An Update

Since Prof Nancy Leong's request for investigation by the bar of an anonymous lawyer received a good deal of attention on the front end, it's only fair, it seems to me, to note that the lawyer in question reports that the bar decided to "proceed no further" on the matter. I have not seen any formal materials, I should say, including either the request for investigation or the bar's communication; I'm passing on the report but can't verify it. (Except as a matter of custom, I don't think that lawyer has any "right" to anonymity, incidentally, although I think there can be value in online anonymity, in general though not in all cases. In any event, I'm otherwise occupied and not currently inclined to do any detective work.) At least based on what I had read online earlier, I tend to think this is the proper resolution, although I also think and have said that there is a difference between writing anonymously because you have cause for concern that even a fairly, if vehemently, offered opinion may have adverse employment consequences, and writing anonymously because you want to be vulgar, personal, intemperate, and sometimes worse without any professional consequences. As a practical matter, I think there are sometimes good reasons for anonymity, although almost never, if ever, for law professors writing about the law; as a matter of personal honor, I think those who opt for anonymity should be doubly insistent on not saying things they would be, or ought to be, ashamed of saying in their own name. Anonymity, such as it is, should be treated by the anonymous speaker as a protection, not a perverse incentive.

[NOTE: The post reflects a couple of updates, including: 1) referring to a request for investigation rather than a bar complaint; 2) noting that I have not seen the record; and 3) noting that my view is therefore tentative, and based on the rather extensive earlier writing on the subject, including by the principals.]