You Won't Believe This Bad Attorney T-Shirt

What attorney t-shirt sparked a bar association complaint?

We see a lot of terrible attorney ads at ATL. They can be embarrassing, cringe-worthy, racist, or over the top. But this advertisement —  in the form of a t-shirt — is downright horrifying.

This t-shirt, created by Flint, MI defense attorney Jay Clothier, proudly displays the name and URL of his law firm on the front. Then the back. The back reads:

You Say Domestic Violence

I Say Spousal Discipline

Though the shirts were apparently created at least 6 years ago, nothing ever dies on the internet. And now the shirt has created a brand new controversy. Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell even held a press conference over the shirt where he said he is filing a complaint with the Michigan Bar Association since the shirt was “marketing violence plain and simple.”

This isn’t the first set of off-color t-shirts Clothier has used to market his practice. Fox 13 reports on the rest:

For example, one said: “Take the fifth and we’ll bring the tonic.”

Another printed after a courtroom brawl in Flint said: “I went to court with Clothier and it was a riot.”

Jeez man. I get it. You’re edgy.

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Clothier has fired back against the sheriff calling the outrage over the shirt part of a “political agenda” and is said to be considering legal remedies. Fox 13 also reports Clothier responded on his personal Facebook page.

To my friends, a domestic violence client made the comment to me almost 7-10 years ago. It was a perverse offensive comment made to me, which offended me. It was shocking n dialogue inspiring, and also kinda hit on many cases I have, where there’s no evidentiary proof n was basically a He Said She Said. I had my printer create it to be shocking dialogue inspiring. I considered making it, but figured it was offensive n over the top. These were a mock draft that I thought was offensive to actual real victims. This press conference about a photo of a shirt made 7-10 years ago was a vindictive attempt to character assasinate [sic] me for doing my job. People should be outraged at the Sheriff for his vindictive political agenda. How about managing your own department matters rather than attacking a lawyer?

I don’t know if there is a historical beef between these two, and I am not sure I care — all I know is that is a simply terrible lawyer advertisement.

Attorney’s edgy shirts spark uproar: ‘You say domestic violence, I say spousal discipline’ [Fox 13]

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