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Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 4/13- 4/27: Blank Slate

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 10:49 AM - By Laurie Lin

Legal%20Eagle%20Wedding%20Watch%20NYT%20wedding%20announcements%20Above%20the%20Law.jpg
Is anyone else sick of LEWW’s logo? We’ve grown weary of the weird paper-doll figures holding hands — they just don’t say “celebration” to us.

So we’re asking our readers to help us pick a new visual for Legal Eagle Wedding Watch. Some of you had gripes about ATL’s new design — here’s your chance to put your stamp on a small corner of the site. Your submission can be a photo (an artistic detail shot from your own wedding, perhaps?) or a graphic of your own design. An allusion to the law would be a plus, but the most important thing is that the image convey the theme of impressive people getting married. (And, of course, it must not be an image that’s copyrighted by someone else.)

Send us your entries (please e-mail them here and not to ATL’s tips line). We’ll pick our favorite and give you a big shout-out and heaps of gratitude for perking up this space.

And now, on to this week’s finalists:

1.) Suzanne deVries and Adam Decker

2.) Kristy Hong, Jonas Blank III

3.) Elena Klau and Chad Silverman

4.) Natalie MacLean, Russell Leino

More about these candidates, after the jump.

deVries-Decker.jpg1.) Suzanne deVries and Adam Decker
(Buy them a sausage stuffer.)

The Case:
- This pair met as law students at Columbia, where the bride was a Harlan Fiske Stone scholar (meaning she probably got into HLS). She was magna at Dartmouth; he went to Duke.
- Both are currently associates at New York law firms, the bride at Cleary Gottlieb and the groom at White & Case.
- Suzanne has lawyering in her blood. Her father, the late Henry deVries, was a law professor at Columbia and a partner at Baker & McKenzie.

The Case Against:
- Nothing, except a nagging sense that Suzanne might have settled. But we hear all the cool girls are settling these days.

Blank.jpg2.) Kristy Hong, Jonas Blank III
(Buy them a placemat.)

The Case:
- Another same-law-school couple, this time from HLS. The bride did her undergrad at MIT; the groom went to Duke.
- Many of you will recognize Jonas as the 2003 Skadden summer associate who notoriously — and mistakenly, of course — sent the firm’s entire underwriting department an e-mail in which he announced that he was “busy doing jack shit” and occupying himself by “typing e-mails and bullshitting with people.” Moments later Jonas’s name was blazing like a comet across Biglaw. His jaw-dropping blunder earned a write-up in the New Yorker and a page on snopes.com (which includes Jonas’s apology) (also see coverage by ATL and Skadden Insider). LEWW is delighted to shine the spotlight on Jonas once again, this time in happier circumstances.
- Despite his monumental gaffe, Jonas received an offer from Skadden. (Note to 2Ls: That was a happier era for summer associates. You’re living in leaner times.) He was an associate there until March 2007, and he’s now flourishing at Richards Kibbe & Orbe, where he may be the most famous associate (but not the hottest — that title goes to the groom in couple #2 here).
- Kristy practices employment and compliance law at Warner Music Group in New York.

The Case Against:
- Their website touts a “honeyfund” for their wedding guests to pony up for the honeymoon. LEWW need hardly say that we consider this to be in dubious taste.

Klau-Silverman.jpg3.) Elena Klau and Chad Silverman
(Buy them a teapot.)

The Case:
- We’ve previously documented our big school-crush on Dartmouth grads; we believe it’s the elite university least likely to tool-ify its graduates. So we love that Elena and Chad met at Dartmouth and even got engaged on a hill overlooking the campus (read the entire proposal story here).
- Chad has a JD from Columbia and is an associate at Skadden. Elena is studying for a doctorate in political science at George Washington and has a day job that is frankly too boring to write about here.

The Case Against:
- Their picture isn’t really doing it for us; but the one on their website is much hotter, particularly of Elena. Damn that NYT eyebrow rule!

MacLean-Leino.jpg4.) Natalie MacLean, Russell Leino
(Buy them a lasagna turner.)

The Case:
- A federal clerkship! Unfortunately, it’s a lowly District Court judge (Thomas P. Griesa of S.D.N.Y). Natalie has a JD from Columbia. She and Russell met as Harvard undergrads.
- Russell is an analyst at Giuliani Partners and an auxiliary police officer with the NYPD. This reminds us of a guy in our college dorm, who was a volunteer fireman so he could have a special light. He was totally into those lights; they were like porn for him (What you want! What you need!). Is this common?

The Case Against:
- OMG, what is going on with the picture on their website? They both look plastered, and Russ appears to be defecating on something as Natalie humps his leg. Not Harvard’s proudest hour.
- They have a video. Our readers know that we generally think these videos are an abomination, although theirs is one of the least awful ones we’ve viewed.

The Verdict:
The Legend of Jonas Blank is a tale of ruin, redemption, and ultimately rebirth, offering solace and hope to every wretched soul who’s ever been brutalized by the “reply all” button. From cautionary tale to LEWW’s Groom of the Week — you’ve salvaged your career and your soul, and for that we toast you, Jonas Blank. (Congratulations to Kristy too, of course!)

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Posted in: Cleary Gottlieb, Columbia Law School, Harvard Law School, New York Times, Skadden Arps, Summer Associates, Weddings, White & Case

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