Most practicing lawyers aren’t famous. If they are, they aren’tthatkind of famous. They don’t get asked for autographs, or stopped on the street for photographs, or have their images turned into memes. But then some lawyers are famous within the legal community. More famous than, say, other lawyers. Who then is the most famous practicing lawyer in Big Law today? It was a casually tossed off question that had us scratching our heads the other day at the BLB office. And while we have some ideas, we thought we’d leave it up to you, the readers of Big Law Business to decide. For our purposes, if you are(a) an attorney (b) currently employed by (c) an Am Law 200 law firm,you are eligible. That of course excludes famous law professors who practice like Alan Dershowitz, famous attorneys who work at smaller firms, like Gloria Allred, or even well known attorneys who still practice, who used to work at an Am Law 200 law firm, like Tom Goldstein. And it may include some attorneys who only [air quotes] “practice,” alongside others who actually practice. So be it. We have to draw the line somewhere. We’ve started the candidates off with the names on our list below, but feel free to write-in your choice if you have someone else who qualifies.
Voting will mirror the NBA’s Most Valuable Player scoring. Lawyers will receive 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five points for each third-place vote, three points for each fourth-place vote and one point for each fifth-place vote. That’s right, you can choose the five practicing big law attorneys that you believe are the most famous.
Email us at BigLawBusiness@bna.com , includeMost Famous in Big Law, in your subject line, and your top five lawyers, with the law firms where they work, and rank them in order of most famous.
Your email should look something like this, for example:
From:Jeffrey Lebowski <jlebowski@hollywoodstarlanes.com>
Date:Friday, September 16, 2016 at 5:19 PM
To:biglawbusiness biglaw<business@bna.com>
Subject:Most Famous in Big Law
- David Boies, Boies Schiller
- 3. Rodge Cohen, Sullivan & Cromwell
- 5. Paul Clement, Kirkland & Ellis
- 7. Vernon Jordan, Akin Gump
- 9. Ted Olson, Gibson Dunn
Scoring: Boies would receive 10 points, Cohen 7, Clement 5, Jordan 3, and Olson 1.
One entry per person, please. Deadline for voting: September 30, 2016 at 5:00 PM.
Here’s an alphabetical list of some well known lawyers to consider...
1. Floyd Abrams, Cahill Gordon
First Amendment lawyer
2. Joe Andrew, Dentons
Former DNC Chair/turned Dentons into a legal behemoth
3. Frank Aquila, Sullivan & Cromwell
M&A lawyer/Advised on largest all-cash acquisition ever of Anheuser-Busch
4. Bob Barnett, Williams & Connolly
Has represented Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Dick Cheney
5. Scott Barshay, Paul, Weiss
M&A dealmaker who left Cravath for Paul, Weiss
6. Bob Bennett, Hogan Lovells
Represented Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal
7. Jay Bilas, Moore & Van Allen
College Basketball Analyst
8. Lisa Blatt, Arnold & Porter
Supreme Court litigator
9. David Boies, Boies Schiller
Litigator/Law Firm Founding Partner
10. Ted Boutrous, Gibson Dunn
Appellate litigator
11. Lanny Breuer, Covington
Former Special Counsel to President Clinton/Former Assistant U.S. Attorney General
12. Saxby Chambliss, DLA Piper
Former U.S. Senator
13. Evan Chesler, Cravath
Chairman of Cravath
14. Morgan Chu, Irell
Intellectual Property attorney/Former Co-Managing Partner of Irell
15. Paul Clement, Kirkland & Ellis
Supreme Court litigator/Former U.S. Solicitor General
16. Rodge Cohen, Sullivan & Cromwell
Senior Chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell/Commercial Banking lawyer
17. Edward Colbert, Andrews Kurth
Stephen Colbert’s brother/Former Chair of Kenyon & Kenyon
18. Greg Craig, Skadden
Former White House Counsel
19. A.B. Culvahouse, O’Melveny
Former White House Counsel/Former Chair of O’Melveny & Myers
