We’ve already started using it, so this should come as no surprise. But just to make it official, we now declare FELDSUK the winner of our nickname contest for the fabulous Noah Feldman and Jeannie Suk (previously described as the “Brangelina of the legal academy”).
We tried to defend our initial nickname selection, “Noahjeannie”; but you were unpersuaded. The victory of “Feldsuk” was decisive:
A couple with such abundant brainpower and beauty is perfect fodder for ATL. Expect to see much more of Feldsuk in the future.
Earlier: Prior coverage of Noajeannie Feldsuk (scroll down)
Harvard Law School
- Feldsuk, Harvard Law School, Jeannie Suk, Law Professors, Lawyerly Lairs, Nauseating Things, Noah Feldman, Noajeannie, Real Estate
Lawyerly Lairs: You’re Sick of Noajeannie Feldsuk. We Don’t Care.
By
David Lat
The whole point of being a mono-monikered celebrity entity is that you get covered, and covered, and covered by the media. This coverage continues, long after the public claims to be sick of you and cries out for mercy.
But really they’re not sick of you. This is why Brangelina still moves magazines.
As for the Brangelina of the legal academy, Harvard Law profs Noah Feldman and Jeannie Suk, the jury is still out on what to call them. To vote in our nickname poll, click here.
But we DO know what to call the good professors’ recently acquired, $2.8 million house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Coldwell Banker has some suggestions: “Imposing,” “lovely,” “magnificent,” and “exceptional.”
We agree. Check it out:
If this reader comment is correct — and it appears to be, since various details match up with the New York Observer article (an 1873 Victorian with five fireplaces and a pool) — Professors Feldman and Suk will be taking up residence in the shown above. As you can see, it’s one nice pile o’ bricks.
Sometimes real estate listings get pulled after outside websites link to them. We hate it when that happens.
To preserve this information for posterity, we took a screencap of the original property listing. Check it out, after the jump.
Continue reading “Lawyerly Lairs: You’re Sick of Noajeannie Feldsuk. We Don’t Care.”
- Biglaw, Elena Kagan, Eliot Spitzer, Harvard, Harvard Law School, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, Musical Chairs, Sidley Austin, Willkie Farr
Musical Chairs: 01.08.06
By David LatLots of interesting moves, both actual and rumored, to report upon today.
Possible promotion:
* Elena Kagan, the popular (and hot) dean of Harvard Law School, is being considered for the presidency of Harvard University.
In government:
* New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is on a hiring spree (just like his successor as AG, Andrew Cuomo). Lloyd Constantine, who currently heads a 40-lawyer firm, will serve as a senior advisor to Spitzer. Debra Bachrach, a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, will direct the state’s Medicaid program. Joseph Baker, bureau chief for health care under AG Spitzer, will take over as deputy secretary for health and human services.
“You’re Fired”:
* Former Apple in-house lawyer Wendy Howell was discreetly discharged, late last year, for her role in the options backdating fiasco.
Reunited and it feels so good:
* Structured finance lawyers William Cullen, Janet Barbiere and Bola Oloko, to Thacher Proffitt & Wood, from Sidley & Austin. The trio left Thacher Proffitt together in 1997 (back when Barbiere and Oloko were still associates; they were recently promoted to partnership at Sidley).
Other lateral moves:
* Bankruptcy lawyer Steven Wilamowsky, to Bingham McCutchen, from Willkie Farr & Gallagher.
Headhunters at Harvard May Pick a Woman [New York Times]
NY Bankruptcy Partner Switches Firms [NYLawyer.com]
NY Trio Returns to Firm They Left in the ’90s [NYLawyer.com]
Spitzer Taps Three NY Lawyers to Fill Key Positions [NYLawyer.com]
Apple Quietly Canned Lawyer Who Backdated [The Recorder via Law.com]
- Boutique Law Firms, Columbia Law School, Department of Justice, Harvard Law School, Real Estate, Weddings
Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: December 10, 2006
By David LatWe were starved for Wedding Watch material in the weekend of December 9-10. We couldn’t even find the standard three couples in which at least one spouse is a lawyer.
So we did the next best thing — we found two couples in which a parent of a spouse is a lawyer (and a third couple of two lawyers). Here are this week’s contestants:
1. Cornelia Henning, Nicholas Van Amburg
Scores and commentary for this trio of lovebirds, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: December 10, 2006″
How do you solve a problem like length limits on law school final exams? It’s a vexing issue. If you think we’re exaggerating, read this PrawfsBlawg post (which generated an avalanche of comments, including many from frustrated law professors).
Well, fear not. The geniuses at “the world’s premier center for legal education and research” take due process seriously when it comes to exam grading — as well they should, since that Torts grade will determine the trajectory of YOUR ENTIRE LEGAL CAREER* — and they have solved this difficulty.
From: Catherine Claypoole
Date: Nov 29, 2006 5:16 PM
Subject: [STUDENTS]: Length Limits on Exams: Memo from Vice Dean Andy Kaufman
To: [Harvard Law School students]To all students:
During the investigation of several discipline cases last spring, the faculty became aware of substantial student concern that length limits on examinations were being enforced unevenly. Moreover, the faculty became aware that this concern was justified. Accordingly, the faculty has agreed that, starting this exam period, length limits ordinarily will be stated in a uniform way that is easy to enforce that is, by setting a page limit followed by a prescribed format as follows:
– font:12 point Times New Roman (including all footnotes)
– characters: normal spacing
– lines: double-spaced
– margin: 1″ margin on left and right, top and bottom
There is of course no need for you to remember this format. The cover pages of exams with length limits will provide this information….
