Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 9.7: No Ordinary Love
For the commenters who yearn to see more “ordinary” couples in the Legal Eagle Wedding Watch, we commend this pair to your attention. The groom is a radio personality, and the bride has a JD from Loyola. They seem likable and … ordinary. Is this the type of couple our readership craves? Should we devote one slot a week to a Tier-II couple? Designate one column a month as Ordinary Week? Please advise. (This is actually a serious question. LEWW recognizes that we can’t satisfy everyone, but we do aim to please.)
For now, we’ll to continue to celebrate the extraordinary. Our finalist couples have degrees from Harvard, Yale, NYU, Chicago, and other elite schools, some with athletic programs. All three brides toil in Manhattan law firms, and all three grooms serve humanity in important-sounding public-sector jobs. Here they are:
1. Jessica Buturla and Caswell Holloway IV
More on the couples below, including photos.
1. Jessica Buturla and Caswell Holloway IV
(Buy them a dinner plate.)
The Case:
- Strong, diverse educational background for this two-lawyer couple. Jessica is Yale/NYU; Cas is Harvard/Chicago.
- Equally impressive jobs! Cas is a special assistant to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg (read his testimony before a House subcommittee on a 9/11 compensation act here), while Jessica keeps food on the table as an associate at ultra-prestigious Cravath. LEWW really likes the mating of gritty government insider with slick corporate shark; we predict big things for these two.
- Their officiant was Second Circuit Judge Dennis Jacobs, for whom Cas clerked. In addition to being LEWW’s favorite kind of officiant, (the Article III kind), Judge Jacobs is the author of a memorable benchslapping dissent (in which he proudly acknowledged not having read the majority opinion!).
The Case Against:
- The photo at right obviously depicts too much joy, spontaneity, and cleavage to be the official NYT shot. The Gray Lady has been making LEWW’s job harder of late by withholding many of the couples’ photos from the online write-ups. We may have to break down and buy a Sunday subscription, but for now we appreciate the shots submitted by our couples’ frenemies. Keep ‘em coming!
2. Sarah McDonald and Patrick Egan
(Buy them a down pillow.)
The Case:
- Sarah and Patrick have much in common with the contestants above, starting with strong educational credentials that combine Ivy cache with a touch of newer-school swagger. He went to Yale and she went to Stanford; they met in law school at the University of Michigan.
- The similarities continue: Patrick serves New York as an assistant district attorney; Sarah is an associate at Davis Polk.
- Impressive parental credentials — and on both sides, which is fairly rare. Sarah’s dad is a former chairman of Price Waterhouse. Patrick’s mother is a former managing partner of Edwards & Angell’s New York office, and his father is a senior VP at JPMorgan Chase.
The Case Against:
- After remarking yesterday on the ubiquity of rabbis in our wedding coverage, we took one look at the names on these two and assumed that this, at least, was one wedding where Hava Nagila went unsung. Wrong! Sarah McDonald and Patrick Brendan Robert Egan were, in fact, married by Rabbi Richard S. Chapin. Love it. Mazel tov!
3. Johanna Greenbaum and David Newman
(Buy them a springform pan.)
The Case:
- Another two-lawyer pair caps off a strong week. Joanna and David met as undergrads at Harvard. She was magna and he was only cum laude, but he was the one who stuck around to attend HLS, while she got her JD from Georgetown.
- Joanna is an associate at Kramer Levin. David, having just completed a Second Circuit clerkship (Amalya Kearse), is dropping down a level to clerk for Judge Kenneth M. Karas of SDNY.
- David’s father is the CFO of both the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and Peterson Management. The former seeks to raise public awareness of the national debt and other fiscal issues; the latter “oversees the Peterson family’s finances.” Peter G. Peterson is the Senior Chairman of the Blackstone Group and has a net worth of $2.5 billion.
The Case Against:
- The groom’s father is named Paul Newman, resulting in a predictable celebrity mis-link from the NYT’s automatic link generator. Does anyone edit these articles?
