going to win The Voice before it starts? AMERICA IS BUILT ON LIES.

Sure, Sangary lied. But from her perspective, everybody who gets anywhere in this country lies. AND SHE’S NOT WRONG. She did, in fact, receive an email from the President of the United States. The fact that we all know she didn’t really get an email from the President is just an indication of how comfortable we’ve become with total bulls**t. In other places, leaders would be embarrassed to send out 30 million “personal” emails begging for cash. In America, it’s just brilliant politics.

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Svitlana Sangary shouldn’t be a lawyer. The court said that she tried to invoke her “first” amendment right to remain silent, instead of the fifth, which wouldn’t have really helped her anyway. The law requires a form of stylized lying and BS that Sangary has just not learned.

But in some other field, in America, I think Sangary is going to be all right:

What a beautiful sentiment.

You’re on a boat, Svitlana. And you’re going to fly it to the moon somehow. Like Kevin Garnett, anything is possible.

Bar Suspends Lawyer for Photoshopping Herself Into Celebrity Shots [The Recorder]