2009 November, 11th

Phil Butler

Corri Fetman, the Chicago divorce lawyer who sued Playboy for an alleged sexual harassment, is now being sued in turn by the magazine. Fetman, noted for a racy billboard promoting divorce, appears to be fully qualified to stir up trouble if nothing else. This one has bad PR written all over it for both Playboy and Fetman Garland & Associates, the firm she is a partner in.

According to Playboy, Fetman is trying to steal the phrase “Lawyer of Love” supposedly coined in an advice column she wrote for Playboy’s website. Fetman also bared all for Playboy on top of doing the column, and gained some notoriety as the so called; “sexiest lawyer alive.” Fetman alleges that while she was at Playboy an executive, Thomas Hagopian, sent tons of sexually elicit emials, and actually groped her and then took away her column.

Fetman's Chicago Now Column

Fetman’s billboard, it was later revealed, actually featured sex images of her and her personal trainer. Fetman now writes a column called “Love Lawyer” for Chicago Now (pictured below). One thing you have to give the lady credit for is making the best use of her assets. Though people seriously in need of legal advice might shy away now more than ever. I get this image of a judge looking at Fetman complaining of harassment and thinking; “If this woman is in an elevator anyone in there could be accused of groping, just trying to get out of the way.”

Aside the “tongue in cheek” style in writing articles like this, there is the sad side as well. To see a woman, obviously competent according to the testimonials on the firm’s website, demean herself to the extent Corri has, is just wrong to me. Her firm, they proudly display all the news about Corri’s exploits. But then, they are lawyers right? Corri also has a blog where anyone can buy “life is short, get a divorce” T shirts. What a class act. This is PR Goofiness at its best.

Below is an interview Fetman gave about her billboards and the Playboy spread.

• 2010/07/21 -- Kimberly Phillips Smoking Up Offices Everywhere
• 2010/07/15 -- Crista Flanagan, Playboy’s Least Expected Pinup Girl
• 2010/02/16 -- Katarina Witt Playboy Images Surface Again [Updated]
• 2010/01/21 -- A Different and Improved Heidi Montag [images]
• 2009/11/14 -- PR Tip: If You Want Breaking News, Put Your Biggest Asset Forward
• 2009/10/12 -- Marge Simpson’s Playboy Spread Making Waves on the Web
• 2009/09/11 -- Jade Vixen Latest Winner of Dubious Howard Stern Award

About the Author

Phil Butler is editor-in-chief of Everything PR and senior partner at Pamil Visions PR. He’s a widely cited authority on beta startups, search engines and public relations issues, and he has covered tech news since 2004. Phil wrote in the past for ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, Profy, SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, AltSearchEngines. Follow Phil on Twitter or send him an email at phil [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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