Hogan & Hartson, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, Law Professors, Lesbians, New York Times, Supreme Court Clerks, Weddings

Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 8.26.07: Mrs. Frisbee and the Wedding China

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We hope there aren’t too many of you in the office on this federal holiday, but for those ATL readers who are toiling away, here’s a Labor Day edition of LEWW to ease the pain.
This Last week’s superlative couples:
1.) Elizabeth Holland and David Franklin
2.) Lara Ballard and Gigi Sohn
3.) Allison Caldwell and Matthew Frisbee
More about these fabulous pairs, after the jump.


1.) Elizabeth Holland and David Franklin
The Case:
– This groom wafts us back to the sweet-smelling realm of the Elect; he clerked for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during the 1999-2000 term. As you’d expect, he has outstanding academic credentials: summa at Yale and high honors at the University of Chicago Law School.
– Now David is an assistant professor of law at DePaul University. If you Google David, you’ll find a long, boring op-ed from 2005 on John Roberts’ position on standing. But his bio indicates that he’s written for Green Bag, so it’s possible that he isn’t your typical pointy-headed prof.
– This couple’s officiant was Senior Judge Stephen F. Williams of the D.C. Circuit, for whom the groom clerked.
The Case Against:
– This isn’t exactly a marriage of equals, prestige-wise. Elizabeth brings only an undergrad degree from Hamilton College and a JD from Brooklyn Law School to the union. On the upside, it’s super-romantic when royalty stoop to marry commoners — King Edward and Wallis Simpson, Britney and K-Fed, etc.
– One thing Elizabeth brings an abundance of is previous marriages — at 42, she’s already racked up two divorces. (Like Wallis Simpson!)

2.) Lara Ballard and Gigi Sohn
(Buy them a culinary torch.)
The Case:
The same-sex couples we’ve featured before in this space have fallen short in the prestige department. Not so with these big-league brides! Lara was cum laude at Georgetown and has a law degree from Columbia. Following a stint in the Army in the 90s, she’s a legal adviser at the State Department. Gigi was summa at Boston University and got her JD from the University of Pennsylvania; now she runs her own nonprofit.
– They’re saucy-cute. Lara’s ‘Bama bangs really work for us, and Gigi’s glasses are the perfect smart-funky accessory.
The Case Against:
– Gigi is not a great name for a lesbian — or, actually, for anyone. But the Baby Name Voyager shows us that the name had a big spike in popularity around the time Gigi was born, so we can forgive her parents if she can.

3.) Allison Caldwell and Matthew Frisbee
(Buy them a $450 place setting.)
The Case:
– The bride and groom met during law school at Washington & Lee. Allison did her undergrad at Davidson, and Matthew was summa at George Washington.
– This month they’ll begin work at Washington law firms — Allison at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and Matthew at Hogan & Hartson (in McLean).
– Allison’s grandpa, Philip Caldwell, was chairman and CEO of the Ford Motor Company, and the first person to run the company who was not a member of the Ford family. He gets credit the development and launch of the Ford Taurus, which probably never graced his garage.
The Case Against:
– W&L is a school that doesn’t get much love from the NYT, so it’s nice to see it here for variety. Unfortunately, our experience with W&L suggests that it’s full of bourbon-soaked WASP frat-boys from Kentucky and North Carolina who didn’t get in to Virginia.
– That $450 place setting has to count against them. They’re asking for a total of $10,890 worth of — let’s be frank — one of the ugliest china patterns we’ve seen since we ate Jello salad on our grandmother’s 1970s Corelle.
The Verdict:
We’re horrified to admit this, but LEWW is having trouble getting excited about the SCOTUS-ness of Team Holland-Franklin. The divorces and prestige mismatch hurt them, and the groom doesn’t exactly seem to be in world-conquering mode. Our reservations about this pair allow Team Ballard-Sohn to soar into first place. Congratulations, ladies!

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