20. Walter Dellinger, O’Melveny
Former U.S. Solicitor General
21. Susan Estrich, Quinn Emanuel
Political Commentator
22. Ralph Ferrara, Proskauer
Ex-Dewey Partner/Securities Lawyer
23. Fred Fielding, Morgan Lewis
Former White House Counsel
24. Patrick Fitzgerald, Skadden
Federal prosecutor in Valerie Plame affair and Rod Blagojevich investigation
25. Rudy Giuliani, Greenberg Traurig
Former Mayor of New York City
26. Jamie Gorelick, WilmerHale
Former Deputy U.S. Attorney General
27. Doug Hallward-Driemeier, Ropes & Gray
Argued landmark marriage equality case at the Supreme Court
28. Eric Holder, Covington
Former U.S. Attorney General
29. Edward Herlihy, Wachtell
Co-chairman of Wachell’s Executive Committee
30. Vernon Jordan, Akin Gump
Civil Rights Activist/Advisor to Bill Clinton
31. Peter Kalis, K&L Gates
Chairman of K&L Gates
32. Roberta Kaplan, Paul, Weiss
Argued in landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Windsor
33. Brad Karp, Paul, Weiss
Chairman of Paul, Weiss
34. Marc Kasowitz, Kasowitz
Founding Partner of Kasowitz
35. David Kendall, Williams & Connolly
Represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial
36. Cameron Kerry, Sidley Austin
Brother of John Kerry/Former U.S. Department of Commerce Official
37. Neal Katyal, Hogan Lovells
Former Acting Solicitor General
38. Jeff Kessler, Winston & Strawn
Antitrust and Sports Lawyer/Former Dewey Partner
39. Kim Koopersmith, Akin Gump
Chair of Akin Gump
40. Joe Lieberman, Kasowitz
Former U.S. Senator/Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee in 2000
41. Marty Lipton, Wachtell
Founding partner of Wachtell
42. Jami McKeon, Morgan Lewis
Chair of Morgan Lewis
43. Roger Meltzer, DLA Piper
Co-Chair of DLA Piper
44. Michael Mukasey, Debevoise & Plimpton
Former U.S. Attorney General
45. Ted Olson, Gibson Dunn
Former U.S. Solicitor General
46. Allen Parker, Cravath
Cravath’s Presiding Partner/Started the associate salary stampede to $180K
47. George Pataki, Chadbourne
Former Governor of New York
48. Daniel Petrocelli, O’Melveney
Lead plaintiff attorney in the O.J. Simpson civil trial
49. Carter Phillips, Sidley Austin
Supreme Court litigator/Chair of Sidley’s Executive Committee
50. Stacy Phillips, Blank Rome
Celebrity Divorce Attorney
51. John Quinn, Quinn Emanuel
Founding Partner of Quinn Emanuel
52. Steven Reisman, Curtis
“Steve the Lawyer” or “2 Dollar Steve” to hip-hop fans
53. Ed Rendell, Ballard Spahr
Former Governor of Pennsylvania
54. Richard Rosenbaum, Greenberg Traurig
Former Chairman of Greenberg Traurig
55. Kathryn Ruemmler, Latham & Watkins
Former White House Counsel to President Barack Obama
56. Faiza Saeed, Cravath
Newly elected Presiding Partner of Cravath
57. Karen Seymour, Sullivan & Cromwell
Co-Managing Partner of S&C’s litigation group/Prosecuted Martha Stewart
58. Joseph Shenker, Sullivan & Cromwell
Chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell
59. Rogers Stevens, Ballard Spahr
Guitarist for Blind Melon
60. Brendan Sullivan, Williams & Connolly
Defended Oliver North in the Iran-Contra scandal
61. Kathleen Sullivan, Quinn Emanuel
Former Dean of Stanford Law School/Appellate Lawyer/First woman “name partner” at an Am Law 100 firm
62. Dick Thornburgh, K&L Gates
Former U.S. Attorney General
63. Donald Verilli, Munger Tolles
Former U.S. Solicitor General
64. Herbert Wachtell, Wachtell
Founding Partner of Wachtell
65. Seth Waxman, WilmerHale
Former U.S. Solicitor General
66. Ted Wells, Paul, Weiss
White Collar Defense/"Deflategate” Investigator
67. Barry Wolf, Weil
Chairman of Weil
68. Seth Zachary, Paul Hastings
Chairman of Paul Hastings
(UPDATE: The list above is of editorially selected well known lawyers to help you consider your choices. From time to time, until the ballot box closes on September 30, at 5pm, we may update this list. Thank you for participating.)
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