Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 2.3: Sterling Reputation
Yes, LEWW hears the howls of protest from our readers about the weeks we skipped recently. We'll do a makeup post soon, we promise. The weddings pages have been such a wasteland lately that it's been hard to pull together the kind of legal and nuptial excellence you've come to expect here. And it's crushing our spirit.
Take this week. The NYT featured just seven weddings total, with only two LEWW contenders and one Ivy degree (from U. Penn). Here are the two finalists:
1.) Robin Rosenthal and Richard Rothfeld
More about these newlyweds, after the jump.
1.) Robin Rosenthal and Richard Rothfeld
(Buy them a $295 perfume bottle.)
The Case:
- We like how each person brings something to this union. Richard offers his family's wealth -- his dad is a former apparel manufacturer who's on the board of Syracuse University -- while Robin sports blindingly white teeth and a degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology. (Richard went to Penn and NYU Law.)
- The wedding was in the Bahamas, a location of which LEWW greatly approves. If you must get married in February, by all means do it in an atmosphere conducive to bikinis and hooking up. Your wedding party and recently divorced uncles will thank you.
The Case Against:
- Richard, who was once an associate at Proskauer Rose, now works full-time at "managing the family's investments." Of course he does. What a great euphemism for unemployment: "No, I didn't get laid off by Cadwalader. I quit to manage my family's investments." Robin has eschewed her family's business -- her stepdad owns Great Neck Plumbing and Heating -- for a career in "merchandise display and promotional events."
2.) Erin Conroy and Thomas Welling Jr.
(Buy them a $925 decanter.)
The Case:
- Erin went to Boston College and works for Deutsche Bank. Thomas went to Williams and Brooklyn Law School and is now an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
- You can watch a video about them here. The video doesn't make us hate Erin and Thomas, but it does make us wonder why the NYT even bothers with multimedia if it's going to be so pointless and half-assed. We've seen edgier stuff on the security-gate channel.
The Case Against:
- Their wedding registry is . . . ambitious. LEWW was exhausted after perusing just their Bloomingdale's list (they have two others), but we got out our calculator and added up their guests' tab: $12,086 in fine china, $7,635 in stemware and barware, $13,170 in silver, and $7,792 in other loot. Grand total: $40,863.18. They're probably the type of people who whine to their friends that they would've gotten something simple from Crate & Barrel, if only their parents hadn't insisted on all this ridiculous expensive stuff. And then they roll their eyes at those silly, status-obsessed parents. But secretly, they get aroused just looking at their $615 champagne cooler. (Technically, it's the idea of the champagne cooler, because nobody's actually bought it for them.)
The Verdict:
Excruciatingly close. STB > Proskauer Rose, but NYU > Brooklyn. And BC + Williams > FIT + Penn, but on the other hand, plastic smile > 12 ($400 place setting + $200 cake plate + $160 wine glass + $1,005 silverware = $1,765 just to sit down at the table). We'll give a nod to alliteration and hand this one to Team Rosenthal-Rothfeld!
(50) Comments
Major looks disparity in the rich couple #1. Just goes to show you--you got the bling, women will fall all over you.
not to mention that rothfeld also went to Dalton-- consicuously left out of the NYT story-- and that in lawyer circles, the prize should always go to the jewier option.
so many jooz
Howls about the weeks LEWW skipped? Howls of joy, if anything.
No Smallville jokes? I'm saddened.
Gross. Just gross.
Or, guys in my high school used to register for over $12k worth of fine china all the time, it was no big deal.
Or, did the guy from couple #1 change his last name from DeLuise?
Rosenthal is....not pleasant to look at.
What are you on about, 11:25? She is a very pretty woman. Her man, on the other hand, not so much.
Women are just commodities to be bought and sold at will...
11:36 - My mistake, I meant the dude.
The girl is a babe; the guy is....something else entirely.
i'm with 11:25. there's something not right about her.
I think this is the best LEWW ever.
I vote for Welling. I know him personally and he's a good guy. Also, his family endowed a fellowship at Brooklyn Law.
"merchandise display and promotional events"
auto show model?
12:05 - bingo.
Brooklyn Law to STB? Way to go.
Fat Guys With Skinny Girls!
He's from Bronxville - that's why they can put that stuff on their registry.
