It didn't make our final four. But this wedding announcement, featuring an heir to the great Swingline Stapler fortune, gives us an opportunity to note that there is -- who knew? -- more than one way to staple something.

We recently learned that you can rotate a plate on the bottom half of your stapler, thereby causing the hammer to press the staple out instead of in and "pinning" the document together temporarily. Minutes of fun, people!

Back to business. Here are this week's newlywed entrants:

1. Alyson Evans and James Beha II

2. Jennifer Brosnahan and Kevin McIntyre

3. Kristen Eichensehr and Richard Ré

4. Amanda Kosonen and David Schleicher

Read up on these fabulous contestants, after the jump.

This is the type of topic we'd expect to see posted in our new Community section. But since that section hasn't really caught on yet, we're happy to post it here. From a law student at the University of Chicago:

The quarterly U of C student newspaper came out [last week], and the Student Body President (of all people) wrote a snarky poem about transfers. [Ed. note: The poem -- "Phenomenal Transfer," perhaps inspired by Phenomenal Woman, by Maya Angelou -- is posted after the jump.]

[T]he poem isn't terribly offensive, but it's indicative of a general attitude to transfers that original / "regular" students often have (and the way I understand it, it's worse at some schools than others). "Regular" students often snark transfers because transfers "don't deserve to be there" -- meaning that LSAT scores are apparently the only acceptable measure of deserving to attend a law school. It's also fairly well known that transfer students do as well as or better than "regular" students with grades -- maybe that's where part of the problem comes from.

Update: According to several commenters, the publication that the poem appeared in is a satirical, Onion-esque newsletter.

Apparently anti-transfer prejudice varies from school to school. According to our Chicago tipster:

I've heard bad things about how GULC [Georgetown University Law Center] treats its transfers. Apparently at orientation last year, the current students booed the new transfers. It'd be interesting as students start preparing transfer applications for them to have an idea (from an open thread or comments) how they'll be treated at the schools they're considering transferring to.

Now is a good time for such a discussion, says our source:

Schools start accepting applications May 1, usually through the summer, with applications completing when grades come in (from the first school -- so right about now). Acceptances go out throughout the summer, and some schools have rolling admissions. So I think it's most topical right now, especially given that students generally send out relatively few transfer applications (usually 2-4 tops) as compared to initial law school applications.

In fact, some prospective transfer students have already heard back. From a different correspondent, who wrote us last month:

[H]ave you ever done anything on law students transferring schools? Georgetown is in the process of sending out decisions to their early action applicants. I just got accepted as a transfer from John Marshall in Chicago with a 3.93, which puts me in the top 3%. The Yahoo TransferApps group and the transfer board at lawschooldiscussion.org have been blowing up over the last few days with people getting accepted/rejected. Maybe you could get some good info for the law-student readers that are pondering a transfer.

If you have thoughts on being a transfer student or on the transfer application process, please share them in the comments. You can also check out the "Phenomenal Transfer" poem, after the jump.

Spring! Cherry blossoms, opening day, and pedigreed lawyers uniting in marriage. We're pleased to be back with another installment of Legal Eagle Wedding Watch, featuring these three impressive couples:

1.) Susannah Foster and Kenyon Weaver

2.) Kathleen DeLaney and Courtney Thomas

3.) Heath Kern and Joseph Gibson

More on our finalists, after the jump.

When law students are choosing among law firms, they inquire into such predictable things. What's the firm's billable hour requirement? How is work distributed? What about pro bono? For lawyers involved in recruiting, it must get boring to have to answer the same questions over and over again.

So law students, next time you interview with a firm, ask about something that really matters: What is the firm's policy towards associates who want to participate in reality television shows?

Is the firm supportive of such endeavors? Can I take a leave of absence for the show's filming, and then return in good standing? If so, will my year-end bonus get prorated?

As it turns out, Biglaw shops take different approaches to reality TV. It was rumored that Sidley Austin was none too pleased when associate David Otunga decided to participate in I Love New York 2 (and he is no longer at the firm). As for his performance on the show, the Harvard Law School grad made it to the final three, before losing to "Buddha" and "Tailor Made."

Contrast Sidley's reaction to that of K&L Gates. The firm allowed an associate in its Washington office -- the highly attractive Denise Gitsham, 30, a recent Georgetown Law grad and former Bush aide -- to take leave to be on "The Bachelor." Now it welcomes her back with open arms. From an email recently sent around by D.C.-based partner Mark Ruge:

All:

This Monday, at 9:30 p.m. on ABC, is the season premier of the hit television show, The Bachelor. ("The Bachelor" is the nation's highest-rated reality TV show in the 18-45 female demographic group. It is now entering its 12th season on network television.)