The Verdict:
Thanks to Cravath and Judge Jacobs, Team Buturla-Holloway narrowly edges out the other two entries. Congratulations, newlyweds!
(55) 
Comments
first to say - efing boring....zzzzzzzzzzzzz
LAME
1 & 2: Whatever, LEWW is the bomb.
did you see that guy's face?
did you see that guy's face?
Cas is a solid guy. Good for him.
Egan is the man. That picture shows him in his business casual - he would make Gatsby look like Khalid Sheik Mohammed in the morning.
I only want to read about the "extraordinary" couples. Ordinary is boring.
WTF is going on in that first picture? The woman's expression makes me wonder where the guy's other hand is.
Egan is the man. That picture shows him in his business casual - he would make Gatsby look like Khalid Sheik Mohammed in the morning.
Egan is the man. That picture shows him in his business casual - he would make Gatsby look like Khalid Sheik Mohammed in the morning.
Egan is the man. That picture shows him in his business casual - he would make Gatsby look like Khalid Sheik Mohammed in the morning.
Egan-McDonald is the clear winner. Couple #1 loses by virtue of the photo alone.
Hey, I know one of those people - it's the first time I've ever seen a Times announcement for someone I knew.
Since when does Cravath hire from New York Law?
Caswell Holloway IV? Seriously? Isn't that a strong enough "case against" by itself?
Cravath > Davis Polk
Caswell Holloway IV? Seriously? Isn't that a strong enough "case against" by itself?
Sarah McDonald has a super-sized ass and an even bigger ego.
#3 needs to be dinged for poor decision making. Magna at Harvard to GULC? COA clerk to a district (even if it is SDNY)?
Can't we have just one GULC grad?
Do I detect an anti-semitic undertone in the write-ups lately?
8, 9, 13-15: fags
So let me get this straight - Jim Croce is the father of the bride and groom in couple #3?
btw, keep it to the extraordinary. I go to enough ordinary weddings.
10 -- LOL!
How badly do you have to do on the LSAT to be a Harvard magna and only get into GULC?
Tragic.
Keep in mind, the average Harvard ugrad LSAT score is something like 166 -- unless you're a URM, that's not normally getting you into GULC. However, that's also not counting the prestige boost that HYP students get in law school admissions -- not at all unheard of for non-URM 166s from those schools to get into places as high as CCN.
Either way, Harvard Magna to GULC = huge letdown, but not the worst by far. You'd be surprised how many HYP --> BC, BU, Fordham, WUSTL, etc. law students there are...
That's because Ivy league undergrad affiliation is one of the most overrated "credentials" around. Half of the Ivys are made up of overachieving, moderately intelligent class president types.
If you are a lawyer, why would you marry a lawyer? They all lose
Boo to Cas, who obviously put my clerkship application in the shredder.
Once again, more and more ugly people.
BTW: Does anyone else get a sense of the bitchy tone that Laurie is exhibiting? Get off your high-T1 horse.
You have a funny way of picking TTT, Elie. The guy went to Loyola law but interviews people like Desmund Tutu and Jay-Z. That is WAY more exciting than managing document productions at Davis Polk.
Laurie, it's okay to include Tier-2 couples, but I wouldn't expect them to win the LEWW competition for best couple, unless they had some uber-prestigious post-JD activities (e.g. Loyola JD + SCOTUS clerk might be eligible to win).
#1 poses like that everywhere. It's not just that shot. He's constantly grasping her waist at a 30 degree angle, dragging her around and making her giggle. It's a little like watching a live version of Mannequin the movie.
I would love to hear how loud the whining would be if Laurie started passing over two HYS grads for, say, two GW grads. LEWW is a mostly tongue-in-cheek take on the weddings page, *using the page's own PoV,* which is itself prestige-obsessed. I am continually amazed by the people who fail to get the joke. They are often the same people who are offended that their TTT schools don't get more attention. Perhaps that is not a coincidence.
