Oops! Not Exactly Fashion Law: Brooklyn Law School Furious Over Diesel Photoshoot

To my colleagues reading this, knock if off with the laughter. 🙂 This is not exactly the Fashion Law I speak about. To the fashion  students that read UDUAK LAW FIRM blog and/or have reached out to the firm, click Fashion Law 101 to know what Fashion Law is about. Ignore anything else.

So, what’s the story here? Brooklyn Law School (BLS) agrees to permit Diesel, the fashion brand, to do a photoshoot on their campus and specifically in their library. What does Diesel do? They go all out and do a  fashion shoot that has models “smearing their private parts” on LAW BOOKS! God help us. BLS will need lots of disinfectants for those books.

In any event, BLS is furious. They are mad. Can you imagine the conversations among lawyers at high powered lawyer conferences like the ABA? Also, the job market is already so tough. Do BLS law graduates have to put up with “Oh! You are from that school that did the Diesel photoshoot?” BLS is considering instituting a breach of contract suit.

Let’s look at an excerpt of the alleged facts reported by the New York Post:

” . . .Brooklyn Law School officials rented Diesel its library expecting a tasteful photo shoot for a jeans ad — but what they got was a steamy display of writhing young models in skimpy lingerie grinding against books and computers.

“It’s gross. I work on those computers every day!” fumed a female student, referring to a shot showing two bra- and panty-clad women climbing over the machines toward an open-mouthed man.

“Ugh. The library fantasies are now relentless.”

Red-faced school officials said they were duped by Diesel.

“We are as shocked and mortified as you must be by these photographs,” interim dean Michael Gerber wrote in an e-mail yesterday to students, faculty and staff.

“When the school gave its permission to do the shoot, the school was assured that the photos would be in good taste. They are not.”

And how.

The frisky photos, shot last spring, show off the hot bodies of male and female models as they prowl around the library’s floors, tables and bookshelves — while wearing tight-fitting panties bearing various seductive messages.

In one shot, a woman crouches over a man lying facedown on a desk covered with legal tomes, with the rear of her pink panties bearing the words, “Today I am your school teacher.”

UDUAK LAW FIRM ANALYSIS
Did you guys catch this part, “When the school gave its permission to do the shoot, the school was assured that the photos would be in good taste. They are not.”

It  sounds like the battle if a suit ensues could potentially center on “what is good taste?” Why? It sounds, from the interim Dean’s statements that they had some sort of illusory contract with Diesel. Without more facts on the terms of agreement, it is hard to know.

If you are reading this and you are thinking about renting your property to the “creative” types like Diesel, you might want to spell out what is/is not permissible in your agreement.

Seek the services of an attorney to assist you in drafting these agreements.

Read the full story on BLS here.

Photocredit: New York Post