Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: September 2006 Couple of the Month

Now that Legal Eagle Wedding Watch has declared the winning couples for September 2006, it’s your turn to weigh in. We need you to vote on which one of these couples deserves to be crowned ATL’s September 2006 Couple of the Month.
If you need to refresh your memory about these different couples, our prior write-ups — with scores, plus links to their original NYT wedding announcements — appear after the jump. As you can see, the couples’ scores are quite close. Three of the five couples have composite scores of 9.10, and the other two have scores of 8.90. In fact, two of the couples — Adam Berger and Steve Frank, and Sheila Kadagathur and Jake Phillips — wound up in a tie for their particular week. So every couple is a viable contender.
If you’re ready to cast your ballot, here’s the poll:

Which of these fabulous couples should be crowned “Couple of the Month” for September 2006?
Adam Berger and Stephen Frank
Beth Hansher and David Javdan
Sheila Kadagathur and Jake Phillips
Elizabeth Kennedy and Nicholas Vitek
Michèle Lallemand and Joseph Brazil
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com


If you’d like to review the competitors one more time, take a look at their profiles, after the jump.


1. Adam Berger and Stephen Frank
Résumé score: 9.5. Because they’re featured in the special Vows column, which provides a more narrative account of weddings, there’s less résumé information about Adam and Steve than there would be for a typical couple. But since we know Steve Frank, so we can fill in some of the blanks.
(Disclosure: Steve Frank was our boss at the college newspaper.)
Both men went to Harvard College, where they were suite mates. Adam is now a vice president at Goldman Sachs. KA-CHING! Steve is an associate at the Death Star Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Before joining Cravath, he clerked on the Second Circuit (for Judge Sack), attended Harvard Law School, and worked as a financial journalist and television reporter (and published a book). Obviously they are quite a power couple.
Family score: –. Alas, not in the Vows column write-up.
Balance score: 9.3. They were college roommates, and longtime friends before they became an item. So of course they score highly on balance. Adam probably definitely makes more than Steve. But Steve is more high-profile than Adam, as a published author and former TV correspondent (who used to appear regularly alongside Maria Bartiromo, aka “the Money Honey”; once we saw him while on a treadmill at a gym in Portland, Oregon).
Beauty score: 8.5.
Overall score: 9.10.
Additional comments: “Adam and Steve” — geddit?. Take that, all you homophobic protesters with your “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” signs!
2. Beth Hansher and David Javdan
Résumé score: 9.1. She went to the University of Wisconsin for her undergraduate and law degrees; he went to Columbia and then Fordham Law. She’s now at the Justice Department, in the civil rights division (which has been experiencing some infighting; but hey, it’s still prestigious). He’s a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, the corporate restructuring boutique; before that, he was the general counsel at the Small Business Administration. (This last post lifts their score considerably.)
Family score: 8.9. Her father is a state court judge in Wisconsin, which is quite nice (although federal would have been better). Her mother is a reading coordinator at Milwaukee Urban Day School. His father is a retired physician, the former chief of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at two New York hospitals. Impressive — even if gastroenterology is one of those specialities, like proctology, that you’d rather not think too much about.
Balance score: 8.8. Fairly good. His post as GC of the SBA gives him an edge over her; but then again, he’s quite a bit older (37 to her 30). Taking the age differential into account, the balance is pretty good.
Overall score: 8.90.
Additional comments: They tied the knot at the Pfister Hotel, the grande dame of Milwaukee hotels.
3. Sheila Kadagathur and Jake Phillips (link unavailable)

Résumé score: 9.6. Sheila graduated from U. Penn (magna) and University of Chicago Law School. She’s now at Baker Botts in D.C. John Ray Phillips III — aka “Jake Phillips” — graduated from Duke and Chicago Law (where he met Sheila). He clerked for Judge Luttig and Justice Scalia (October Term 2004), and he’s now at Kirkland & Ellis.
Family score: 9.0. Sheila’s father founded an energy and environmental consulting firm, of which her mother is the VP and general counsel. Jake’s mother founded a high school in Tennessee, where she is now the assistant principal, and his father is a lawyer.
Beauty score: 9.2. We’ve actually met Sheila and Jake — we once shared an airport shuttle van with them — and their Times photo doesn’t do them justice. They’re a very attractive couple.
Balance score: 8.6. Sheila is a high-powered lawyer in her own right. But lawyers who aren’t SCOTUS clerks marry SCOTUS clerks at their own peril — or at the peril of their balance score.
Overall score: 9.10.
Additional comments: The announcement notes that Sheila “is keeping her name.” Why oh why, dear Sheila? “Kadagathur” is quite a mouthful.
(Also, why is their announcement not online? Did they think they could evade the watchful eyes of LEWW with such a move? Silly rabbits! We get the Sunday Times delivered, at home, in all its ink-stained glory.)
4. Elizabeth Kennedy and Nicholas Vitek
Résumé score: 8.7. Liz is Smith College (magna) and Boalt Hall, now at Fried Frank. Nick is University of Washington (magna) and American University Law (summa), now at the Legal Aid Society of Brooklyn. In baseball terms — we hate sports, so give us props for this reference — this is a solid single.
Family score: 9.0. As the old saying goes, “A high-powered bride’s father lifts all boats.” Her father is the managing partner of Willkie Farr, so he deserves the lion’s share of the credit for the high family score. Her mother works with organizations that help children with disabilities. His mother is a retired technical writer, and his father is an assistant professor of English at Edgewood College, Madison, Wisconsin.
Balance score: 8.7. Solid; she’s marginally stronger than he is (see résumé and family, supra).
Beauty score: 9.2. Elizabeth Kennedy has a fresh-faced appeal. Nicholas Vitek is boyishly adorable, a la Jesse Bradford. (So what if he looks like he’s 12? Paging Mark Foley…)
Overall score: 8.90.
Additional comments: The photo — not online, unfortunately — is super-cute. They’re assuming the whole “Siamese Twins Joined at the Head” pose, which is de rigeur for the New York Times wedding pages.
5. Michèle Lallemand and Joseph Brazil
Résumé score: 9.2. Black power couples are beautiful. He’s Stanford, Columbia Law, and White & Case — where he’s a partner in the bank finance group, at the tender age of 35. She’s a Wellesley grad working in television. Very, very nice.
Family score: 9.0. Her father is the chief of neurosurgical anesthesia at Lenox Hill (our eyebrows go up). His father is also a doctor (our eyebrows go up some more). His mother is a retired school administrator. Impressive.
Beauty score: 9.0. This is a lovely pair. Her Mocha Frappuccino® skin, fine features, and glossy gorgeous lips are especially noteworthy.
Balance score: 9.2. Very well-balanced. His career may be more high-powered than hers; but she’s more lovely than he is. It’s a time-honored trade.
Overall score: 9.10.
Additional comments: Their parents are doctors. They went to great schools. They got married on Martha’s Vineyard — a traditional retreat for the black upper class. Lawrence Otis Graham would call them “[His] Kind of People.”
Earlier: Archives of Legal Eagle Wedding Watch (scroll down)

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