GOODY TWO SHOES: Yo, Adriana (The Real Story Behind The “Naked Happy Girls Video” Featuring A Law School Student)
By The Heel
The final resolutions of two high-profile sagas occurred this week: The Anna Nicole Smith paternity dispute and the Duke Lacrosse "rape" case. The notorious legal careers of Howard K. Stern and Mike Nifong lay in utter ruin, and the Daily News ran a front page story (above-the-fold, no less!) revealing the shocking news that a law school student had posed for Playboy. (And what about that unoriginal - that is to say, trademarked - headline? Ever hear of the Lanham Act?)
Hardly front page news - a celebrity sex tape minus the celebrity and the sex – since the “Naked Happy Girls” video aired on January 27, 2007, and was originally shot on August 12, 2006. (If any of you wondering how I know this - I was actually with Adriana the evening before she filmed the video and she told me when it was expected to air, so I watched it. And any hangover symptoms that might have been evident in the video are strictly my doing.)
One might wonder if the 24-year-old Ivy League night-shift reporter responsible for this hatchet job might have been suffering from just a little bit of professional jealousy. Indeed, one may also wonder whether a journalist who is five feet tall and fifteen pounds overweight might be just a little bit jealous personally as well? Do we really expect her to write an unbiased article about her Playboy video???
Many other media sources were too lazy to engage in independent investigation (a/k/a journalism) and instead cribbed from this hatchet job, even repeating the errors verbatim. Shame on, for example, the New York Press, New York Magazine, CBS News, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal.
The Daily News article is replete with inaccuracies. For instance, the episode in question was called "3's a Crowd," not the "Rock Star and the Lawyer."
And contrary to the Daily News' assertion that he "has a brief cameo - praising his girlfriend's behind and slapping her back side playfully as she lies draped across his lap," the episode shows that he is present throughout the shoot - he displays a paternalistic attitude toward her, insisting that she's too naive to be alone and that he needs to be there to protect her - and inserts himself into the photos, interfering with the photographer's efforts and ultimately causing the session to end prematurely. (The clip also shows him making some rather inappropriate comments about both her and her family. He now confirms his lack of class by distancing himself from the video, declaring that Adriana has "only herself to blame for the scandal.")
Oh, and then there’s the gender-based double standard in the reporting and the analysis. The journalist boldly declares that Adriana's career is doomed because her name will show up in Google. The thing is, in the video she is merely identified as a 24-year-old law student at a "law school in
More sexism in the blogosphere: AboveTheLaw has polls regarding both her legal future and her appearance. Then again, would you take career advice from this man (who perhaps is jealous that, unlike Article III Groupie, Adriana is demonstrably female.) And keep in mind that legal blogs are written by people who look like this snarkily critiquing the looks of people who look like, well, this.
Interestingly, note that the coverage doesn't mention the likely challenges Mr. Ciolli's future legal career will face (or would he call it his Kampf?). On the other hand, every article about Adriana is rife with baseless speculation that she has destroyed her future legal career.
The article quotes a "representative" of the New York Bar’s Committee of Character and Fitness, "It may have an effect. It's a possibility in the worst-case scenario that the person does not get admitted." The reporter neglects to mention that this is a stock answer to ANY question about whether something may affect one's ability to pass the character and fitness interview. By the way, the otherwise comprehensive questionnaire which forms the basis for this process asks almost every conceivable question except for "have you ever posed nude?" A modicum of research would have revealed that there is at least one active lawyer/porn star who not only stars in hardcore pornography, but also brags about being an attorney in promoting it.
I come not to bury Adriana (as most have), but rather to praise her for surviving law school while miraculously retaining her self-confidence, willingness to take risks and zest for adventure. As a recent law school alumnus, I can attest that these are precisely the traits law schools strive to drain from their students to produce the cookie-cutter clones comformist firms prefer. Ultimately, the legal community is diminished because some its most talented members are excluded arbitrarily. Remember that not too long ago, "white shoe" meant "white male."
Perhaps a risk-adverse Wall Street firm might not hire Adriana (then again, Jonas Blank is still at Skadden). But she has expressed interest in matrimonial law, a specialty which is typically eschewed upon by Biglaw anyway. Indeed, other employers have indicated that they don't mind her extracurricular activities. I would, however, recommend that she consider applying for a clerkship with Hon. Kimba Wood (SDNY) rather than Hon. Richard Smoak (NDFL).
Editorial Note: This post marks the debut of The Heel as a guest columnist for The Stiletto Blog. The Heel is an Ivy-educated attorney with a prestigious
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