$28.$ A Question of Ethics$$Free Speech. Michael Mayfield, the president of Mendo Mill and Lumber Co$.,$ in California, received a $$notice of a legal claim$$ from Edward Starski. The $$claim$$ alleged that a stack of lumber had fallen on a customer as a result of a Mendo employee$$s $$incompetence$.$ The $$notice$$ presented a settlement offer on the customer$$s behalf in exchange for a release of liability for Mendo. In a follow$-$up phone conversation with Mayfield, Starski said that he was an attorney$$which$,$ in fact, he was not. Starski was arrested and charged with violating a state criminal statute that prohibited the unauthorized practice of law. $[$People v$.$ Starski, $7$ Cal.App$\mathrm{.}5$th $215,212$ Cal.Rptr$\mathrm{.}3$d $622(1$ Dist. Div. $22017)]($See Business and the Bill of Rights.$)$

Starski argued that $$creating an illusion$$ that he was an attorney was protected by the First Amendment. Is Starski correct? Explain.

Identify, discuss, and resolve the conflict between the right to free speech and the government$$s regulation of the practice of law.