Stop Calling Yourselves “Agents”!
“Stop calling yourselves ‘agents’ unless you really are an agent within the meaning of centuries of well-settled common law. .‘, remarked Maureen Glasheen, Esq. in a recent email to myself and others. Maureen is a former General Counsel to the New York Department of State.
She continues, “ONLY persons and firms who transact business on our behalf subject to our lawful instruction SOLELY IN OUR BEST INTEREST, (a/k/a Undivided Loyalty) meet the common law legal definition of Agent.Terms like Dual Agent and Designated Agent describe variations on DISLOYALTY not a service option. If you misuse the venerable term ‘Agent’ to mis-describe your role in order to induce the trust and confidence of prospective clients, without intent to offer Undivided Loyalty then it can be argued you are engaging in consumer fraud. Its long past time for Attorneys General to apply the consumer fraud laws to this obvious example.”
