“If I presented an opinion on a legal matter and I identified myself as a lawyer in my correspondence with the governing body I was dealing with, you can be damn sure that the state bar association would have a problem with it (and rightfully so) if I wasn’t really a lawyer. “
You are confusing ambiguous reference to credentials with the commission of prohibited acts.
Generally the law prohibits “the unauthorized PRACTICE of [engineering, law]. Stating “I am a [lawyer, engineer, doctor] and this is what I think about what you are doing” even if you were not licensed, when you hadn’t actually done anything, and weren’t hired by anyone and weren’t purporting to represent anyone other than yourself, is not the practice of anything.
The response of the Board was illiberal. They might have corrected his language, if it was wrong at all, without being penalizing Philadelphia lawyers about it. The right to complain about how bad their engineering was, is still sacrosanct. I think they, not our amateur engineer, picked the wrong hill to die on.
I don't think so. We had a lengthy conversation on this subject on a different thread last night. The language of some state statutes is very specific about this ... to the point where my company's legal department did a thorough review of all the laws and regulations in the states where we operate, and had the company even change many job titles and descriptions of our capabilities in some of our marketing materials.
I had a lawyer friend tell me that he refuses to even give out one of his business cards in a state where he is not licensed to practice law.
I don't think this guy should be fined $500 for what he did, but I understand that he may have previously been warned with a "cease and desist" letter from the Oregon licensing board.