Family Law, Jeffrey Toobin, Media and Journalism, Pregnancy / Paternity, Sex, Sex Scandals

Legal Eagles Mate: But Who Will Take Care of the Eaglet? Jeffrey Toobin Taken to Family Court by Gibson Dunn Associate.

By  
on

One blogger teed up a story about celebrated legal and political journalist Jeffrey Toobin being sued for paternity with this quip: “This Might be Scandalous If Anyone Watched CNN.”

But people also read the New Yorker, where Toobin is a longtime legal correspondent, as well as Toobin’s bestselling books — including, most recently, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.

So let’s get inside the not-so-secret world of Jeff Toobin and Casey Greenfield — daughter of television personality Jeff Greenfield and an associate at Gibson Dunn (so there’s a Biglaw connection here too). From the New York Daily News:

One of the media elite’s most whispered-about scandals went public Wednesday when married CNN correspondent Jeffrey Toobin squared off with a woman who says he’s the father of her baby.
Yale-educated lawyer Casey Greenfield — the daughter of eminent CBS News analyst Jeff Greenfield — had a chilly faceoff with Toobin in Manhattan Family Court.

Watch out, Jeff: Casey practices in litigation at Gibson Dunn, recently named by the American Lawyer as Litigation Department of the Year. And if this litigatrix loses, she might take it to a higher court — perhaps aided by GDC’s stellar appellate practice. (Thanks to Ted Olson’s involvement in the Proposition 8 case, Gibson lawyers are acquiring expertise in family and matrimonial law.)

More discussion — plus a better photo of Casey Greenfield, who’s quite attractive — after the jump.

Sponsored

From the NYDN:

Toobin, who glumly sat several rows away from Casey Greenfield before the hearing, is said to have privately admitted to fathering the child, believed to have been born last summer, sources said.

A friend of Greenfield’s said the outspoken Toobin has resisted putting his name on the infant’s birth certificate and hasn’t given his former lover the child support she’s requested.

C’mon, Jeff — you can do better than that. Sure, Casey’s taking home a pretty penny, as a Gibson Dunn associate. But you’re making much more, thanks to CNN and the New Yorker and all the book royalties.

Greenfield and Toobin appeared to be doing their best to avoid eye contact before the hearing, which was closed to the media.

He had his nose buried in a newspaper. She vigorously typed on her smartphone.

Apparently Greenfield got the memo: “CHECK YOU EMAILS.” Since her baby was born last spring, she must be done with her maternity leave, and back in the Biglaw trenches. Can you blame her for being addicted to the Crackberry?

Sponsored

Although we believe this lawsuit constitutes the first time that Greenfield has publicly fingered Toobin (as the father of her child), she wasn’t exactly keeping it a secret before. Among Yale Law grads of the early 2000s, it was widely known that Greenfield claimed to be carrying Toobin’s baby.

(We overlapped at YLS with Greenfield, and we have a number of friends in common. Greenfield received her J.D. in 2007, but she was on leave for a few years, as noted in her New York Times wedding announcement.)

One person who has seen the baby — it’s a boy, by the way, named Rory — even noted that the baby looks like Toobin. Based on this Facebook photo, though, Rory seems much cuter — and looks more like his mother.

As for Toobin, he has been married since 1986 to his college sweetheart, Amy McIntosh. The two got to know each other while working together on the Harvard Crimson. Although they’ve been married for almost 25 years and have two kids, they have had some rocky periods (including separations).

We requested comment from Casey Greenfield, via Facebook message, but we did not hear back from her. We previously contacted Jeffrey Toobin about this affair, months ago — we’ve known him since 2005, when he wrote about us in the New Yorker, revealing our authorship of Underneath Their Robes — but he did not comment back then. He reiterated his unwillingness to discuss the matter at yesterday’s hearing, so we’re guessing he’s maintaining his silence.

If you have anything to add about this story, feel free to email us (subject line: “Casey Greenfield and Jeffrey Toobin”). Thanks.

CNN legal eagle Jeffrey Toobin in baby mama drama – with daughter of CBS News’ Jeff Greenfield [New York Daily News]
This Might be Scandalous If Anyone Watched CNN [Jammie Wearing Fool via Instapundit]
Casey Greenfield [Gibson Dunn & Crutcher]
Casey Greenfield, Matt Manfredi [New York Times]
J.R. Toobin Weds Amy B. McIntosh [New York Times]

Topics

, , , , , , ,