The official law firm of the Blue Jays wasn’t really official after all

A Toronto law firm got itself into an embarrassing situation when it used some ill-advised language in its advertising.

In sports business and in legal matters, how terms are phrased is very important. A law firm should probably be aware of that. One law firm in Toronto with connections to MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays apparently overlooked that recently.

According to a Toronto Star report Prezler Law Firm is a long-time sponsor of Canada’s only MLB team. The firm sought to get some return on that investment by billing itself the “official injury law firm” of the Blue Jays. There’s one problem with making that claim.

There’s no record that any Prezler attorneys have ever represented the Jays in any cases of any nature, much less in cases concerning injuries. The lack of actually being hired by the Blue Jays as legal representation means billing itself as “the official injury law firm” of the team is misleading in the determination of the Law Society of Ontario.

When confronted with the inconsistency at a regulatory meeting, the firm’s managing partner agreed to modify the advertising by altering the phrase to denote that the firm is a “proud sponsor” of the Jays, which is factual. The firm received no discipline from the Law Society and the matter appears to be closed.

No comment was issued by the Jays, and that was the best course of action for the franchise. They neither want to alienate a sponsor by making an embarrassing situation worse nor close the door to that possible sponsorship being increased. It’s likely that the Jays would have been open to letting Prezler use the term of “official injury law firm” of the franchise in exchange for a bigger sponsorship check.

It’s also likely the Law Society of Ontario would have still taken issue with that even if the Jays were onboard given the fact that the firm has never represented the team, but that dispute would have been between the firm and the society, not between the Jays and the society.

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In the end, this is a lesson for fans that just because a product or service claims to be endorsed by their favorite team doesn’t mean that the team has actually utilized that product or service. It’s also a reminder that in communications, it’s not just what is said, but how it’s said that matters.