For years on this blog I’ve followed journalists and professors who plagiarize. I’ve learned that almost all of them do it for a living. They’ve done it before; they’ll do it again. They are lifers. Taking the work of others is what they do.

So UD wasn’t surprised by this follow-up article to the case of Patricia Linn, who has written pieces for an Australian law society journal.

After a reporter uncovered an initial plagiarized piece of hers (and after the predictable refusal of the law society to face up to what The Australian had uncovered), the society itself checked her other pieces.

The [organization] has consistently refused to give any explanation to The Australian but it seems that somebody inside the society has gone back and checked Ms Linn’s articles…

A curious item appears in the October edition, which is now being mailed to Queensland’s solicitors. Buried on page 12, it is headed “Errata: People and Performance Articles” and it deserves a full public release.

It reads: “Parts of the content of the People and Performance article Talking to yourself — self-help or self harm? (Proctor, June, 2009) are attributable to Shelley Holmes, founder and CEO of the Centre for Breakthrough Leadership.

“Some parts of the content in the People and Performance article, Believing is doing — you can empower yourself (Proctor, July, 2009) are attributable to Shelley Holmes, Elizabeth Scott MS of About.com and Associate Professor Susan Santo of the University of South Dakota.

“Some parts of the content in the People and Performance article, Candidate Interviews — How to use behavioural questions (Proctor, August, 2009) are attributable to the Australian Institute of Management — Queensland and the Northern Territory.

“The Queensland Law Society apologises for these omissions.”

As the reporter points out, errors and omissions doesn’t quite say it.

But my point here is that no one should be surprised that Linn’s a lifer.