This is a blind item, since we don’t know the identity of the attorney. Yesterday, this unknown attorney sent an employee a text message. It wasn’t to wish the employee a happy Labor Day. From Reddit:

“Sexting” was the latest hot cell phone trend. Maybe the new trend will be “diSMSing.”

Dear Reddit. It is 10:40 PM, on a Holiday, and I was just fired via text. [Reddit]

How would you like to be the unofficial mascot for that dubious practice known as “sexting”? From ATL associate editor Kashmir Hill, writing over at True/Slant:

Earlier this year, the media went crazy over “sexting.” It has all the elements of a great, salacious, audience-attracting story: flirtation, cell phones, nude photos, and oftentimes, teens….

One of the stations which ran a series of these stories is WLWT in Cincinnati, Ohio. The station repeatedly used a photo of a cell phone with a text to Joanna Argus saying “Hey baby, I got what you want.”

Joanna Argus, an Ohio woman in her late twenties who works as a fundraising consultant, found out about this for the first time when one of her clients called to ask about it. She was shocked, confused, and worried about who else would see it. She complained to the station, and the station’s manager promised it would not happen again. But it did happen again: at least six times over nine months, and was also used as the image for a presentation to a group of high schoolers on the dangers of sexting.

Oy. Argus is now suing the Hearst Corporation, the media conglomerate which owns the television station, for invasion of privacy, defamation, emotional distress, and negligence. (Recent bar exam candidates: feel free to break it down, in the comments.)

We’ll do our part to undo the reputational damage. If you happen to come across her name or photo, or if you meet her in person, please know that poor Joanna Argus has nothing to do with “sexting.”

A reputation nightmare: Becoming the ‘sexting’ mascot [True/Slant]

Law firm partners need to watch more Gossip Girl. If they did, they’d learn the perils of talking about private matters in public places. In the age of BlackBerrys, texting, and cameraphones, it’s ridiculously easy for tipsters to leak details of overheard conversations and not-so-secret rendezvous to their favorite online gossip girl (or boy — XOXO, Lat).

Last year, we wrote about a Thelen partner who was overheard discussing her firm’s layoffs on the subway. Last night, we received this information, from a law student traveling from D.C. to New York:

This afternoon I boarded a train from Washington bound for Penn Station…. I, along with all of the other passengers, were sitting quietly when the man directly behind me decided to make a phone call using his bluetooth. He was talking so loudly that I think most people in the car were able to hear him.

His conversation, though he stressed how necessary it was to be kept secret (ah, the irony), detailed the current plans of Pillsbury to lay off somewhere in the range of 15-20 attorneys from four offices by the end of March, including a few senior associates with low billable hours and two or three first-year associates. I wouldn’t have believed it except for the fact that he identified himself to the call as Bob Robbins, who I learned is the leader of the firm’s Corporate & Securities practice section, and was talking to Rick Donaldson, who I learned was COO. What’s more, he was NAMING NAMES over the phone!

After we expressed skepticism over this wild story, including the tipster’s ability to catch the names of both Robbins and Donaldson, we received this response:

I agree it’s pretty wild. I wasn’t trying to overhear, but I had no choice because of the proximity. The name “Robbins” I remembered because he said it so damn loud. I went to their website, and the picture [at right] was an exact match. He was big enough to fit almost two chairs.

“Donaldson” I didn’t remember as clearly. I remembered that it began with a “Do” and thought it was “Dotson,” but there was no “Dotson” on the site — just “Donaldson.” Also, he called him “Rick” a few times.

Says our source, in explaining the decision to tip off ATL:

Before today, I have never even considered posting on this website, but I was so mortified by my experience…. I’ve heard of attorneys being reprimanded for discussing client matters in an elevator. Where does airing your own firm’s dirty laundry on an express train fit on the list? I don’t know if there is a way that you can independently verify this, but if so, please do.

Partial verification, after the jump.

* Fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias speaks out against the DOJ’s ACORN probe. [Talking Points Memo]

* Judges in China refuse to take lawsuits over tainted milk. [Associated Press]

* They may cause rashes. And brain cancer. But we still love them. [Reuters]

* Grand jury investigations for Lehman, in New York and New Jersey. [CNN Money]

* Pfizer settles its painkiller suits for $894 million. [Wall Street Journal (subscription)]

* 24 Hour Fitness hates poor people. [Courthouse News Service]

* David Lat was in Charlottesville this week talking to UVA law students about job hunting. He advised going off the beaten track. [Virginia Law]

When you’ve been wronged, there’s a part of you that wants the whole world to know. Maybe you think exposing the evildoer’s misdeeds will bring solace, revenge, sympathy… But more often than not, it brings scorn. People just don’t like tattletales.

Several tipsters sent along such an exchange from the University of Michigan’s law school list-serv. Here’s the catfight one law student sent out to the list-serv with the subject line, “not sure how to handle this:”

On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 11:22 PM, TATTLETALE wrote:

EVILDOER,

Listen, I tried to be nice and understanding about all this but now it’s just ridiculous! I did you a favor and now I’ve been stuck hounding you for my phone for months and months as if you’re doing ME the favor! I bought that phone for $120, so either send me a check for that amount or return the phone ASAP…

I’m not going to lecture you about how this is no way to treat a law school class mate and definately [sic] no way to start making your reputation in the legal community — hopefully you realize all that. Just return the phone or the money so I can finally forget about this after half a year!

