LAWYER ADVERTISES IN PAPER HE IS SUING

From the ‘strange but true’ files this week comes the story of Dallas attorney Charles Paternostro. Paternostro was so upset about a series of negative articles written about him in Texas Lawyer, a trade newspaper, that he took out an ad to find a lawyer who would help him sue the paper. The twist is that the display ad is running in – no kidding – Texas Lawyer. The ad reads ‘Wanted: attorney to sue Texas Lawyer, an affiliate of Time Warner Inc., on a contingency fee basis for defamation.’ Editor Mark Obbie, who accepted the ad for publication, said, ‘It is unusual to run an ad in our newspaper helping someone find a lawyer to sue us, but we’ve always given Mr. Paternostro a chance to comment on the stories about him, and he has yet to point to a single factual inaccuracy.’ Paternostro did not return calls last week, but he reportedly does plan to appeal a recent State Bar of Texas decision that will prevent him from practicing for one year.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)