Corri Fetman's Sexual Harassment Case

Corri Fetman's back in the news; if you don't remember who she is, she's the Chicago divorce attorney who advertised her law firm on the idea that it's better to divorce now in order to marry your trophy husband/wife. She later appeared in a nude Playboy pictorial and wrote the "Lawyer of Love" column for the magazine. (I wrote about her back in 2007; see Life's Short. Get a Divorce. Be a Pathetic Loser. (be sure to read the comment on that post) and Life's Short. Your Marriage Doesn't Have to Be.)

Anyway, it turns out that Fetman was allegedly sexually harassed by a former executive at the magazine. According to the Sydney Morning Herald:

Corri Fetman, 45, who authored the Lawyer of Love column, alleged Thomas Hagopian, an executive for the digital branch of Playboy Enterprises, bombarded her with sexually explicit email messages and phone calls, groped her and took away her column last July when she repeatedly rebuffed his advances.

...

Ms Fetman's suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, seeks more than $US4.5 million ($A6.6 million) in damages for, among other things, "gender violence" and emotional distress.

Now, based on what I've read in the article, I agree that she probably has been sexually harassed, and that shouldn't have happened. As her attorney said in the article, "Sometimes attractive women get unwanted attention," and that's completely true. On the other hand, I have very little sympathy for her. I mean, really, what did she expect? That she could pose nude publicly and there would be no consequences? That men would respect her for her mind when she has no respect for her body? Where was your modesty and humility the past two years, Corri?

"Life's Short. Your Marriage Doesn't Have To Be"

Update: Click here for more information on Corri's sexual harassment lawsuit.

Corri Fetman is back in the news. A month ago, the Chicago divorce attorney made waves with her billboard that read "Life's short. Get a divorce." That billboard was taken down within a week after Alderman Burton Natarus ordered the sign taken down on the grounds that Fetman, Garland & Associates didn't have a proper permit. Fetman believes, however, that the ad was taken down due to "unconventional censorship" and has created a new, mobile billboard. From the law firm's press release:

An early preview of the next phase of our “Life’s Short. Get a Divorce.” advertising campaign will be displayed for the media on June 7, 2007 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 612 North Wells Street, Chicago, Illinois. Our message will be presented on two color two sided mobile billboard media trucks which will roam through various Chicago neighborhoods from June 7, 2007 through June 9, 2007, including but not limited to the infamous “Viagra Triangle.”

Apparently, this is not the last ad we will be hearing about with regard to Fetman's firm.

On a positive note, "An Arlington Heights couple upset with Fetman's ad campaign erected their own billboard, which reads: 'Life's short. Your marriage doesn't have to be.'" (Emphasis mine.)

Sources:
Racy Billboard Goes Mobile
Racy Billboard Gone, But Ad Campaign Continues

Update: Panem et circenses time: I've been weathering the Corri Fetman storm these past few days. Beginning last Friday, the number of hits went well over my recent daily average, spiking at 586 on Monday (that's about four times my average). Interest on the Internet in Fetman is due largely to the size of her chest (as opposed to the ads), and a recent picture of Corri that I've seen (but not posted) shows that Corri is more interested in "advertising" for her law firm based upon her "personal attributes," rather than any ability of hers to practice law.

And so Corri single-handedly lowers the reputation of the legal profession even further. No wonder other attorneys are upset with her. Do you think Playboy has contacted Fetman yet? It wouldn't surprise me if they had.

Life's Short. Get a Divorce. Be a Pathetic Loser.

Update: Click here for more information on Corri's sexual harassment lawsuit.

This made the news last night, on CNN International. It's one of the more moronic print ads I've ever seen. "Life's short. Be shallow. Divorce your current spouse so you can marry a trophy wife (or husband) only for her (or his) looks, which will fade away in time." And why am I not surprised that the divorce attorney who thought up the ad, Corri Fetman, is herself a divorcee?

Update: After reading the comment below (which is very interesting), I've made a couple of minor changes to this post, changing the picture of the billboard to the new one above, and adding several pictures of Corri Fetman (the more formal of which was taken from the law firm's website).