Believe it or not, one of the contestants this season will be our own associate Denise Gitsham, who was away "on location" during much of February. Here is a link to the show's web site and Denise's bio:

http://abc.go.com/primetime/bachelor/index?pn=bios#t=bachelorettes&d=85609

Denise's name, photo, and bio were submitted to the show by her cousin, and Denise was selected to be one of the show's 25 bachelorettes out of more than 12,000 applicants. She was under extreme confidentiality requirements during her adventure (and still is to some degree). At least now, though, she is free to admit what she was doing during her mysterious leave in February.

Just thought you would like to know...

Mark

K&L Gates lawyers: if you need to send something to Denise via intra-office mail, the delivery should be accompanied by a rose. Thanks.

P.S. We can't find Denise Gitsham on the firm website (although we did find a "Denise Stiffarm" in Seattle). We're guessing that Denise has been too busy filming The Bachelor to fill out all that pesky bar admission paperwork.

Denise Gitsham bio [The Bachelor]

Georgetown is an excellent law school -- "T14" (top 14), as some like to say -- with many things going for it. Supreme Court justices love to visit. Students get to take classes like The Law of 24. The diva-licious Nina Totenberg speaks at commencement.

Perhaps most importantly, at least to readers of ATL, Georgetown grads land excellent jobs. Not surprisingly, in a recent poll, a majority of respondents said they'd need $100,000 to turn down 14th-ranked Georgetown in favor of, say, 51st-ranked Arizona State (maybe 'cause they'd like to be separated from Kumari Fulbright by multiple states).

But GULC isn't perfect. Mistakes get made -- mistakes that could, say, compromise your personally identifiable information (and mess with your credit score). From several tipsters:

"You might want to post this so anyone who graduated during this time but didn't get the e-mail knows about the stolen identities."

"I got this warning this morning. Evidently, not everyone is affected, as students next to me in class have not received the email. Just thought I'd forward this along to show the problems at American could be worse - at least their identities aren't at risk."

View the email, after the jump.

Update: We have also posted a follow-up to the original message.

* Does the Bush Administration have Blackwater's back? The U.S. pushes for specific legal protections from Iraqi law for civilian contractors. [New York Times]

* West Virginia: a little less corrupt than last week? WV Supreme Court agrees to rehear Massey Energy case (previously discussed here). [AP; WSJ Law Blog]

* D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg steps down early, to make way for Chief Judge David Sentelle. [D.C. Circuit (PDF) via How Appealing]

* NYT endorses Hillary Clinton (but not for the reasons identified in the bumper sticker at right). [New York Times; New York Times]

* A more detailed report on the Georgetown Law event with Justice Ginsburg that we wrote about last night. [Georgetown Hoya via How Appealing]

One of the great things about going to law school here in Washington, D.C., is access to the U.S. Supreme Court. If you're at Georgetown Law and want to watch a SCOTUS argument, you can just stroll on over to One First Street.

And sometimes the mountain comes to Mohammed. Justices of the Supreme Court regularly visit Georgetown University Law Center. For example, last November, as reported in these pages, Justice Antonin Scalia paid a visit.

Today his considerably more liberal counterpart, fellow opera lover Ruth Bader Ginsburg, graced GULC with her presence. From a tipster (who took the iPhone picture at right):

Justice Ginsburg just left an admitted students event at GULC, a discussion about U.K./U.S. comparative law. Also in attendance was Lady Hale of the soon-to-be U.K. Supreme Court.

Justice Ginsburg was very dignified. She was wearing a brown suit -- it looked like a carpet -- paired with white stockings and yellowish shoes.

Best part: when she whipped a copy of the Constitution out of her pocket and read out the Equal Protection Clause!!!

I had my Con Law book ready for her signature, but she snuck out a side door right afterwards.

For the Article III groupies among you, a little more description of the event appears after the jump.

Gracing the front page of today's Washington Post is an article that will appeal to many ATL readers. It's by Post reporter Ian Shapira, who previously wrote this interesting piece about summer associates. Here's the headline:

Okay, not a terribly novel development. As one of several ATL readers who wrote us about this story observed, "it's not exactly Man Bites Dog."

But even if the article may not be earth-shattering, it's a well-crafted, thought-provoking piece. We think it will get an interesting discussion going. Also, anything that gets a general audience to care about the niche topic of law firms, like a front page WaPo article, is a good thing in our book.

