Speaking of confusion…
For eight years I was a partner at the law firm of Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, which I left in 2015. Goetz Fitzpatrick, which describes itself as a “litigation powerhouse” is a firm of about 25 attorneys focusing mainly on construction law. Its main office is at One Penn Plaza in New York. (The picture shown, which I took, is, as far as I know, still used on the Goetz Fitzpatrick home page.) It also had an office in Glen Rock, New Jersey during the time I was there.
Why do I mention this? Because many Internet searches still turn up my name in juxtaposition to Goetz Fitzpatrick. Part of this is because of outdated directory information, a problem that requires attention and one I am addressing. But the main reason this happens is that there are legal documents on the Internet that have both of our names — Ronald Coleman and Goetz Fitzpatrick — on them, so the search terms “Ronald Coleman” and “Goetz Fitzpatrick” are associated with each other to some extent in terms of relevance in terms or content, SEO-wise.
This association may be enhanced from the search or user side. There are several lawyers in the U.S. named Ronald Coleman (or Ron Coleman), so people looking for one by that name may narrow the search by looking for the guy whose name is on the document that came to their attention. And if that one is me, and that my name came to someone’s attention because of my involvement in a case that interests him, and the search term included “Goetz Fitzpatrick,” or perhaps my old email address, “rcoleman@goetzfitz.com” along with my name “Ronald Coleman,” this would tend, as I understand it, to reinforce the SEO association.
None of this would be all that problematic if people contacting Goetz Fitzpatrick online — i.e., by sending an email — promptly learned that I was no longer affiliated with the Goetz Fitzpatrick firm by receiving an automated message that I was no longer employed Goetz Fitzpatrick when trying to send me an email there. As it happens, however, my email account at Goetz Fitzpatrick (rcoleman@goetzfitz.com) is not closed, even though I left the firm on March 15, 2015 and have not had access to that account since 5:00 PM that afternoon. Nor is mail sent to that address forwarded to me.
Goetz Fitzpatrick quietly receives emails intended for me via my old account without informing senders that I will never see them. What it does with those emails I do not know.
I have asked Goetz Fitzpatrick to shut down the account, but Goetz Fitzpatrick has declined to do so. The only way you would ever know this is if you found your way to this page by your own devices, i.e., by virtue of searching for me and, perhaps, erroneously using the mistaken “Goetz Fitzpatrick” search term as well as my name.
So here we are, you and I, together. If you want to contact me by email, then, DO NOT use the @goetzfitz.com email address! Instead you can email me (click here) right from here. And you can read about my present law firm (which like most firms does not keep open the email accounts of departed attorneys) at this link.