We received dozens of great nominations. We produced slates of twelve hunky men and twelve gorgeous gals — all of whom practice pension and employee benefit law.

Then we opened the polls. The candidates campaigned vigorously. Just as in any self-respecting election, there were allegations of irregularities.

It was a hard-fought battle, especially in the final hours. But we made it through. And three thousand votes later, we have two winners in our first annual ERISA Hotties Contest.

Congratulations to the two hottest ERISA lawyers in America:

PROFESSOR BRUCE A. WOLK

and

SARAH E. DOWNIE !!!

Sarah Downie and Professor Wolk are deserving champions. Downie’s fragile beauty calls to mind Audrey Hepburn — but with arresting, fiery red hair. And Professor Wolk, assuming an odalisque position on the hood of his Camry, proved irresistibly sinuous to the voters. (See photo below.)

As we previously stated, these results are final. Our nation survived the divisive Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore; but we doubt the Republic could survive Stojak v. Downie or Backman v. Wolk. So, in the interest of unity within the ERISA bar, let us all come together to celebrate our glorious winners.

(It’s worth noting, however, that both Downie and Wolk prevailed by significant — albeit not enormous — margins. You can review the final tallies for the men here, and for the women here.)

In closing, we’d like to thank all of you who contributed to make this contest such a fun and successful one: the people who nominated hot ERISA lawyers; the hot ERISA lawyers themselves, many of whom graciously spoke on the record about the race; and, finally, the thousands of voters who made this democratic process work.

And if you enjoyed this contest, please keep reading ATL. More hottie contests are on the way. And to all of you who feel that worthy ERISA hotties were overlooked in this year’s competition, worry not. There’s always next year!

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of ERISA hotties (scroll down)

Professor Bruce Wolk, America’s hottest male ERISA lawyer. Check out that license plate: ERISA 74!