Excerpts and observations, after the jump.

Our latest legal celebrity sighting: Justice Antonin Scalia, spotted at Georgetown University Law Center. He is believed to have been at GULC to speak to a con law class.

Of the current justices on the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia clearly inspires the greatest amount of fanatical devotion. How many other justices have their own fansite?

(Okay, Justice Thomas has one too. And with his new, bestselling memoir, My Grandfather's Son, he's definitely building a fan base. But we still think that Justice Scalia has the most groupies of any member of the SCOTUS.)

And how many other justices are asked to sign students' laptop computers? This student, who had his laptop autographed by AS, was proudly displaying his computer to his classmates, saying that he felt Scalia had "blessed" his laptop for the upcoming exams.

With such a large and devoted following, we have a feeling that Justice Scalia's forthcoming book -- Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges, a guide to persuasive legal writing and oral advocacy, which he's writing together with legendary legal writing teacher Bryan Garner -- will sell pretty well too.

Scalia to Join Supreme Court Book Club [Legal Times]

We almost forgot. Happy Halloween!!!

If you're here in Washington, DC. and looking for a way to celebrate, here's an event at Georgetown University Law Center that might interest you:

Halloween with Judge Kozinski!

Join us for a special debate:

“Property Rights After Kelo”

Alex Kozinski, Judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

vs.

Chip Mellor, Founder and President, Institute for Justice

Wednesday, October 31, 4:30

Room 201, Georgetown University Law Center

(We'd love to attend, to see the colorful Judge Kozinski in the (superhot) flesh. Alas, we have a scheduling conflict.)

Speaking of Georgetown Law, we'd like to issue a friendly ATL shout-out to all the great folks we met at last week's Equal Justice Foundation live auction (and party). We had a great time.

A few photos, after the jump.

You don't have to take our word for it. Just attend "Backpack Awareness Day" at Georgetown:

Backpack Awareness Day
Join us in the Chapel Area
1:30-3:30 p.m.
September 20th

Tips to Prevent Back Problems:

- Wear both straps to distribute the weight evenly

- Wear the backpack resting evenly over the middle of the back. The backpack should not extend below the low back

- Adjust the straps so they are not too loose but still allow for free arm movement and ease in putting on and taking off the backpack

- Carry only those items needed for the day with the heaviest items closest to the back

- When selecting a backpack, choose one with

- A padded back
- Hip and chest belts
- Multiple compartments
- Reflective material to enhance visibility at night

Who knew that wearing a backpack could be so hard?

As weird Georgetown Law events go, Backpack Awareness Day isn't as much fun as GULC's yearly 1L moustache contest. That competition, which "renders the male 1L population even more unattractive than usual during finals period," features "a dog show-style competition, kegs, professors judging, drunk spectators, 2L interlopers, and a Burt Reynolds commemorative plate for winner."

But if you're desperate for a way to procrastinate, perhaps Backpack Awareness Day will do the trick.

Moustache Law [official website]

We're not being sarcastic. This course, to be offered at Georgetown Law in spring 2008, sounds awesome. To the average law student, it's probably way more interesting than securities regulation (or even ERISA -- one of our favorite law school classes). [FN1]

From the GULC course catalog:

The Law of "24"
Professor W. Sharp
LL.M Course 853 (cross-listed) | 2 credit hours

The award winning Fox Television drama series 24 explores America’s fictional response to international terrorism through the eyes of Jack Bauer, a U.S. counter-terrorism agent. Oftentimes without remorse or regard for the law, Agent Bauer is willing to do what has to be done when faced with the threat of kidnappings, assassinations, nuclear detonations, and bioterrorism on U.S. soil – despite traitors in his family, his unit, and the White House; partisan politics; sleeper cells; and hidden agendas.

This course provides a detailed understanding of a very wide-range of U.S. domestic and international legal issues concerning counterterrorism in the context of the utilitarian and sometimes desperate responses to terrorism raised by the plot of 24. Course requirements include active classroom discussion and a paper of approximately 25 pages.

If Jack Goldsmith's new book is correct, it seems some members of the Bush Administration legal team might benefit from this class.

The instructor, adjunct professor Walter Sharp, sounds pretty badass. He's a Naval Academy grad who currently serves as Associate Deputy General Counsel for International Affairs at the Defense Department. He previously served as Deputy Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pretty cool!

[FN1] We followed, with interest and amusement, this recent spirited commenters' debate over whether you can get a "real" legal education at Yale. For those of you who care, we offer some thoughts on that subject after the jump.

