2008 in Review: Caption Contests

This year, we launched a new feature on ATL: the Caption Contest. We gave you legally-themed photos and asked you to submit potential captions. We thought it was a great idea — let the readers do our work for us!

The contests proved to be widely popular. Wading through hundreds of caption submissions to bring you a top ten list was actually quite time-consuming, but not a terrible chore — lawyers and lawyers-to-be came up with some hilarious material.

Once we narrowed the lists to the top ten finalists, we let ATL readers choose the winners by voting. “Guest” may not win ATL Commenter of the Year, but certainly did come out on top in captioning. Take our most recent contest, Babies in the Corner. Out of 3030 votes, this caption won by a nose (0.8 percent):

Don’t move! They can’t lay us off if they don’t see us.

A look back at our three favorite caption contests, after the jump.


In our first two caption contests, we gave you the background for the photos and asked for caption submissions. We wised up later and realized the submissions were funnier when we gave you a photo without its context.

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Here are our top three contests:

3. ‘Porky’ Caption Contest: This was one of our favorite photos, from a mock trial for elementary school students in Wisconsin. The caption finalists for this one were an interesting bunch, ranging from pig rape jokes to death penalty humor. Though our personal favorite for the caption was “Res Ipsa Porquitor,” the voters preferred this one:

It was John’s first — and last — pro bono matter.

2. ‘Tighty-Whities’ Caption Contest: Though we tried to give this photo without context, it was a fairly big news story, so many knew the photo’s (unfunny) background. Still, our winner persevered in steering the focus away from then-Covington partner David Remes’s Guantanamo crusade and back to the “phallacies” of Biglaw. And who doesn’t love penis-with-a-mind-of-its-own humor?

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“And now my junior partner has something he’d like to say…”

1. ‘Lady Justice’ ATL Caption Contest: This photo captured a Louisiana judge on the wrong side of the law, standing outside the Shreveport courthouse, during a break in his trial. This contest brought in quite a lot of captions that referenced Roy Pearson of million-dollar-pants fame. One of those made it into the final ten, as did a Paul Hastings joke. One commenter praised the list as “the best lineup we’ve had, and almost all are truly hilarious.”

But the winning caption employed a sure-proof method for swaying voters: mocking the Bush administration’s attitude toward the rule of law. Voters were even willing to overlook the caption’s questionable grammatical structure:

After being screwed so much by the Bush administration, a doctor confirms that Lady Justice has become pregnant.

We look forward to more penis and pro bono jokes in 2009. If you come across a potential photo for a contest, please send it to us at tips@abovethelaw.com.

2008 Caption Contests

Babies in the Corner

‘Tighty-Whities’ Caption Contest

‘Lady Justice’ ATL Caption Contest

‘Porky’ Caption Contest

Mr. Easter Bunny and POTUS

The South Florida Blackout