Other Uses for the Law Degree: Megyn Kelly
The story of a lawyer-turned-journalist is a familiar one. See, e.g., Jeffrey Toobin, of the New Yorker and CNN; Jan Crawford Greenburg, of ABC News; Adam Liptak, of the New York Times (recently anointed as successor to Linda Greenhouse on the SCOTUS beat); and ATL's very own David Lat.
Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz penned an interesting profile last week of Megyn Kelly, Biglaw attorney turned national Fox News anchor:
Four years ago, Kelly was a Washington lawyer pleading with WJLA-TV for part-time work. Now she's the co-anchor of two Fox shows, including a new 5 p.m. hour on the presidential campaign."When I was practicing law and had to do these 13-, 14-, 16-hour days, I was miserable," she says. Now, "you get off the set, you have that post-show high."
What about the high you get from 10 hours of document review? C'mon, you know you miss it...
According to her Wiki bio, Kelly got her law degree from Albany Law School, then worked for Jones Day before joining the Fox team.
"Here is this woman who was strikingly attractive but has tremendous air presence and a very strong voice," [Fox's Washington managing editor, Brit Hume] says. "We were knocked out. It was screamingly obvious that this was someone with tremendous potential."What's more, says Hume, "she seemed to get what we've talked about with 'fair and balanced news' . . . She came in believing there was a left bias in the news. That's not common." He quickly created an opening for her.
The lesson to be taken from Kelly's story: if you're a hot, conservative attorney with a strong voice, Fox may have a place for you.
For more on Megyn Kelly, check out this incredibly random interview on Mediabistro's Fishbowl DC. Apparently, her favorite letter is "x" and her favorite American Idol candidate is Taylor Hicks.
Update: We have updated this post with Megyn Kelly's law school facebook photo.
Megyn Kelly, Fox News's Fast-Rising Anchor [Washington Post]
Megyn Kendall: The Fishbowl DC Interview [Mediabistro]
(57) Comments
Does Lat even do anything for this site anymore or is he just banking off his name association, or "brand" that he's developed from the success of the site? Gotta love it, Lat's maxing his revenues while minimizing his work, farming out the actual management to "interns."
first to note that she didn't need to get a JD to do the job for me.
OH YEAH!
She reminds me of a character from Law and Order (i.e. a DDA).
I do think that placing her opposite Bill Hemmer is as sickening as the CNN Anderson Cooper pairing with what's her name.
AAAAAAH, aren’t they just precious together!
A TTT grad got a job at Jones Day??? That's the story!
I really wonder how, 11:29. I mean, where I went to school, all the really pretty girls had a tough time getting jobs at firms that were reaches...
The appropriate question from Fox in keeping with fair and balanced news is would she be okay with a pair of bull nutz being offered to her or be "bitter" about the fact that they could be O'Reilly's or even worse Hannity's America's nutz.
Her legs are so shiny.
She doesn't strike me as "strikingly attractive," but I guess stodgy old white dudes must have found her mindless brand of sex-smeared conservatism appealing.
She could have gone to the American Law School of Justice, Bahamas campus and landed a job at Jones Day. Old lawyers may be assholes, but they still love tail!
11:43 - not "strikingly attractive"? I suppose you're constantly surrounded by models and actors at your place of employment.
God, I had resisted saying that this blog has jumped the shark, but it totally has. I mean, three surveys on signing bonuses and bar stipends? That stuff matters for about three months, and all the firms are pretty much the same anyway. Why are we getting so worked up about something that is the same at all Biglaw firms. I am sick of half of the blog being crap for law students only and the other half being popular press stories about lawyers. Boring...
BORRRRIIINNNG
11:53 = David Lat
She was a litigator, not a "corporate attorney" doing due diligence.
She a great News Anchor! Gorgeous, intelligent, and working for the right network. You go Girrl!
"She's"
Make your move 11:53, make your move. We are all waiting.....
Dear AntonK:
What's with the hair extensions?
More months betweens washings, or what?
Fox News Anchor Bimbo Checklist:
Blond: Y
Conservative: Y
Lack of Independent Thought: Y
TTT Degree: Y
Willing to go down on Britt Hume: Y
She's hot but she's no Kash.
She's hotter than Kash and SEN combined.
sort of hot, but who cares?
Quick, who was the last famous (not fabulous) person to graduate from Albany Law School? Answer later in the day.
That Brit Hume still has a job is the story here.
Bring back SEN!
Ridiculously hot. Seriously one of the most attractive women I've ever seen. I can even tolerate Bill Hemmer because of her. I consider myself blessed just because I get to wake up to her every morning at 6:45 a.m. And then Kelly's Court at 7:50 or so? Too much too early. Rarr.
12:58
William McKinley.
She is hot, and she has a real slutty look in her eye. No man on this board would turn her down. 11:43 aka Guy Incognito is not a man, at least not a straight man. Look at his icon and nickname....nough said.
I would enjoy a Kelly - Kash sandwich.
12:58 - define famous.
Depending on what you mean, a Supreme Court Justice, a NYS Attorney General, a NYS Court of Appeals judge, a govenor, the first woman admitted to the NYS bar, or (as 1:12 noted) a U.S. President could all qualify.
