Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: August 27, 2006

Another summer weekend, another raft of attorney weddings. Plenty of fodder for this week’s edition of Legal Eagle Wedding Watch, in which we review selected lawyer nuptials from the New York Times wedding announcements — and assign numerical scores to each couple. We rate them in three to four categories: on their résumés, their families, their couple balance, and their beauty (if pictured).
Today four couples are vying for the coveted title of highest-flying legal eagles:

1. Cecily Baskir, John Freedman

2. Arminda Bepko, Victor Suthammanont

3. Alexandra Block, Curtis Weiss

4. Christine Varnado, Anthony O’Rourke

So which couple will prevail? Find out, after the jump.
(In blogspeak, “after the jump” means “click on that ‘continue reading’ link below.” So go ahead, what are you waiting for? Click away!)


1. Cecily Baskir and John Freedman
Résumé score: 9.4. Let’s not mince words: this is one helluva couple. She’s Princeton (magna) and Yale Law, now at Holland & Knight. He’s Williams College and Harvard Law (cum laude). And here’s the kicker: he’s a partner at Arnold & Porter, one of D.C.’s top-tier firms. (In case you’re wondering, yes, he’s older than she is — he’s 37, she’s 31.)
Family score: 9.2. The couple’s parents are similarly high-powered. Cecily’s mother, Marna Tucker, is one of Washington’s top divorce lawyers — so consider yourself warned, John! Her father is a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.* And his parents are similarly successful, although outside the legal field: they’re both doctors. John’s mother is a shrink — we bet he’s got some issues! — and his father is a radiologist.
Balance score: 9.0. Yes, he’s a partner at a more prestigious firm; but her parents are marginally more high-powered than his. So they’re quite balanced.
Beauty score: 8.0. There was no photo in the Times; but we tracked them down (see here and here).
Overall score: 8.90.
Additional comments: Judge Delissa A. Ridgway, “a friend of the bride’s family,” officiated. She’s an Article III judge — impressive! (Oh, but she sits on the Court of International Trade — not so impressive. It’s like marching into Louis Vuitton and walking out with the coin purse.)
2. Arminda Bepko, Victor Suthammanont
Résumé score: 8.8. For their undergraduate work, she went to Kalamazoo College and he went to NYU. Then they went to New York Law School, which is not to be confused with NYU Law (as all your NYU Law friends continually tell you). Arminda and Victor did very well in law school — they both made law review, and she was editor-in-chief — and they landed some nice firm jobs and clerkships. She clerked for judicial hottie Harold Baer Jr. (S.D.N.Y.), then joined Cleary Gottlieb. He went to Fried Frank, where he just finished up; now he’s off to Judge Maryanne Trump Barry of the Third Circuit (the big sister of The Donald, and a judicial diva of the first order).
Family score: 8.6. The high point here is Arminda’s father, a law professor who once served as interim president of the Indiana University system. Her mother chaired the Indiana Literacy Foundation. His father retired as the manager of a jazz club in New York.
Balance score: 8.8. She might have a small edge over him in terms of credentials (and a larger edge on the familial front). But there’s no major gap here.
Beauty score (only if pictured): 8.7. Perfectly adorable. And the Times has such a weakness for multicultural couples, like the blonde Arminda and the Asian (Thai?) Victor.
Overall score: 8.73.
Additional comments: Judge Baer — yes, he’s Article III — officiated. Very nice.
3. Alexandra Block, Curtis Weiss
Résumé score: 9.1. Robust credentials. She’s Yale College (summa) and Yale Law; he’s also a Yalie through and through (undergrad, master’s in molecular biophysics/biochem, and medical degree). She clerked for Judge Janet Bond Arterton (D. Conn.) and is now working at a New Haven firm. He’s a second-year resident in internal medicine at Yale-New Haven. (It seems like she’s sticking around New Haven because he’s doing his residency there. If they lived in a bigger city, their résumé score would probably be even higher.)
Family score: 8.7. Her dad’s an orthopedic surgeon. KA-CHING! Her mother is an independent college planning adviser. His mother teaches second grade, and his father is the president of an architectural firm in Chicago.
Balance score: 8.8? Gosh, we hate these lawyer/non-lawyer comparisons; it can be a bit apples-and-oranges. But they’re both doing well in their respective fields.
Overall score: 8.87.
Additional comments: Alexandra and Curtis, we salute you — that’s a lot of years to spend in New Haven. (We were there for only three, which was more than enough for us, thank you very much.)
4. Christine Varnado, Anthony O’Rourke
Résumé score: 9.0. She has a promising academic career: Duke (summa), Oxford (where she got an M.Phil.), and Columbia (where she’s a Ph.D. student in 16th- and 17th-century English drama). He went to University of Michigan (high honors), followed by Columbia Law (James Kent Scholar). He will soon be toiling at that prestigious sweatshop, Paul Weiss.
Family score: 8.3. Her father is a partner in a Mississippi law firm, and her mother is a student counselor at the University of Southern Mississippi. His mother is a retired secretary, and his father is a financial consultant with his own company.
Balance score: 8.8? Gosh, we hate these lawyer/non-lawyer comparisons; it can be a bit apples-and-oranges. But they’re both doing well in their respective fields.
Overall score: 8.70.
THIS WEEK’S WINNING COUPLE: Cecily Baskir and John Freedman. With their overpowering professional pedigrees, they took an early lead. But Alexandra and Curtis almost caught them — Cecily and John won by a narrow margin (0.03). But hey, a win is a win. Congratulations!
(Interested in reading past editions of Legal Eagle Wedding Watch? Click here, and scroll down. Enjoy!)
* Yes, we know: the Court of Federal Claims is a far cry from the unspeakably prestigious D.C. Circuit. Heck, the Claims Court isn’t even an Article III court. But still, it can’t be that bad. After all, Judge Alex Kozinski’s super-hot tush once warmed its bench!

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