12:01 - his family is rich enough to endow a fellowship, and he STILL ended up at Brooklyn Law? Wow. Either they're not trying, or he is REALLY, REALLY, "Sir & Madam, we desperately want your money, but we just can't bring ourselves to admit a student quite as stupid as your son - and we've sunk pretty low before to whore for money, both undergrad and law. Sorry. Regards, Harvard Admissions", REALLY, stupid.
At least they realized their mistake, flexed their connections, and got him a job at STB. He must get mistaken for the maintenance staff alot.
Still no acknowledgment of Marlantes-Rahm? Or is that for the "make-up post"?
NYT, January 20, 2008
Catherine Alexandra Marlantes, a daughter of Carol W. Marlantes of New York and the late Lorian L. Marlantes, was married Saturday evening to William David Rahm, the son of Susan B. Rahm and David A. Rahm, also of New York. The Rev. Michael L. Lindvall performed the ceremony at Brick Presbyterian Church in New York.
Skip to next paragraph
The couple met at HARVARD, from which each received a law degree, she MAGNA cum laude and he cum laude.
Mrs. Rahm, 27, is known as Cassie. Until last month she was a law clerk to Judge Pierre N. Leval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York. In March she is to become an associate in the New York law office Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr. She graduated MAGNA cum laude from HARVARD.
Her father was from 1995 until 2002 the president and chief executive of Rockefeller Group International, a commercial real estate company in New York.
Mr. Rahm, 29, works at Centerbridge Partners, an investment firm in New York, where he explores and executes investment opportunities. He graduated cum laude from YALE and received an M.B.A. with distinction from HARVARD.
His mother retired as a partner in the law firm Kaye Scholer in New York. His father retired as a partner in the law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, also in New York, and is the chairman of the board of the Manhattan School of Music.
(capitalization added)
12:33 - a bit mean spirited today, are we? Ouch, you don't even know the guy.
You guys have the nerve to disparage Fordham Law, currently ranked number 25, then not make a comment about Brooklyn Law, which is somewhere in the 90s?????
Ugh! Dude, I can only imagine the looks-challenged kids yet to come out of these unions. Are there any really good looking lawyers out there? Also, for the person who said that there's something not right about Rosenthal-her head is too big for her neck AND she has the most oval shaped face EVER. Seriously, if people here consider this chick attractive, G-d help you...
my guess: 12:53 is Cassie Rahm.
Chill out Cassie. Sorry that your MAGNA douchey wedding hasn't been covered so far by LEWW, but get a life.
And if 12:53 isn't Cassie, well, you really need help.
12:53,
We all know that LEWW has an irrational hatred of HLS (probably because she didn't get in) which probably explains leaving out that couple.
That, or it just wouldn't be sporting to put these two sets up against that. Also, it is entertaining to see what happens to the rich (and not so bright) from time to time as well.
12:33,
gee, YOU'RE dumb. "a lot" is two words, not one. before calling someone else dumb, make sure you don't have typos or blatant misspellings, lest you look like an idiot.
oops, too late.
1:15, I don't remember Laurie Lin hating on HLS. And how many YLS grads (a) didn't get into Harvard and (b) are at all bitter about it?
HLS grads who didn't get into Yale are another matter. Those you could fill a statium with.
12:33 - actually, I don't think they let "dumb people" into Williams. furthermore, in addition to Tom being a good guy he was also an intelligent law student. Combined, much more than I can say for many ivy league law grads I've met.
Not having reviewed the wedding announcements myself, I hope as a fan of the column that Laurie is being truthful with us when she claims that the wedding pages have recently been a "wasteland" and that she is not instead ignoring the most successful, impressive couples to cater to the insecure commenters who have complained of "elitism" for the past six months.
500 or so people graduate from HLS and 200 or so from YLS every year; about a third of these 700 attended HYP for undergrad. One would think that there would be enough HYP/HLS-YLS folks getting married to have them featured on most weeks.
Yalie (2:03), I don't think anyone disagrees with you that Yale Law is a whole lot more selective than HLS. And it may be precisely why many Yale grads are bitter of HLS grads who get SCOTUS clerkships, under the reasoning that if they were good enough to get into Yale, they should be more deserving of SCOTUS. I don't think this is the case with Laurie since she featured many outstanding HLS-SCOTUS couples in the past, but that would be the point to address.
