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'Pit bull' lawyer ads to remain muzzled
Associated Press
Published March 28, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Ads for a pair of "pit bull" lawyers will remain muzzled after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take their appeal Monday.
The decision let stand a Florida Supreme Court ruling that Marc Chandler and John Pape could no longer use ads featuring the image of a pit bullterrier wearing a spiked collar and spelling out the last seven digits of their telephone number as "PIT-BULL."
The Fort Lauderdale lawyers argued on appeal that the state justices failed to apply a U.S. Supreme Court standard for commercial free speech and ruled "pit bull" was demeaning to the legal profession and justice system without any empirical evidence.
Since the state ruling in November, the law partners have dropped the pit bull imagery from print ads and have stayed off television. The ban has not harmed their business, Chandler said Monday.
Still, he thinks the decision was unfair, saying some lawyers are using images of lions and panthers, both also fearsome animals, without objection.
"Demeaning is in the eye of the beholder," Chandler said.
[Last modified March 28, 2006, 03:01:29]
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