The Law of "24" [Georgetown University Law Center]
Faculty bio: Walter Gary Sharp [Georgetown University Law Center]

We're bummed that we can't write this week about the groom who arranges music for Yo-Yo Ma and Jay-Z. Or the one who's associate counsel for the NBA.

But lawyer-lawyer couples abound, and we know those are the pairings ATL readers crave. Here are our finalists:

1. Lisa Kutlin and Alexander Goldenberg

2. Shauna Burgess and Jonathan Friedman

3. Elizabeth Frieze and Matthew Prasse

More about these legal lovebirds, after the jump.

If you're tired of reading about Peter Barta, the Legal Aid Society lawyer who allegedly videotaped his female colleagues as they were changing their clothes in the office, then skip this post.

But if you'd be interested in reading an email from a law school classmate of his, you can check it out, after the jump.

We're nearing the end of graduation season. Sadly, we received hardly any responses to our request for examples of odious graduation gifts. This was the best one:

Worst graduation gift ever: My dad asking me why I only came second in my class and not first. And then no gifts!

If that's not a recipe for several years of therapy, we don't know what is.

Due to the lack of submissions, we have picked out our own worst graduation gift: Nina Totenberg as your graduation speaker.

Because Nina Totenberg, the distinguished legal affairs reporter for NPR, is one of the country's most celebrated journalists, one would expect graduates -- especially law school graduates -- to appreciate her as a speaker. But La Totenberg didn't win many fans with her recent Georgetown commencement address.

Here's a less-than-favorable review of her speech, from a 2007 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center:

I worked very hard, for an extended period of time, to graduate from law school. For better or worse, it represents one of the great achievements I will have in life. And her speech seemed as if she wrote it on the cab ride over from NPR.

I'm disappointed that Totenberg chose to be so lighthearted during what I feel is, for lack of a better word, a "solemn" occasion. It was so lighthearted that it wasn't even cogent! Ask me how I really feel, right?

I have heard nothing but negative reviews from [my classmates]....

(If you'd like to check it out for yourself, click here to access a webcast. Enjoy.)

Update: This commenter makes a good point. We've heard a number of tales about Nina Totenberg's diva-licious behavior -- and we'd love to hear more. Please send them to us by email, and perhaps we'll do a more detailed write-up on her. Thanks.

2007 Georgetown Law Center Commencement Ceremony [Georgetown University Law Center (webcast)]
Nina Totenberg bio [National Public Radio]

Earlier: Worst Graduation Gifts: Submissions, Please

"Hee-hee, this book of mine is TOO FUNNY! Every time I read the story about Souter drinking all of Luttig's wine, I completely lose my s**t. I can't figure out who was the bigger a**hole: Souter for drinking the wine, or Luttig for offering it?"

(Lest there be any confusion, the caption above is fictionalized. Jan Crawford Greenburg is far too genteel to say such things. Who do you think she is -- Alexandra Korry?)

Here's a quick, belated write-up of the interesting discussion we attended last week at Georgetown Law School, featuring Jan Crawford Greenburg and Jeffrey Rosen (and moderated ably by Professor Neal Katyal, who happens to be Rosen's brother-in-law).

Both Greenburg and Rosen have just published new books about the Court. Rosen is the author of The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America, and Greenburg is the author of Supreme Conflict: The Inside Story of the Struggle for Control of the United States Supreme Court.

Some brief highlights from the conversation, as well as a few photos, after the jump.

On the heels of the robust lawyer wedding market over October 21-22, last weekend delivered another bumper crop of attorney nuptials. We picked three couples to write about, per our standard procedure. But there were many others that would have been equally suitable for review.

Three of the wedding announcements that we almost wrote about illustrate an interesting trend: mentioning past employment positions. Typically this is done only if the former post is a big deal -- e.g., a Supreme Court clerkship, an ambassadorship, etc. But in three announcements -- Lucy Fowler and Travis Glasson, Liora Powers and Steven Spiess, and Robyn Sorid and Joshua Ufberg -- past jobs of the bride were mentioned, despite not being exceptionally notable.

(Fowler, Powers, and Sorid were, respectively, former associates at Foley Hoag, Schulte Roth & Zabel, and Paul Weiss. These are all prestigious gigs; but none is on the level of a SCOTUS clerkship or an ambassadorship.)

Sorry for the digression; on to the business at hand. Here are the couples in contention this week:

1. Leanne Abrams, Brandon Bortner

2. Aileen McGrath, Jason Gillenwater

3. Marjorie Zauderer, David Griffel

Ratings and reviews appear after the jump.