My Spidey Sense Is Tingling

Great ideas will come to you if you keep your ears open.

I was waiting in line in the courthouse in Chatsworth, CA the other day when I heard the guy in front of me ask a clerk to confirm that he had to publish his name change notice in The Daily Bugle.

Pause. Consider.

To my astonishment, the clerk barely reacted at all to the question. She just calmly pointed out that it was The Daily Journal or The Daily Commerce that should do the trick.

But my mind was racing!

Legal notices in The Daily Bugle! What could be cooler than that? What better way to get your notices actually noticed?

OK, I know some of you out there - the unhip and uncool - are wondering what I'm talking about. What exactly is this Daily Bugle and why haven't I read it?

The Daily Bugle is nothing less than the widely-read newspaper edited by J. Jonah Jameson, editorial crusader and nemesis of The Amazing Spider-Man. Excerpts from the Bugle regularly appear in several Marvel comic books.

Now imagine being able to publish your legal notice prominently in a Spider-Man comic book. The word gets out!

Well, at least the word gets out to a certain demographic.

There are many advantages to this.

Legal business gets a boost because who wouldn't want to air grievances in their favorite comic?

The comic book business gets a needed boost with notice revenue. Publishers could charge extra for word-balloon notices delivered by characters.

Picture Darkseid or Dr. Doom glaring menacingly and announcing, "Your world is in foreclosure and you have been served!"

Picture Ra's al Ghul threatening to destroy civilization until an appropriate environmental impact report is produced. (Yeah, I know that reference is a little obscure for some of you, but remember that I'm the cool one here. I'm trying to educate you.)

Best of all, think of all the inspiration these legal notices will provide for our comic book creators looking for new plotlines. And that, in turn, means more movies!

We all win.

One question remains: why would a guy in Chatsworth think he could publish his name change notice in The Daily Bugle?

Perhaps to protect a secret identity?

LAW FIRM NAMES. The trend toward giving law firms names that don't include people's last names continues.

And the choices remain strange.

Recently-spotted law firm name: Legally Yours.

A law firm name should not be a complimentary close. You feel like leaving as soon as you see the sign.

Another one: Precision Law Center.

Tough one to live up to. Make one mistake and you're looking at malpractice or false advertising claims.

Still, I still think interesting brand names are better than a bunch of last names that don't mean anything except to the people who have them (although a lot of them are dead).

I've often wondered, by the way, why law firms keep the names of dead guys. Yeah, I suppose it's like Ford or Edison, but you don't expect Henry Ford or Thomas Edison to personally manufacture stuff for you.

What if the client thinks he's going to be represented by the dead guy?

OK, it hasn't happened yet, but one of these days a client is going to complain.

In the meantime, here's a firm name someone has to use: Justice League of America.

Or The Avengers.

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit