Okay, so the folks over at TMZ.com don't chase them around yet. But here at ATL, we adore legal celebrities -- and invite you to send in your encounters with them, for our Eyes of the Law sightings column.

Last Friday, for lovers of legal boldface names from the left or the right, William & Mary School of Law was the place to be:

William and Mary Law School (and the College) had a series of speakers of today, all wedged into a very tight schedule. They included:

At noon, former Dean of UC Irvine School of Law Erwin Chemerinsky. Unfortunately, I didn't go to his talk, so I can't say whether he talked about the controversy.

At 1 PM, UC Berkley professor (and evil incarnate if you believe some blogs) John Yoo spoke. Yoo said in his introduction that he was being "wedged in" between "the former Dean of UC Irvine" and Stuart Taylor, who was speaking at 2 on his book on the Duke rape case, "Until Proven Innocent."

We also had a panel on Saturday on "Judicial Modesty," which included such leading lights as Dahlia Lithwick, Michael McConnell, Carter Phillips and Jeffrey Rosen. See here (PDF).

Quite the weekend for legal geeks! (Er. You know. If I was one of them).

Although this tipster wasn't at the Chemerinsky talk, other ATL readers were. Check out this video, posted on the blog of the W&M chapter of the American Constitution Society. Isn't Chemerinsky adorable?

Additional discussion of the Erwin Chemerinsky and John Yoo appearances, after the jump.

We're a little late on this (and blame our tardiness on associate pay fixation). But here are two interesting tidbits of Supreme Court gossip, from Tony Mauro of the Legal Times:

1. Carter Phillips' Kin Is Alito Clerk [Legal Times]

One of Justice Samuel Alito's incoming clerks, Jessica Phillips -- who has been described as "beautiful and brainy" -- is the daughter of renowned Supreme Court litigator Carter Phillips. This means that Jessica "will have no involvement in cases in which her father’s firm, Sidley Austin, participates" -- which has ranged as high as 20 percent of the Court's docket.

(Btw, Jessica Phillips is not the first female clerk whose father also clerked for the Court. Mauro ticks off a list of five daughters of male clerks who went on to become clerks themselves. Check it out here.)

2. New Job for Mrs. Roberts [The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times]
More on Jane Roberts' New Job [The BLT]

Lawyer Jane Sullivan Roberts, the wife of Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. has a new job -- and it's not at a law firm. The leading legal search firm Major, Lindsey & Africa announced this morning that Mrs. Roberts is leaving Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman's D.C. office to become leader of the In-House Practice Group in Major, Lindsey & Africa's D.C. office.

Inquiring minds want to know: Will Jane Roberts continue to earn more than her husband in her new position?

(That was surely the case in her old job, when Jane Sullivan Roberts was a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop. Even though her most recent post at the firm was Executive Partner for Talent Development, which probably didn't involve a lot of client-billable work, it would be shocking for a Biglaw partner to earn less than her hubby's $212,100 salary as Chief Justice.)

Remember our lovelorn Craigslist poster, with a hopeless crush on the dazzling Denise McNerney, Merits Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court? It appears that he may have a rival for the affections of this comely clerk.

From today's Legal Times:

[T]here was a large and enthusiastic turnout at Georgetown University Law Center April 26 as the Supreme Court Institute recognized four senior officials of the Clerk’s Office: Chief Deputy Clerk Chris Vasil, Deputy Clerk Gary Kemp, Deputy Clerk Cynthia Rapp, and Denise McNerney, the merits clerk. Even Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stopped by to shake their hands.

Solicitor General Paul Clement extolled the Clerk’s Office.... Sidley Austin’s Carter Phillips seconded the motion, describing McNerney as the most important woman in his life — after those in his family.

Yikes. Carter Phillips is quite a romantic rival. He's one of the country's most celebrated Supreme Court litigators; a very wealthy man, as a longtime Sidley & Austin partner; and even a former Supreme Court clerk, to Chief Justice Warren Burger.

But look, underdogs can prevail in these battles for the heart of a beautiful woman. It happens all the time. Like in the movies.

So c'mon, Mr. Craigslist Poster -- send some flowers to Denise McNerney, c/o U.S. Supreme Court, One First Street, Washington, DC 20003. We're rooting for you!

P.S. We'd love to get our hands on a photo of Ms. McNerney. If you can help us out, please email us. Thanks.

P.P.S. No, this Denise McNerney isn't the one that we're looking for -- she's too old. We understand that Denise McNerney of SCOTUS fame is in her early 30's.

Clerk Power [Legal Times]

Earlier: Desperately Seeking 'The Supreme Court Clerk of My Heart'
'The Supreme Court Clerk of My Heart': Not Talkin' About Pam Talkin

In our report earlier today about Supreme Courtships, a forthcoming television show about "the personal and professional lives of six Supreme Court clerks and their supervisors," we looked back on two failed TV shows about the Supreme Court: "First Monday" and "The Court."

We wrote:

Judicial groupies were thrilled to see two shows about the Court on national television (despite the many inaccuracies and ridiculous plot lines). But their joy was fleeting.

Now, this correction. Not everyone who follows the Supreme Court was so pleased by the attention from Hollywood.

From a January 2002 article by Tony Mauro:

Complete with James Garner as a chief justice who smokes (like the real one), Joe Mantegna as an Italian-American associate justice who attends Mass (like the real one), and a Court with two women and one black justice (like the real one), ["First Monday"], if it succeeds, will probably impart more information about the nation's highest court to the general public than a decade's worth of routine activity by the real Supreme Court.

And that is what worries people like Carter Phillips of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, a veteran Supreme Court advocate who is among a small number of Washington lawyers who have seen rough cut tapes of the first two episodes.

"Unbelievably smarmy," says Phillips, who is not usually given to outbursts of hyperbole. "Vomitous."

Look, it could have been worse. At least Phillips didn't use profanity, as he has done before (in open court). He could have called the "First Monday" producers “motherf*****s" and told them to “eat s***." Instead, he temperately dismissed their show as "vomitous."

Why was Phillips so upset? Per Mauro:

Phillips confesses that he is a stickler for accuracy, and as such could not abide the slew of details that come out wrong in the show.

For one, the first episode was based erroneously on the premise that it takes five justices to grant review in a case, not four.

Relax, Carter! Look at the glass as half-full. You should have been pleased that the word "certiorari" was even uttered on national television, on a channel other than C-SPAN.

Another issue with "First Monday":

Garner's chief justice, an inveterate Oklahoma football fan, precedes the first Court session with a football-huddle-style handshake among the nine robed justices and the rallying cry "Let's go out there and make history!"

Yes, this sounds ridiculous. But is it really so impossible to imagine? If Harriet Miers, with her cheerleader-ish tendencies, had been confirmed to the Court, group hugs might have become de rigeur at One First Street.

Will New Supreme Court TV Show Make It Past Its 'First Monday'? [Law.com]
C-SPAN’s Potty-Mouth Broadcast [Washington Wire]
Carter G. Phillips bio [Sidley Austin]

Earlier: "Supreme Courtships": A Show About SCOTUS Clerks, Take Three

* The Volokh Conspiracy wins Best Law Blog. Congrats to the VC crew! [The Weblog Awards 2006 via 2nd Place Winner How Appealing]

* F&@% you, FCC!. [CNN.com]

* And in my-home-state-is-not-completely-backward news... [Jurist]

* If he sold it, Ron Goldman wants the money. [AP via FindLaw]

* Internet illiterate NY Mom, who doesn't know "a kazaa from a kazoo," is dropped from recording industry's suit against her children. [AP via lexisONE]