Spammiest. Professional Announcement. Ever.

I have no idea whether the law firm involved had anything to do with the creation of this "press release" (and I suspect it did not - I'd like to believe that nobody who writes so poorly could ever have made it through three years of law school), but someone, somewhere sure does like using the keyword phrases "Ottawa Family Law lawyers" and "Ottawa Wills and Estates lawyers."

The phrases makes numerous redundant appearances in a professional announcement, published online, that announces the addition of two "Ottawa Family Law lawyers" and "Ottawa Wills and Estates Lawyers" to a "premier Ottawa law firm," thereby purportedly adding to the "depth of the firm."

This exciting career news of these two "Ottawa Family Law lawyers" and "Ottawa Wills and Estates lawyers" was published on March 19, 2010, according to the notice's text.

Which is quite interesting, given that one of the lawyers welcomed by the announcement has apparently been with this firm since 2004, according to the very same news release.

Huh?

(Better late than never for professional announcements, I guess?)

The phrases "one of the top estates lawyers," "one of the top family lawyers," and "one of the best family lawyers" also make regular cameos in the online announcement.

This appears potentially problematic, in view of the commentary to Rule 3.01 (2) of the Ontario Rules of Professional Conduct, which precludes "suggesting qualitative superiority to other lawyers" in professional marketing materials.

But as far as keyword spam goes, this is apparently the natural order of things.

Does anyone know - are these sorts of monstrous affronts to the English language created solely through automated means, or are humans actually involved?

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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