Harvard, New York Times, Weddings

Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 7.5: The Richest Guys in the Room

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LEWW often hears complaints about the elitism and snobbery of the NYT’s wedding coverage (and, by extension, our coverage of the coverage). “What about all the couples who didn’t meet at Harvard?” critics cry.
In response, we’d like to point you to this Vows column from mid-June. Roughly twice a year, the NYT covers the wedding of what it presumably considers “average Americans,” seeking thereby to demonstrate that its weddings sections isn’t only for privileged Ivy Leaguers and their wealthy parents. This one, for example, features a pregnant bride and at least one electronic monitoring bracelet. Enjoy.
And now, this week’s legal eagle finalist couples (six people, six Harvard degrees, zero ankle bracelets):

1. Katherine Zeisel and Joshua Salzman
2. Maria Gambale and Zachary Taylor
3. Karen Milkosky and Patrick Curran

Check out these couples’ résumés and photos, after the jump.



1. Katherine Zeisel and Joshua Salzman
(Buy them an egg ring.)
The Case:
– Two-JD couple, solid credentials: Georgetown (cum laude) and NYU Law for her; Columbia and HLS (both magna) for him.
– The groom is an associate at WilmerHale, where he worked on an amicus brief filed in Kennedy v. Louisiana, 128 S.Ct. 2641 (2008), arguing that the death penalty for the rape of a child is unconstitutional (SCOTUS agreed).
– The bride is a staff lawyer at the Children’s Law Center in Washington and a chairwoman of the District Alliance for Safe Housing.
The Case Against:
– There’s a long and only moderately interesting account of how they played together as children, but she never considered him boyfriend material because he was younger. We get the sense that Joshua has a thing for older women.

2. Maria Gambale and Zachary Taylor
(Buy them a deep fryer.)
The Case:
– Maria and Zachary both graduated from Harvard, she cum laude and he summa. Zachary also has a law degree from HLS and a master’s in ancient Greek literature from Cambridge.
– She works as a producer at a television studio in Manhattan; he’s now an associate in Gibson Dunn’s NY office, after spending time at Sullivan & Cromwell and Heller Ehrman.
The Case Against:
– It’s not lame per se to give your kid the name of a U.S. president, but when it happens to be the one who only served 16 months in office before dying of gastroenteritis, leaving the country in the hands of Millard Fillmore — yeah, it’s a little lame.

3. Karen Milkosky and Patrick Curran
(Buy them a cheese plane.)
The Case:
– This couple also has two undergraduate degrees from Harvard. Patrick, an associate at Quinn Emanuel, has a JD from the University of Chicago, while Karen is finishing dental school at NYU.
– They were married by Second Circuit judge and SCOTUS non-nominee Guido Calabresi, for whom Patrick clerked.
The Case Against:
– Good grief, how have we heretofore been unaware of the bombastic, hyper-aggressive train wreck that is the Quinn Emanuel website? Some excerpts from the chest-thumping animated banner that assaults the visitor:
* “THE RICHEST GUYS IN THE ROOM? Our clients.”
* “NEED TO BREAK THE BANK? We can be adverse to almost all major financial institutions.”
* “WHEN AN 8-FIGURE VERDICT SIMPLY WON’T DO.” [Accompanied by a graphic of a spinning slot machine.]
If we were up against Quinn in litigation, we’d be sure to give the judge in our case an excuse to visit this website. It drives home the point that the firm is a giant collection of rapacious d-bags far more effectively than any brief ever could.
The Verdict:
– It’s a very close three-way race this week, with Team Zeisel-Salzman snagging the crown only by virtue of its two law degrees. Congratulations to all the newlyweds!

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