I am the victim of a cyber-attack. It began almost three years ago when I was forced to make a motion to be relieved as counsel for a client because he owed my firm a significant fee (five figures). Not only did the judge grant my motion but he awarded me every penny of the outstanding fee and stated that the record indicated that my entire representation of the client had been superb.

That’s when the attack began. My former client took to the internet and began posting, anonymously, his fictitious version of what occurred during my representation on various web sites. When I first learned about what he had done my reaction was typical of many victims; I said nothing about it to anyone for a very long time. As a victim, I suffered in silence because I felt humiliated and embarrassed.

When I finally told my husband about the attack--in a tear filled conversation--he made me realize that I was a victim. He also encouraged me to fight back, as I would any adversary in a courtroom. My first approach was to contact the websites and see whether they would remove the postings. At that point my former client had not only posted his own fictitious story but he had taken on the persona of pretend clients and was posting blatant lies about my phony representation of nonexistent  individuals.

The websites uniformly told me that they would only remove the postings if I could prove they were false. Beside the fact that I am ethically prohibited from specifically discussing my representation of my former client with anyone, how does one prove that an anonymous posting is false?

My husband then encouraged me to seek out the help of family, friends, and other former clients and tell them my story. They all quickly came to my aid by posting favorable reviews which essentially buried the negative postings. The support I received from them was overwhelming.

Several months ago, I received a large payment towards my former client’s fee from the sheriff’s office. As I expected, I have recently been told that my stalker is back, reposting his filth. I am again going to have to ask family, friends, and clients to help to bury his smut.

I have learned the hard way that the internet can be a dangerous place. I have learned that not everything on the internet is true and one must truly consider the source of any review when judging its merits. Lastly, I have learned that I am stronger than I knew; in the past I could not discuss my attack with anyone and now I am writing about it on the internet in the hope that my story helps at least one other person who has been similarly attacked.