Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 11.11 - 11.25: Jamaican Me Wealthy
The Legal Eagle Wedding Watch is kicking off 2008 with a few leftovers from 2007. But we think you'll agree that these offerings are worth savoring. These couples have got a little bit of everything: brains, looks, athletic ability, and (something that never goes stale) lots and lots of money.
Here are the contenders:
1.) Ellen Zajac and Teddy Schwarzman2.) Stephanie Alperin and Eric Biderman
More about these couples, after the jump.
1.) Ellen Zajac and Teddy Schwarzman
The Case:
- The bride and groom went to Emory and U. Penn., respectively. They met during law school at Duke (Teddy graduated cum laude).
- Both halves of this attractive couple are BigLaw associates. Ellen works in residential mortgage-backed securities at Thacher Proffitt, and "Teddy" (his real name is Edward) is at Skadden.
- What's truly impressive, though, is that they work at all. Teddy's father is Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, "the new king of Wall Street" who's estimated to be worth more than three billion dollars.
The Case Against:
- Officiant overkill at the glittering Montego Bay nuptials: a Roman Catholic priest, the president of a Kingston synagogue, and a Jamaican "marriage officer." But was there no room in the Learjet for a prestigious Article III judge?
- Normally we'd take this opportunity to mention how worthless Duke Law is. Okay, we just did. But Ellen, at least, has three billion reasons to be glad she went there.
2.) Stephanie Alperin and Eric Biderman
The Case:
- The bride (Wash. U./Cardozo) will be an associate at Paul Hastings next fall. The groom (Cornell/Cardozo) is an associate at the legendary powerhouse firm of Winget, Spadafora & Schwartzberg, where he toils alongside the great Luigi Spadafora himself.
- Stephanie's dad is a Skadden partner.
The Case Against:
- Nothing. But other than Stephanie's undeniable extreme cuteness, this couple isn't giving us a lot to work with.
3.) Erica Greenbaum and Mark Gerson
The Case:
- The bride, a rabbi, was magna at Amherst and has some other boring degrees that are relevant to being a rabbi. The groom, more interestingly, was summa at Williams and got a JD from Yale.
- Mark is the founder of Gerson Lehrman Group, a New York information-services company that has been called the "[m]ost valuable NYC company no one outside Wall Street has ever heard of." It's certainly doing well enough for Mark and Erica to have their own vacation home in Sag Harbor.
- According to the New York Observer, Mark, who is active in right-wing circles, is "the Friendster of the neoconservative establishment. ... His congenial brilliance, amiable nature, and unsolicited offers of help to others have placed him at the center of the intellectual-political-financial complex that spans from Wall Street to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
The Case Against:
- Technically, we have to dock this couple a few points for lacking a practicing lawyer (halacha doesn't count).
4.) Katherine Van Loon and Jon Steitz
The Case:
- The bride met the groom in a New Haven bar. She was studying for a master's in public health at Yale; he was an undergrad pitching phenom who'd recently been drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers.
- Jon had a 97-mph fastball, but his professional baseball career was cut short by rotator cuff tendinitis. Katherine, who was studying for her MD at the Medical College of Georgia while Jon was in the minors, had to settle for a lawyer husband instead -- Jon headed back to Yale for a JD.
- He's now a consultant in Boston for McKinsey & Company; she's a resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
The Case Against:
- Best man Craig Breslow provides a bone-headed quote to the effect that if Jon's pitching career had worked out, Jon and Katherine would have broken up. He also seems confused about what the word "pretension" means. LEWW was unsurprised to read that Breslow pitches for the Red Sox.
The Verdict:
With all due respect to the firm of Winget, Spadafora & Schwartzberg, Team Zajac-Schwarzman are the only contestants currently practicing law in firms LEWW can pronounce without giggling. Also, they're gorgeous and rich. And now they're Above the Law's Legal Eagle Couple of the Week! Congratulations!
(47) Comments
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DATE: 01/02/2008 10:37:43 AM
Dear god, there is nothing more I hate on this blog than this crap. Who gives a shit that some rich, spoiled bitch and her corresponding stuck-up asshole groom got married, even if they are attorneys. I actually wish these people would die when I see these announcements.
I second statsman's sentiments. This is SO idiotic!!!!
Yeah! Readers of a Legal TABLOID demand meatier stuff!
You morons.
*yawn*
I was waiting for Lat to get back from vacation so this blog would be interesting again...
glad I didn't hold my breath.
The LEWW is better than 94% of the posts on this blog. Not saying much but saying it nonetheless.
A couple of Cardozo grads even get nominated for LEWW? I thought LEWW was supposed to be about people with impressive backgrounds.
Fewer people get married in the winter months, making the pickings slimmer this time of year.
Still, the billionaire couple is impressive, when by impressive I mean "I wish I were them."
You people need to lighten up. It's a holiday week and you bitch and moan about "fluff" pieces on a BLOG (god forbid!).
The best part is you'll probably go home tonight and watch some stupid reality tv show on the Fox network.
The WSJ law blog is up for best law blog at the ABA Journal and it is in second place and deserves your vote. Go here and vote for the best blog in the category, the WSJ law blog: http://www.abajournal.com/blawgs/blawg100/business.
10:43 and 10:44 = jealous d-bags.
ps - i LOVE LEWW.