Agree with 1:08 - she's even more attractive in person - far too combustible and outgoing to be a BIGLAW associate or partner. I'd put her on the short list for Katie Couric's about to end gig at CBS but Megyn's too bright to embrace the dying franchise of big 3 network nightly news. I suspect she'll rule the roost from Fox for a long while - because the economics of that will be just as (or more ) favorable in the long run. I'll bet she gets an hour long solo nightly gig post election on Fox.
12:58 - Richard Parsons (Time Warner ex-CEO/current Chairman).
Heather Nauert on Foxnews is much more attractive.
I am in love with Heather Nauert.
I wonder whether the name on her birth certificate actually "Megyn?" Or is that her stripper name?
Hopefully, she made law review and wasn't hired at Jones primarily based on looks. Although, if she were, I have to agree with the partner and associates who made the decision. We don't even have paralegals that look like that.
There are plenty of TTT grads at JD, especially in their offices in the "second-" and "third-tier" cities (think Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburg, especially--workhorse offices, but certainly not NY or DC).
Many of the hiring people would prefer #1 at Akron, for example, to bottom half at Penn/Mich/Cornell/etc. because the #1 Akron grad will likely be a hard worker who is grateful for the opportunity to work at JD, which is considered the golden ticket in many of these markets.
The people who went to better schools, and have friends at other real firms know they're getting hosed, and many of them end up leaving (and the firm is spookily quiet about this--people just kind of disappear, sometimes with a line stating such in the office newsletter, oftentimes not).
People who went to garbage law schools don't have the same exit opportunities or access to information and get tied to JD. JD does have a knack for picking hard workers from lower-tier schools.
I went to UCLA and I work for JD. Does that make me the cream of the crop?
3:04--it's "Pittsburgh," but other than that, I second your comments.
3:07--in Cleveland, Pittsburgh or Columbus, most definitely.
i'm a fordham grad and a hardworker at JD - i feel totally pegged, thanks 3:04.
Sorry, ATL. Lat is not a journalist and neither are the rest of you. You're bloggers who re-package the hard work of actual journalists. Come off it.
3:17, no need, the comment didn't apply to you: What goes into and comes out of Fordham is much different from, on average, Ohio Northern, Akron, Capital, Cleveland State, etc.--the schools that dominate the incoming classes in the Ohio offices of JD. And I was mentioning a certain type of people I've seen (hardworking beasts who are noticeably a few notches below other people in the class), not all grads from these schools, some of whom are great to work with (and some of whom do end up becoming equity partner). I do realize that not everyone goes to the highest-ranked school they can.
And since I've all but outed myself if you work in these three JD offices, I'm done. 3:04
I hate you so much 3:23.
so your point is that the hardworking TTT grads get screwed because they work so hard relative to the others? i didn't think anybody could be a slacker at JD, regardless of office.
I hate TTT grads so much. They work hard and make the rest of us look like shit. Thanks a lot.
The college pic is cute. Now she has got way too much makeup on. Just goes to show how women hit the wall very quickly after 30.
Borrrrrrring blonde conserva-wench. Give me Rudi Bakhtiar any day.
She is hot, indeed.
3:23: If Stevens, Ginsburg, Souter, Breyer and Kennedy can get away with having most Americans believe that they are "judges," (as opposed to, I don't know, "legislators" or just plain "oligarchs"), I think it's fine for Lat to characterize himself as a "journalist."
Fed Soc (not yet registered, but will soon)
And, what evidence is there to believe that she is conservative? Surely the facts that she acknowledges that there exists left-wing media bias and that she works at the only major news station that presents both viewpoints on most issues (with the possible exception of Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network) do not imply that she is necessarily a conservative.
Fed Soc
At least Fox realizes that its target audience doesn't care WHAT'S in the news as long as it's delivered by a young female blonde in lots of makeup who likes to talk about "left-wing media bias." I'm expecting a calendar of her in a confederate flag bikini holding automatic weapons in the next few months.
12:58:
Michael Garcia- US Attorney SDNY. Currently weighing whether to prosecute a famous Harvard Alum who can't get laid without paying for it. Was also on today's WSJ Law Blog.
What of Jamie Colby, also Fox on Fox, from your favorite law school in the south
"She works at the only major news station that presents both viewpoints on most issues."
Fed Soc, exactly what news station would that be? Fox News is just as skewed to the right as other mainstream media outlets are skewed to the left....please, because Bill O'Reilly throws out a few bones to the left in terms of stating that he has issues with capital punishment, we are supposed to believe that Fox presents both the liberal and the conservative viewpoint equally? Give me a break.
Did anyone else notice her nose job?
Sorry, but as a former journalist (at a top newspaper) who is now in law school, David Lat is NOT a journalist!
If I take pictures of myself with my cell phone, it doesn't make me a model, no matter how many people I send them to!
Is "Megyn" short for "Megynocologist"? Send her a copy of Freakonomics!
I get sick and tired of these people who can't simply express an opinion about someone pro or con without having to make a smartaleck comment.
Now that I've got that off my chest instead of making anymore childish comments to take a jab at the people who do not care for Megyn Kelly I will simply say that Megyn in my opinion and that will never change is the number one female cable news anchor in this country today. She's a talented, bright, and gorgeous young lady!!!!
Nothing wrong with hiring on looks. Who wants ugly cows on TV when there are plenty of Megyn Kelly clones about. The only reason I watch Fox news is for the eye candy.