Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 7.12: French Kissing

Rejoice, wedding fans! We have some compelling mid-summer material for you this week: Wachtell, SCOTUS, lesbians, French nobility — read on for the details on all of that and more, as reported in the New York Times and filtered by us.
Our finalist couples:

1. Rebecca Gutner and Rodman Forter Jr.
2. Laura Hammond and Christopher Hemphill
3. Laure de Vulpillières and Vanessa Dillen

Admire these couples’ achievements, after the jump.


1. Rebecca Gutner and Rodman Forter Jr.
(Buy them a cereal bowl.)
The Case:
– This bride and groom formed a love connection as paralegals in the Department of Justice’s antitrust division. Then they attended law school together at Columbia. (She went to Princeton for undergrad; he was summa at Colgate.)
– Rebecca’s an associate in tax at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Rod clerked for Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain and is now an associate at Wachtell.
The Case Against:
– Memo to brides: If the NYT rejects your carefully posed photo, and your firm bio doesn’t include a picture, and you password-protect your wedding website, LEWW will have no choice but to link to an old photo from your squash-playing college days. (In all seriousness, we’ll run the most flattering photo we can find. Work with us.)

2. Laura Hammond and Christopher Hemphill
(Buy them a hand towel.)
The Case:
– Yummy résumés. The bride, a cum laude graduate of Yale, is an analyst at Dune Capital Management. Her dad is a partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed.
– The groom graduated from Harvard, received a master’s in economics from LSE as a Fulbright scholar, and has another master’s in economics from Stanford. He also has a JD from Stanford Law, where he was first in his class. (Don’t hyperventilate yet; we’re just getting warmed up.) Post-Stanford, he clerked for Seventh Circuit super-genius Richard Posner, after which he ascended to a clerkship with Justice Antonin Scalia. Now he’s an assistant professor of law at Columbia.
The Case Against:
– The picture is a little . . . chilly. We’ve seen more sincere smiles at a Nancy Pelosi press conference. Here’s hoping these two have more chemistry in person.

3. Laure de Vulpillières and Vanessa Dillen
(Buy them a salad spinner.)
The Case:
– Gorgeous brides, fascinating bios. Laure was cum laude at Harvard and is studying for a master’s in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government. She’s also — and we quote — “the daughter of Viscount Rémi de Reydet de Vulpillières of Crespières, France, and the late Viscountess Elizabeth de Reydet de Vulpillières.” LEWW is swooning.
– Vanessa graduated from Tufts and has a JD from Hastings. Until recently, she was a lawyer at the Family Law Self Help Center of San Francisco Superior Court. We assume that naturally she’ll be leaving the workforce now to manage the household staff and social calendar for her noble spouse.
The Case Against:
– Laure’s the daughter of a Viscount and Viscountess, and the NYT addresses her as “Ms.”? Weak.
The Verdict:
– We’re certain that a SCOTUS clerkship trumps two Columbia law degrees. Does it also beat out bona fide nobility? LEWW is torn, but we conclude that the Elect are the American legal equivalent of Dukes and Duchesses. And of course everyone knows that Dukes totally own Viscounts. Congratulations, Team Hammond-Hemphill!

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