On that note, when is the last Harvard-Harvard/Yale-SCOTUS couple to have been featured here?
wow, today is the first time I've read Above the Law and I think I might vomit on my keyboard.
Thank you for confirming that many young lawyers are shallow greedy stuck-up juvenile losers.
People, I think we're missing the point here.
$1,000 for a place setting? Who do these jokers think they are?
And who buys these kinds of wedding gifts?
12:56- BLS is ranked in the 50s, moron. And I, like Welling, work at a V10. Enjoy insurance defense and bitterness.
Dammit. Turns out they're 60 this year. Now I'm the moron. Well, at least I have a job!
1:44 - how about this: I trade you my prestige laden law degree for your Brooklyn (or Brooklyn-esque, who knows why you're defensive?) law degree, then I trade you my post with "alot" written incorrectly and you trade me your typo-free (I assume, I'm not going to waste my time line-editing ATL posts - I have a job (pay's great!)) post. OK?
Yeah, I thought you would jump at that.
I won't. Dummy. Or is it D ummy? Or D-ummy? Or Dummie? Oh well, I'll go ask my Brooklyn Law staff attorney, he can figure it out tonight and get back to me at 7 a.m. Cheap too!
LIGHTWEIGHTS!
3:11 - why don't you ask Dennis Block - a Brooklyn Grad? Oh wait, he's busy tending to the biggest book of business in the industry. Nevermind.
Man, I wish I was as smart as all of you guys. It must take a J.D. from Yale to figure out where to bill all of this wasted time. All the better though I suppose, if I were your client I wouldn't want someone with their head so far up their a$$ representing me...play on.
3:11- I just came on to this sight because the Wellings are great friends of my family. Thankfully, I do not work in Law and, having read these posts, I am quite grateful. I would be even more grateful if you provided me with the name of your firm so I can be sure that neither Lehman Brothers nor any one I do business with ever hires your firm again. Thanks!
I'm sure Brooklyn Law is a fine school despite it's second-tier ranking, the whole point is that Fordham is a top-tier school, ranked in the 20s. I agree that if ABTL opines that weddings involving Fordham grads are too pedestrian, than weddings involving Brooklyn Law grads are even more unworthy!
......... but this is a BLS student that works at an elite law firm. Therefore, he > random Fordham guy.
Um, maybe the Fordham guy also works at an "elite firm" but didn't deign to respond to the juvenile attack accusing the Fordham guy working at an insurance defense firm? Fordham places much better at "elite" firms than BLS, that's a fact
That golddigger is HOT
How can he live with the knowledge that his wife to be endures their sex sessions by thinking about all the cash she will have to spend with the pool boy when this bastard croaks at 45 from cardiac arrest. (he most know shes not in it for his looks)
rosenthal loooks like Mrs. Ari..i'd def bang her
12:33/3:11,
That would be the post you come back with. I would have never guessed that you'd assume (wrongly) that I go to a lower ranked school (I'm T-10) and that I have no job or a bad job (my summer firm is T-10 and I had offers from all but one firm that I applied to - all T-20). Your comeback was so original! I'm not at all surprised that you went to such a great school and have such a great job!
But if it makes you feel better to think that your spelling can only be corrected by someone at a lower ranked school, that's fine. It must be hard to get through life without thinking that you're better than everyone else, since you probably have absolutely nothing else going for you.
All the best,
1:44
P.S. Don't even bother with your post about disbelieving that I'm at a T-10 school and going to a T-10 firm. I already know what you'll say - it's been done and it's lame.
How can you even compare Brooklyn Law School with Fordham Law. WTF?
How can you even compare Brooklyn Law School with Fordham Law. WTF?
10: 15
Real men start their own firms and business. They are not slaves to the convention of having to go to an elite school and then an elite firm = slave/follower/nobody - for life.
All this pedigree talk is a bunch of mental masturbation for people that never did much AFTER they went to their top tier school and gained top tier employment. Pathetic.
Save your lame responses: I went to T5 , have MY OWN business.
Some of the biggest pussies I have tried cases against (yes, some actually do try cases!) were from HLS and YLS. Like a pittbull vs. a poodle.