Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 8.26.07: Mrs. Frisbee and the Wedding China
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 $10,890 worth of — let’s be frank — one of the ugliest china patterns we’ve seen since we ate Jello salad on our grandmother’s 1970s Corelle.
The Verdict:
We’re horrified to admit this, but LEWW is having trouble getting excited about the SCOTUS-ness of Team Holland-Franklin. The divorces and prestige mismatch hurt them, and the groom doesn’t exactly seem to be in world-conquering mode. Our reservations about this pair allow Team Ballard-Sohn to soar into first place. Congratulations, ladies!
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Comments
haha: "our experience with W&L suggests that it's full of bourbon-soaked WASP frat-boys from Kentucky and North Carolina who didn't get in to Virginia."
Everyone at W&L wears uniforms consisting of shaggy hair, polo shirt, baseball cap, Nantucket red shorts and sandals.
The lesbians get props for the cheeky irony... they registered for "double old fashioneds." And yet, they're not!
You forgot to mention that W&L is full of homophobes.
W&L has also produced more CEOs than any other school. Perhaps knowing how to be social and hold your alcohol is more important in life.
Stupidest thing on the entire Internet.
That's just %#!$^% embarassing. Who registers for $450 patterns? I hope they're scheming to return it and do something useful with that $$.
I have a lawyer friend (w/ ivy creds - if they have a published announcement I want to see it here) getting married next month. You know what they registered for? Charitable donations.
Grr. I'm glad I drive a Volkswagen.
Easy win for Couple # 2. Yeah, a SCOTUS clerkship is impressive, but let's be frank: There are lots of others out there with equally good grades (I'm admittedly not one of them) who didn't happen to have the connections with the prof or the feeder judge to get them the interview or the clerkship itself. I mean, I suppose working hard in law school to get the grades and having the connections/right resume items is prestigious, but I don't think it should propel one to an immediate LEWW win (because that's the accolade that *really* matters).
And that china, not to mention the expense, should disqualify Couple # 3 entirely. (Was it a joke to even produce it? And then to sell it at that price?)
Good call, LEWW. (And thanks for posting -- I've been upping Lat's ATL count this weekend looking for it.)
Excellent snobbery. Quite pleased indeed.
Why does it matter that he works in McLean? Hogan is a great firm across all its offices.
I would give the girl in #2 a Cleveland Steamer.
Good lord, that's hideous China.
"I have a lawyer friend (w/ ivy creds - if they have a published announcement I want to see it here) getting married next month. You know what they registered for? Charitable donations."
Most of the people I know who do this are either older or rich to begin with and don't need anything. There's no shame in registering for things to set up your household - including china. With that said, I do think $450/setting's a bit much.
How on earth does anyone ask for $450 a place setting for something that I'd be embarrassed to serve even a Tuesday night dinner on. Disgusting. If you don't have good taste, go with something simple. Don't make the rest of us suffer.
Gigi Sohn is a heavy in telecommunications policy and a major voice at FCC and Congressional hearings.
"W&L has also produced more CEOs than any other school. Perhaps knowing how to be social and hold your alcohol is more important in life."
CEO's of what? I could start a corporation tomorrow and become it's CEO. And are you actually arguing that what goes on at W&L qualifies as social? I suppose it's social in the sense that if you fit the mold you're accepted.
I think there must be something about Bloomingdale's china place setting designs this year. My best friend is getting married this month, and their Bloomie's china pattern is both extremely expensive and hideous. (the pattern chosen by couple 3 is a decided step up)
I agree that couple #1 is among the least impressive SCOTUS couples that we have seen in recent months, and like Laurie I have trouble getting excited by it (and not just because Franklin's clerkship was with a radical left-wing "Justice"). That couple #1 is no Gelman-Bash, I think we can all agree on. If they had been competing against a strong couple without a SCOTUS clerkship, I can easily see them losing. But couple #2 this week is no such strong couple. Boston U. is horrendously unimpressive for undergrad by LEWW standards, and Columbia, UPenn and Georgetown are moderately prestigious at best. Considering that this column has featured couples with four Harvard degrees in the past, couple #2 is not even close to achieving the amount of prestige tha would be necessary to make up for couple #1 SCOTUS's clerkship. This decision by Laurie is particularly disappointing because this is the second bad decision in two weeks, which causes me to start questioning Laurie's judgment.
6:31: You should start posting your comments with an alias other than "Anonymous." I can always figure out which comments are from you, because ever since Gelman-Bash, you have repeatedly week after week made the case against the strongest couple using the same kind of distorted rationalization.
While I agree with the W&L assessments insofar as it describes the undergrad, I must defend my law school alma mater. It is quite different (the bourbon drinking aside).
Fed Soc, I suspect you just don't like the lesbians.
Totally agree with the verdict. Yay for couple #2!
Franklin was my Conflicts professor. He's the man.
11:02, I'm with you. Team #2 all the way.
If you are going the Royal Crown Derby route, why don't you just register for Old Imari like all the other brides of W&L grads?
I had Franklin for Torts. The guy is hilarious. Akward, but hilarious
Thanks, LEWW, we are deeply honored! I hadn't heard of this column until a friend of mine at Justice forwarded it to me this morning. What a hoot! FYI, Gigi is her real name (it's not short for Marjorie or anything like that), and we love it. As far as it being a great name for a lesbian, all I can say is that I doubt her parents gave her that name with that particular consideration in mind.
ITA with the selection of couple 2!
What's even funnier about the place setting is that, when you look at the "Requested/Still Needs" columns on the registry site, you realize that 4 dumbassess actually bought them one of those $450 settings placesetting (or maybe one gigantic dumbass bought them 4 settings).
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Still laughing about the "Bama" bangs and the "bourbon-soaked WASP frat-boys from Kentucky and North Carolina who didn't get in to Virginia" comments. But maybe that's because I'm a bangless, beer-preferring, non Protestant, no-greek, female from Tennessee who DID go to Virginia.
Anyway, keep 'em coming!
I really detest this column.
Bring back the NP theme song!
Oh, mazel tov to Ballard-Sohn! I had the pleasure of meeting Gigi this summer, so I'm thrilled to see that not only has she tied the knot, but she won this week's LEWW. Gigi, you're a superstar! Running PK *and* planning a ceremony? And they say August in DC is a slow month...
As a bourbon-drinking W&L Law student, I resemble that remark.
Sadly, the latest crop of 1Ls all sport jeans and t-shirts. Not an inch of seersucker to be seen. Alas, for the good old days.....
What's wrong with a $450/place setting china pattern? I mean, I don't share their taste, but for a couple starting out earning over $300k/year, is it really unreasonable they'd want something that nice? And, assuming one of them is from a reasonably wealthy background, $450 is an amount they could reasonably expect parents' friends to spend on a gift.
Not bad for someone "currently working from home in the area of tax law."
http://kitchencabinet.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_kitchencabinet_archive.html#116121352511000826
I had Franklin for Constitutional Process. Let's talk about his recent drastic weight loss, please!!
I'm sad that Lisa Marshall (Yale/Yale & Kennedy Clerk 06-07) and Nick Manheim (Columbia/Columbia) got overlooked in this week's wedding watch. I thought they would be obvious favorites.
Um, I don't think Lisa Marshall's wedding was even in the Times, so why would you expect it to be featured in this column?
Dear Wedding Watch,
The August 26th NY Times has other lawyer-lawyer couples (Ostrovsky and Fagenholz). Those others just didn't make the grade?