In a recent column entitled “Letter Perfect: Ethics by Initials,” I attempted to take a humorous approach to describe some of the ethics and disciplinary boards and committees, which are often best known to attorneys by their initials. In so doing, and in a misdirected effort at humor, I intermixed actual “initialisms” (akin to acronyms) with ones that I had made up, in identifying some of the bodies with well-known initials. While my editor caught my misnomer when an early draft referred to “anagrams,” she, as I, failed to see that my description of a few could―and did―appear to be highly insulting to some. Ironically, one group that I unintentionally smeared is one I hold in the highest regard.

To make matters worse, I erroneously described it―the Committee on Character of the Supreme Court of New Jersey―as a creation of the OAE, when it is, as I have known for years, a creature of the Supreme Court, as its name makes clear.