From ABC News:


EDITOR'S NOTE: The billboard that is that subject of this story was taken down on Tuesday evening by the owners of a parking garage it was attached to, according to Corri Fetman, a lawyer whose firm paid for the advertisement, and witnesses who contacted ABC News when they saw the billboard being taken down. (Last Updated Tuesday, 7:57 p.m EST)

An all-female law firm is turning heads in Chicago with a new billboard and a blunt message:

"Life's Short. Get a Divorce.''

The billboard, sponsored by Fetman, Garland & Associates, Ltd., a firm that specializes in divorce cases, features the six-pack abs of a headless male torso and tanned female cleavage heaving forth from a black lace bra.

The ad is the brainchild of Corri Fetman, who told ABC News' Law & Justice Unit, "Law firm advertising is boring... Everything's always the same. It's lawyers in libraries with a suit on and the law books behind them. They don't say anything. What, I should hire you because you have a law degree? C'mon. So we wanted to try something different."

Reaction from those who work in and around Chicago's divorce courts has been less than enthusiastic.

"It's grotesque," said John Ducanto, past president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. "It's totally undignified and offensive."

"It trivializes divorce and I think it's absolutely disgusting," Rick Tivers, a clinical social worker at the Center for Divorce Recovery in Chicago, told ABC News. "Divorce is traumatic enough without this kind of [advertising]. We try and help people go through the divorce process with as much integrity as possible. A lot of my work is helping people grieve the loss of a divorce, and their own sense of betrayal. This makes divorce seem like it's not a big deal, and it's a huge deal for many people."

Ducanto called on the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee of Supreme Court of Illinois to sanction Fetman. "I don't think they'll just let this pass," said Ducanto, who seemed genuinely hurt by the ad. "I have been in practice for 52 years, and I've worked my ass off to change the image of this particular area of the legal practice, and to see some punk try and pervert the whole image in the interest of lucre. ... Sure, she's got a lot of attention, but it's like a guy who spits on a table — you got the attention, sure, but what kind of attention is it?"

...

One of the genuine lions of the American divorce courts -- New York's Raoul Felder -- said the ad was a new low for the profession.

"This has to be the Academy Award of bad taste," Felder told ABC News. Fetman is "not your run-of-the-mill Perry Mason lawyer," he opined. "Hell, that's not even 'L.A. Law.' It's bizarre," he said. "I don't think anybody walks away from that ad thinking more of the legal profession that they did before they saw it."

Karen Enright, president-elect of the Women's Bar of Illinois, shared similar feelings. "It's actually a disappointment to the profession and to the institution of marriage, which is something our community holds as sacred," she said. "Our profession, and lawyers in general, have been under attack for advertisements similar to this and I think," she said, pausing. "I think that it's not in good taste."

But Fetman defends the billboard, almost gleefully. Recycling popular catch phrases seems to come naturally to her. "Lawyers don't cause divorces. People cause divorces," she said. "If you think somebody's going to look at a billboard and go out and get a divorce as a result, you're insulting the intelligence of people. If that's the case, our next billboard is going to read, 'Gimme Your Money.'"

The placement of the billboard -- first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times -- is interesting. It peers down into an area of Rush Street known as the "Viagra Triangle" for its three, trendy singles bars in an affluent section of Chicago known as the "Gold Coast."

"Everybody's got a pretty good sense of humor in this neighborhood," said Greg Horan, director of operations for Gibson's Steakhouse, one of the three restaurant/bars in the triangle. The billboard is perched on a parking garage behind the restaurant. "We don't endorse it or anything, but sure, people will look up and get a chuckle out of it."

As far as Fetman is concerned, it's a lighthearted splash of color in an otherwise dreary area of legal advertisement. "It promotes happiness," she said. "It promotes happiness and personal integrity."

And happiness may be something that Fetman, a divorcee, is seeking herself. "By the way, the male body on the billboard? That's my personal trainer, Chuck Sanow," Fetman told ABC News, her girlish voice rising just so. "He's a Chicago firefighter and he owns a gym."

Update: Corri's got a new billboard roaming the streets of Chicago. The story can be read here, and a press release with a better photo of the new ad can be found here.