-TATTLETALE
——————————————————————————————————————————

Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:01:52 +0200
From: EVILDOER
Subject: Re: phone
To: TATTLETALE

You f***ing nasty b****,
My sister is gonna give you a f***ing check that you can f***ing hold onto until I come back from rome.
EVILDOER

On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 7:54 AM, EVILDOER wrote:

I AM INF ***ING ROME YOU STUPID W****. I SAID I WILL MAIL IT TO YOU ONCE I
GET BACK. NO REASON TO BE A F***ING B****.

Is bar exam stress driving Michigan students over the edge?

Full exchange (warning: unredacted profanity), plus a bevy of responses, after the jump.

(We’ve redacted identities — and appreciate your protecting anonymity in the comments. Thanks.)

As bloggers, internet addiction is a job requirement, but we hear it’s a bad thing for “normal people.” We’ve noticed quite a few articles recently on cell phone addiction and Web abuse. We think lawyers more than most may be prone to technological addictions, due to their nifty firm-supplied tech toys, many billable hours spent in front of computers, and the ever-present blackberry/crackberry.

Wired reports that one influential psychiatrist has proposed adding internet addiction to the manual of mental disorders:

In the March issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Jerald Block proposed that Web abuse be added to his field’s bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Block cites research from South Korea, where, he says, the affliction is considered a serious public health problem, and the government estimates that 168,000 children may require psychotropic medications. In China, the Beijing Military Region Central Hospital puts the number of teenage pathological computer users at 10 million.

Like other addicts, users reportedly experience cravings (for better software, faster machines), withdrawal (logging off may cause irritability), a loss of sense of time (wee-hour fixes), and negative social repercussions (it’s so much easier to date an avatar).

Check. Check. Check. No check — our social life is just fine, thank you.

There are your warning signs for internet addiction, so look out! We wonder if carrying a PDA is the equivalent of chewing nicotine gum…. More discussion of addictions and how the love of the iPhone can lead to robbery at gunpoint, after the jump.

This episode gives new meaning to the term “flip phone.” A cell phone that went off during court proceedings caused one judge to, well, flip out. From the NYT’s City Room blog:

The next time you pass through the city court system in Niagara Falls, N.Y., remember to turn your cellphone off.

Today, the Commission on Judicial Conduct recommended the removal of a judge in Niagara Falls City Court who had, what the commission’s chairman, Raoul L. Felder, called, “two hours of inexplicable madness” when a cellphone rang in his courtroom.

Specifically, on the morning of March 11, 2005, the judge, Robert M. Restaino, was presiding over a slate of domestic violence cases when he heard a phone ring in his courtroom. He told the roughly 70 people in the courtroom, according to the commission’s report, that “every single person is going to jail in this courtroom” unless the phone was turned over.

Look, we hate cellphones ringing at inappropriate times as much as the next guy. But was Judge Restaino’s reaction a tad over the top? We suggest — with respect, Your Honor — that you’re a few beeps short of a ringtone.

Read what happened next, after the jump.

* Bored at work? Look up the campaign contributions of that partner you work for. [Fundrace 2008 / Huffington Post]

* We generally find personalized cell phone ringtones to be pretty annoying. But if you’re going to have one, it might as well be legal-themed, right? [The Billable Hour]

* Law bloggers, stand up and be counted. Here’s the updated law blogger census. [Concurring Opinions]

* Speaking of law blogging, here’s the latest installment of Blawg Review. [Blawg Review]

* For you Starbucks haters out there, a glimmer of hope for the days of cheap, dishwater-tasting, non-fair-trade coffee, served by exploited employees. Or Central Perk. [Mercury News]

* In case you were worried about the gel-happy San Francisco mayor, Gavin Newsom still gets paid while in rehab. [Law.com]

* When you’re a pre-boyfriend and pre-mascara 8-year-old, too much time on the phone leads to more than just bad grades and parental despair. [Times Union]

* Not only do pedophiles not necessarily look like John Mark Karr, but they also need not look like the white-sock wearing, pillar-of-the-community suburban dad. If there’s one TV show with true diversity, it’s To Catch a Predator. [Los Angeles Times]

We loooove successful, strong, African-American females. Like the Justice Department’s Shanetta Cutlar, who demands respect from everyone who works for her. Or supermodel Naomi Campbell, who similarly doesn’t take s*** from underlings — even if it requires hurling the occasional cellphone in their direction.

Here’s a report on the latest Naomi Campbell assault case. From the AP:

Naomi Campbell pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault Tuesday for hitting her maid with a cell phone over a pair of missing jeans.

“I threw a cell phone in the apartment. The cell phone hit Ana,” Campbell told Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum. “This was an accident because I did not intend to hit her.”

Perjury, anyone? Eh, whatever.

Campbell, 36, hit Ana Scolavino in the back of the head with the phone in the supermodel’s Manhattan apartment last March. Scolavino was treated for a head injury.