And it was the bride who went to Loyola, not the groom. The article doesn't say what she does, so it very well could be document management. And with a Loyola degree it likely is.
Caswell Holloway IV loses automatically. Numbers after your name = TTT.
These posts are dumb. Who cares what privileged tool marries a different privileged tool besides their privileged tool friends.
I'm done, now I can navigate away from this shit post.
Laurie,
Do not include tier-II people here -- they might view that as license to procreate.
I am a self-hatting TTTer (transfered to T14, but I still know the truth) who loves LEWW - keep it extraordinary.
I am a self-hatting TTTer (transfered to T14, but I still know the truth) who loves LEWW - keep it extraordinary.
Gotta love the straight-up-the-nostrils pic for couple #1.
Dear God: Please don't ever let my picture be posted on a web site where people get to anonymously comment on my looks.
The article about the Tier 2 couple was awesome! If I ever get married again, I swear I am going to have a taco truck cater my reception!
Bride #2 appears to have a decent rack. Was that not taken into consideration? Where are your standards people?
is anyone else wondering how a rabbi ended up at the mcdonald/egan wedding? i actually noticed this while stalking the original nytimes announcement a few weeks ago, and i'm impressed that laurie caught it. apparently i'm not the only weirdo that thinks about these things.
31,33,34: i know a few HYP UG kids at my 50-100 law school. none of them even made law review.
johanna, bear in mind that those posting the vitriol are jealous, insecure fucktards. certainly dumber and less attractive than you. also hiding behind a keyboard to say things they would never say to your husband's face...fucking cowards.
10, 19, 37. clearly you have never been laid. you are pussies too.
i'm no "TTT" but I support inclusion of the more "ordinary people" LEWW- oftentimes much more interesting than reading about prestige-obsessed and unfortunate looking jews (or irish people married by a rabbi- which I just don't get)
What the f@ck are you people talking about? Johanna was the prettiest girl in my class.
-GULC 2007
If you think "America's Radio Sweetheart" is ordinary, and that the other three are particularly "extraordinary", you're whacked. Good luck to all four couples.
Laurie, maybe instead of "Tier I" and "Tier II" you could spice it up with some non-traditional JDs. Is there anyone out there who gets a JD and becomes a bar tender? Or goes on humanitarian trips to Botswana? Joins a convent? (Okay, probably not in LEWW.) Wins national eating competition? Shows championship poodles? These are the people we need to know about.
27 is right, for at least two weeks running the "case against" for at least one couple has been based on the fact that there's something jewish about the wedding. LEWW to religious-tolerance!
I would forgive all T, TT, or TTT issues if you would just put some women on here that I would actually have sex with. A 10 from Loyola > 4 from HYS.
I happen to be jewish and worked at a V10 and would still be interested in seeing something other than HYSCCN grads who work at the V10 firms who grew up with daddy's money. There have to be other couples out there, from schools ranked from 6 to whatever, that have more interesting or scandalous stories of how they met, interesting current jobs, career paths, previous jobs, bizarre hobbies or factoids, etc. to be highlighted. That's just my two cents as someone who appreciates diversity and people who are self-made. I see "prestigious" -- but cookie-cutter and boring -- legal couples all the time. Yawn.
I happen to be jewish and worked at a V10 and would still be interested in seeing something other than HYSCCN grads who work at the V10 firms who grew up with daddy's money. There have to be other couples out there, from schools ranked from 6 to whatever, that have more interesting or scandalous stories of how they met, interesting current jobs, career paths, previous jobs, bizarre hobbies or factoids, etc. to be highlighted. That's just my two cents as someone who appreciates diversity and people who are self-made. I see "prestigious" -- but cookie-cutter and boring -- legal couples all the time. Yawn.
cas is a solid guy -- congrats on the win (and getting married, too!)