Teddy is actually a nice guy in real life and very few people knew how rich his father was in college--which, at Penn, is quite the feat.
His father was rich in college, too?
YAY FOR DUKE LAW!!!
This completely makes up for the lack of SCOTUS clerks in recent memory, as well as the loss of Chemerinsky to a start-up.
(Not really, but we DLS grads are grasping at staws to justify our T-14 status.)
Is Lat taking yet another day off? Does he even still work here?
LEWW calling me worthless? At least I have basketball across the street to offer the masses.
What you got, there, LEWW?? Nuthin.
Not even the billion-dollar MRS degree you so clearly crave.
I can't believe the cute, super-athletic dude who went to Yale Law School and his pretty wife who is a resident didn't win.
I hate this feature, but mind it less when some of the profiled couples are more - how do you put it - "realistic.' Actually readable this week, much more so than when every single person is (1) monied, (2) graduated from yale, and (3) wonderbread white.
Katherine Van Loon lived in my freshman dorm at Duke. I remember all of the guys were drooling over her. She was a bit stuck up though.
C'mon, Lat, scoop the WSJ Law Blog on this story about the law student beauty pageant contestant who kidnapped her ex-boyfriend!
Bang the drum for raises! Don't forget your base, lat.
Duke University Law School: Duke basketball belongs to the undergraduates, not the law school. Exhibit A: your inferior seating section.
I'm confused by the combination of "neoconservative establishment" and "unsolicited offers of help to others" in the same sentence. I thought those were mutually exclusive.
Let's take a look at these couples...
ugly...
wiener...
crater face...
soo-WEE, soo-WEE!!
Doesn't Yeshiva = Cardozo?
And LEWW haters, shut the f up already, ok?
Yay, LEWW! Thanks for coming back.
Me thinks this group represents some of the finest female ass ever profiled here
Welcome back!! I missed you!!
FYI to ATL readers:
While Ellen was widely regarded as a cool, chill girl (who dated a much better looking dude before Teddy), virtually everyone at Duke thought of Teddy as King Douche.
Enjoy your sloppy seconds, Teddy.
Ellen Zajac and Teddy Schwarzman
I'm sure she won't be working very much longer. It looks like she's about a foot taller than him -
Ellen Zajac and Teddy Schwarzman
I'm sure she won't be working very much longer. It looks like she's about a foot taller than him -
http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/i/partypictures/06_25_07/NYCBallet/NYCBallet05.jpg
Dad's a billionaire and all you can manage is UPenn and Duke? That's weak. It's almost as bad as Dad being a Skadden partner and you're at Wash U. and Cardozo.
4:39. I feel what you're saying. But kids from Ivies fall much further - knew a Yalie who went to Seattle University!
Anyway, tell me, why does everyone hate Duke Law so much? Granted, Teddy is a moron. But that doesn't mean that every Duke grad deserves to be lumped in with that little troll.
Aunt Jerimiah, I went to DLS too, and don't know what axe you're grinding. Teddy was definitely well liked, and extremely modest given his father's wealth. Also no moron - graduated cum laude. And no offense intended, but Ellen's prior boyfriend was a complete tool.
2:02 - your insecurity and anger issues are severe. Although I graduated from Duke a year ahead of all-above referenced parties, I can say with confidence that Teddy had a great reputation for being extremely nice, fun and definitely modest (and after having had a class with him, also very smart). Meanwhile, whatever meaningless law school fling (which we all have had) existed with some random kid, seems to continue to be a significant thorn in your side. Grow up.
Teddy's a great guy, don't know what the rest of you are talking about.
I only vaguely remember Teddy from Duke Law, but he raised all kinds of d-bag alarms amongst me and my friends. There were quite a few in his class, though.
Duke Law is worthless and you find nothing to put in "The Case Against" for the two Cardozo grads? Really? Do you want to think about that for another minute?
Teddy Schwarzman modest?
Please. During 1L year that little troll told a girl he was dating, after she informed him she was having second thoughts about their relationship, that she was "white trash and would never land a well-heeled guy like himself."
Fun to have a drink with? Yep, but what clever, mildly-misanthropic Ivy league grad isn't?
Accommodating and thoughtful to a cute young lass at a bar or a party? Of course, but who isn't sweet and endearing when a hottie's ass is on the line.
But make no mistake, he's a loser.
"Fun to have a drink with? Yep, but what clever, mildly-misanthropic Ivy league grad isn't?"
Many.
Nothing against couple number 2? Try they both went to Cardozo.
You had a problem with Duke in couple 1? What's wrong with you?
Aunt Jerimiah, your attempted smear campaign is sad and not even remotely believable. The only way you could write lies like 1:43 is if (a) you actually haven't met Teddy, (b) you're a pathetic former ex that can't move on, or (c) you're psychotic. Give the guy's character a rest. There's a reason other people aren't jumping on your bandwagon, and it's because Teddy's a stand-up guy. I hope you find help.
I agree with the posters who wish these people dead.
Jon Steitz happens to play the meanest leg guitar this side of the Rockies. Can't vouch for the other grooms.
A pro athlete, a consultant, a genius, a guitar hero.
Steitz not only wears seersucker, he commands it
You missed one from 11/25!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/fashion/weddings/25sheng.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Katherine Van Loon is a lovely person, you're a bitter tool.