In exchange for her guilty plea, Campbell must pay Scolavino’s medical expenses of $363, do five days of community service and attend a two-day anger management program.

Community service? Here’s our suggestion. Place Naomi Campbell inside a dunking booth. For a fee, a player gets to throw a cell phone at a target. If the cell phone hits the target, SPLASH! Into the water she goes.

Proceeds from the Naomi Campbell Dunk Tank will go to an appropriate charity (e.g., an organization for battered women). Great idea, eh?

Naomi Campbell Pleads Guilty to Assault [Associated Press]

Earlier: Naomi Campbell: Supermodel or “Superbigot”?

(Yes, politics may lie slightly beyond the legal beat — but not by much. Senatrix Hillary Clinton is, of course, a lawyer by training. And if elected president, she’d probably get to appoint at least two Supreme Court justices. So we think we’ve established an adequate topical nexus for posting this amusing screenshot.)

Clinton Reaches Out to Iowa, N.H. Dems [Associated Press via Drudge Report]

We love supermodels around here. Based on their fabulosity, we’d let them get away with murder.

Okay, not literally — which is why something must be done about Naomi Campbell.

Past brushes with the law have not deterred the ebony-skinned beauty. She has moved beyond the point of being entertaining Page Six fodder; she now poses a danger to public safety. The latest news:

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has been released on bail after being arrested in London on suspicion of assault….

Campbell was arrested yesterday afternoon after a woman walked into a central London police station and made an allegation of assault.

The Sun newspaper reported that Campbell attacked her drug counsellor. The paper claimed the therapist made a complaint after she was “scratched all over her face” by the catwalk model.

A spokesman for Campbell said he believed there had been a “misunderstanding.”

Ah, another “misunderstanding” — like this one:

Campbell is subject to to an ongoing assault case in New York. She is alleged to have thrown a mobile phone at her housekeeper’s head in a row at her Manhattan apartment. She failed to turn up to a hearing in September and the case was adjourned until November 15.

This is actually the ninth assault allegation against Campbell in eight years.

ATL public service announcement: If you see Naomi Campbell walking down the street, turn the other way — and RUN.

Supermodel Is Arrested [Sky News]
Naomi Campbell Said Questioned by Police [Associated Press]

* Senate approves broad new rules to try detainees. [New York Times; Bashman linkwrap]

* Senate House grandstands over Hewlett-Packard as most witnesses take Fifth; libertarians celebrate that time wasted is time not spent passing new appropriations. [New York Times; WaPo]

* Verizon Wireless piles on against H-P. [WSJ Law Blog]

* Observers suggest Supreme Court cases over abortion might be contentious. You think? [Legal Times]

* Dozen Iraqi journalists arrested under new law against criticism of government. See? They’re already following in our footsteps up to the Alien and Sedition Acts! [New York Times]

* Belgium rules sifting of bank data illegal. [WaPo]

* California court hearing testimony over how many angels can dance on the pinhead of an anesthesized Death Row inmate. [Bashman linkwrap]

* Louisiana appellate court strikes down med-mal damages cap for failure to index to inflation, providing another excuse for doctors not to return to post-Katrina New Orleans. [Point of Law]

* New York Times writes thumbsucker on the Pirro marriage. [New York Times]

Inappropriate cell phone use — we’ve seen them used during wedding ceremonies — has gotten out of control. So it’s great to see a tough-minded jurist take a stand against this growing problem:

A judge detained and questioned a row of spectators when a cell phone rang for a third time in her courtroom, later ordering two people to serve community service for contempt of court.

When no one admitted having the ringing phones Wednesday, Lake County Criminal Court Judge Diane Boswell told all five people in the row to sit in chairs reserved for jail inmates. They stayed there for more than an hour until the morning court call ended.

Boswell found three people in contempt of court because they initially refused to say who had the ringing phones.

Ah yes — a time-honored technique for disciplining second-graders. But if people are going to act like discourteous morons, we can’t fault Judge Boswell for treating them as such.

Judge Detains Five Over Ringing Phones [Associated Press]

* Are lawyers really this superstitious? Or is a trial just an excuse to go on a sugar binge and get all liquored up? [WSJ Law Blog]

* Heh, looks like there’s another “backdating scandal” happening out on the West Coast. [The Recorder]

* Extreme Makeover: Federal Courthouse Edition. [Washington Post]

* It’s not just meant for movie theaters. That Nokia ring tone may be coming to a courtroom near you. [New York Law Journal]

* Oh Claude, why didn’t you try the whole “insanity” thing? If it worked for Andrea Yates, it might have worked for you. [Associated Press]

* We’re impressed by The Recorder’s ability to cram bad puns on Fish & Richardson into its title and lede. We count two and a half, since “sticks” sorta conjures up images of Mrs. Paul’s. [The Recorder]

* “Baker & McKenzie, be on alert: henceforth, Boing Boing will be actively monitoring your website to identify dumbass activity and will, if necessary, take appropriate action to point out instances of wasting clients’ money by sending out unnecessary and obnoxious warning letters.” [The American Lawyer; Boing Boing]