Here is a basic tip in our continuing series on "how not to practice law:" Do not call yourself a lawyer unless you are one!
By now I am sure you have heard the news that the new White House press secretary has been fired after just a few days on the job, possibly in part because of the consequences of holding herself out to be a lawyer even though she is not admitted to practice law anywhere.
According to the news, although she graduated from law school, she failed the bar exam in California and there is no evidence that she has been admitted anywhere else. In fact, she referred to herself as a lawyer many times on national TV and claims to have held the title of "General Counsel" for a company at one point. Confronted with the truth, she doubled down with the idiotic notion that there is a difference between calling oneself a lawyer as opposed to an attorney, which is, of course, nonsense.
But it gets worse, because now not only is she out of a job, she is a joke within the legal community, and an embarrassment to the administration, AND there is a chance she might face a criminal investigation for the misdemeanor of pretending to be a lawyer.
Ironically, because she was never a lawyer to begin with, she is not subject to the disciplinary system, but the state bar can refer her to the state's prosecutors for an investigation on whether her conduct violated a California statute that says, in part, that “[a]ny person advertising or holding himself or herself out as practicing or entitled to practice law . . . who is not an active licensee of the State Bar, or otherwise authorized pursuant to statute or court rule to practice law in this state at the time of doing so, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in a county jail or by a fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment."
The state bar has been asked to make such a referral, but I will be surprised if they do. She will just go down as holding the record for the shortest tenure as a WH press secretary and as another sad entry in the long list of unqualified people hired or appointed by the Trump administration.
For a short video explaining the issue, you can check out this comment in YouTube.
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