Judge Gladys Kessler today entered an order permitting Montgomery Blair Sibley to substitute for Preston Burton as Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s counsel in the government’s criminal case against her. Palfrey had long been wanting to switch to Blair, who had been representing her as her civil lawyer, because they see more eye-to-eye on how her defense should proceed. Burton once represented Monica Lewinsky during the days of the Bill Clinton blow job scandal.

On another “DC Madam” front, attorneys for ABC’s Brian Ross, the New York Post’s Cindy Adams and Smoking Gun editor Bill Bastone have all claimed that their clients didn’t get served with the subpoenas to testify in Palfrey’s case, which is a pre-requisite for the court to obtain jurisdiction over their persons.

But that’s not quite the full story: “My process server did serve individuals at each of the companies where these three worked as my process server was not allowed in to actually serve these three,” Sibley tells Big Head DC. “Hence, I am now subpoenaing these three’s home addresses and I will have them served where they can’t hide behind their security guards.”

Palfrey ultimately wants each of the high-profile witnesses to testify about how they received under seal information regarding her case that did not originate from her, or her legal team.

And the case goes on.

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Florida state Rep. Bob Allen’s trial, which was slated to begin tomorrow, has been postponed because his lawyer needs more time to prepare. Heck, who wouldn’t need more time to prepare when your client allegedly offering to pay an undercover black cop $20 in exchange for the opportunity to blow him in a public restroom? And then your client later says that he offered up that service because he was scared of a black man. That poor lawyer’s gonna at least need until hell freezes over!

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The old joke about one lawyer at the bottom of the ocean just doesn’t work as well if lawyers don’t call themselves lawyers anymore. 

Still, last year the Association of Trial Lawyers of America quietly changed their name to the American Association for Justice. And now the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform wants you to know it, especially since at least eleven state lawyer associations have made similar moves.

“I think they’ve so tarnished the name ‘trial lawyers’ that they are trying to run away from it,” Ryan Zempel, managing editor of the group, told Big Head DC this afternoon. ”A poll cited on SameLeopardNewSpots.com showed that the AAJ name tested 13 points higher than the ATLA name on a 100-point scale.”

The legal reform group, which aims to make America’s legal system simpler, has now launched a public awareness campaign highlighting the recent name change by West Virginia’s trial lawyer organization, which happened just recently.

“West Virginia’s trial lawyers have apparently signed onto a national campaign of concealment conducted by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, who renamed themselves the American Association for Justice last year,” Lisa A. Rickard, the group’s president said in a press release. “Because decades of abusing the civil justice system has driven their popularity into the ground, they are resorting to the oldest PR trick in the book: when your brand is tarnished, change your name.”

Hey, as any lawyer might tell you, it’s a good start (or so the punchline goes).

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