Letters to the Editor

P.I. BLOWBACK
      As a member of the bar and a licensed investigator, I had hoped the article "The Pellicano Effect" [October] might discuss the close partnership between trial lawyers and investigators. Instead, the author dips into decades-old clichés about investigators, guns, and money while highlighting facts in the Pellicano case that are covered [elsewhere].
      The profiles of John Nazarian and Paul Barresi are a colorful slice of life-and also facial hair-but the profiles are inaccurate for the industry as a whole, and even as to high-level investigative work. Bringing a camera crew along on investigations? Again, the author confuses Hollywood flashiness with expertise. Cameras are a barrier to getting a jittery witness to cooperate, and therefore a barrier to helping your client.
      A rule of thumb: When your investigator is in the news, you probably lose.
      John Nardizzi
      Boston, Massachusetts
     
      An overwhelming majority [of private investigators] cherish their license and would not do anything stupid or illegal to jeopardize it.
      What exactly are John Nazarian's qualifications to discuss what other private investigators do and how they do it?
      Part of the onus for private investigator scandals, which crop up from time to time, is on the State Bar.
      The State Bar needs to institute its own MCLE requirement on the laws pertaining to the hiring and use of private investigators, just as California Lawyer needs to stop engaging in tabloid journalism by quoting the likes of John Nazarian.
      Jan B. Tucker
      Torrance
     
      I just started reading the article on the Pellicano scandal and was immediately hit with the quote, "We're not nice people. We get s-- on people. That's what we do." I recognize there are no standards anymore when it comes to what is printed in newspapers and magazines. But, as a professional, I find it offensive that you or whoever was responsible for editing the Pellicano article did not edit the s-word from the sentence. The decision to print the vulgarity reflects poorly on you and the magazine. I hope in future issues you will not make the same error in judgment.
      Darryl Perlin
      Santa Barbara
     
      NO-GREED ZONE
      Thanks for putting the spotlight on Olga Murray's Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation in the October issue ["The Long Commute," ESQ.]. With her efforts to provide housing, educational opportunities, and medical care for the children of Nepal, Olga quietly demonstrates that not all lawyers fit the greedy stereotype we see portrayed so often.
      Linda Propert Sanford
      Oakland
     
      HOW MAO?
      I find it interesting that Thomas Brom, in an article on corporate scandals in your October issue ["Bad Timing," Full Disclosure], starts with: " 'Where do corporate scandals come from?' to paraphrase Chairman Mao." Since Mao Tse-tung was one of the worst murderers in history, rivaling Hitler and Stalin in cruelty and megalomania, using him to bolster a thesis is somewhat questionable. I can't imagine one of your writers saying, "to paraphrase Führer Hitler."
      But, then, Mao and other totalitarian leftist monster-icons are judged by a different standard than are totalitarian rightist monsters.
      Hyman Sisman
      Los Angeles
     
      THOMAS BROM RESPONDS:
      The opener to the October column was an obvious corruption of Chairman Mao's essay "Where Do Correct Ideas Come From?" I guess there's no satire in the 21st century, either.
     
      UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT
      It was with great dismay and disgust that I read the article "Transitioning" [In Pro Per] in the October issue. Mr. Yamamoto's thoughts on the difficulty of coming out as a transgender woman in the practice of law have, in my opinion, absolutely nothing to do with the practice of law. The article was neither edifying nor educational to me as an attorney. Attorneys' personal sexual preferences, whether homosexual, heterosexual, or, as in this case, transgender, should have absolutely nothing to do with a professional journal. Certainly, we can spend our time in a more useful manner than reading the thoughts and opinions of someone concerning the reaction of the public to their sex change. California Lawyer has now reached a new low in wasting print on such a diatribe.
      David R. Mugridge
      Fresno
     
      California Lawyer welcomes letters to the editor and publishes excerpts from as many as possible. Please include your phone number and city of residence. Write to us at 44 Montgomery St., Suite 250, San Francisco, CA 94104, fax 415/296-2482, or email letters_callaw@dailyjournal.com.
     

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