Good luck with the rest of the term.
Best regards,
Andy Kaufman
Vice Dean for Academic Programming
Our favorite detail is “characters: normal spacing.” The administration knows that within the HLS student body, there are lots of ex-college newspaper editors who know a thing or two about kerning.
Our second-favorite detail: there’s a Harvard Law School dean named Andy Kaufman.
These rules make sense, at a certain level; but the annoying thing is that someone must police them. While some violations might be apparent to the naked eye — especially naked eyes that can tell the difference between an italicized and non-italicized comma — other transgressions might be less conspicuous. Will teaching assistants have to whip out rulers to confirm that the margins are truly one inch all around, and not, say, 0.97 inches?
This is way too cumbersome. HLS profs, just adopt Dan Solove’s brilliant system for law school exam grading. Nothing could be easier or more efficient.
* No, 1Ls, we’re serious. That Torts grade will determine whether you grade on to Law Review. Which will determine whether you get a clerkship with a “feeder judge.” Which will determine whether you get a Supreme Court clerkship. Which will determine whether you end up arguing before the Supreme Court yourself, as a million-dollar partner or member of the SG’s office, or chasing ambulances in Salina, Kansas.
(Not that there’s anything wrong with Salina, for those of you who are from there. We’re sure it’s a lovely town.)
Enforcing Word Limits [PrawfsBlawg]
A Guide to Grading Exams [Concurring Opinions]
Because of Bonusmania, we’ve fallen behind a little in Legal Eagle Wedding Watch. In this post, we discuss lawyer weddings from the weekend of December 2-3.
The most high-profile wedding that week was between media heiress Anne Hearst, sister of Patty Hearst, and novelist Jay McInerney (announcement here). But there were also three marriages involving attorneys:
1. Rebecca Benjamin, Joshua Rikon
Our scores and commentary, after the jump.
Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: December 3, 2006″
- Celebrities, Fabulosity, Feldsuk, Harvard Law School, Hotties, Jeannie Suk, Law Professors, Law Schools, Media and Journalism, Musical Chairs, Nauseating Things, Noah Feldman, Noajeannie, NYU Law School, Supreme Court Clerks
Musical Chairs: Professor Noah Feldman Is Leaving NYU for Harvard!
By David LatProfessor Noah Feldman — the brilliant, gorgeous, legal academic superstar / public intellectual — is abandoning NYU Law School (its student body hotness notwithstanding). He’s heading up to Harvard Law School, where his similarly beautiful and brainy wife, Jeannie Suk, is already on the faculty.
(Most readers of ATL are probably familiar with this celebrity couple. But if you’re not — if you don’t know about their Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships, their D.C. Circuit and Supreme Court clerkships, their multiple published books, and their storybook-perfect life — we refer you to The Latest Triumphs of the Elect: It’s Good to Be Noah and Jeannie!)
From what we’ve heard, Noah Feldman’s move was a long time in coming. HLS apparently made an offer to him quite some time ago. The rumor that he might be decamping for Cambridge was circulating in legal academia for a while.
Although the move makes sense, Professor Feldman had good reason to think carefully before leaving Gotham. NYU tried very, very hard to keep him. And here are three considerations that probably crossed his mind:
First, he has strong ties to the NYU law school community. It has been his academic home for the past few years, which have been very good to him, and he is worshiped around campus by students (who surround him like groupies to a rock star).
Second, being based in New York, the media capital of the country, was great for his career as a public intellectual. It facilitated his frequent contributions to the New York Times (both the magazine and the op-ed page), his regular appearances on major talk shows, and his efforts on the book publishing front (three books and counting).
Third, and perhaps most importantly, he and Jeannie have a FABULOUS apartment in the heart of Greenwich Village. And as every New Yorker knows, a good piece of real estate is very hard to find.
At the end of the day, though, Harvard Law School is still Harvard Law School. And when your wife is already on the faculty up there, it’s kinda hard to say no when HLS’s hot dean comes calling.
Congratulations, Professor Feldman, on your new post and the big move!
Noah Feldman to join Harvard Law faculty [Harvard Law School]
The Latest Triumphs of the Elect: It’s Good to Be Noah and Jeannie! [UTR]
Most Beautiful Brainiac: Noah Feldman [New York magazine]
Noah Feldman bio [New York University Law School]
Jeannie Suk bio [Harvard Law School]
Over at Bench Memos, Ed Whelan — one of our favorite commentators on matters judicial — provides a great account of Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent visit to his alma mater, Harvard Law School. Here’s an excerpt:
The dinner that Harvard Law School dean Elena Kagan hosted on Wednesday evening to honor the 20th anniversary of Justice Scalia’s appointment to the Supreme Court was a delightful event, far exceeding my hopeful expectations.
In her own remarks honoring Justice Scalia, Dean Kagan was eloquent, warm-spirited, insightful, and very amusing. She presented Justice Scalia with a letter from Chief Justice Roberts congratulating him on reaching the “midpoint” (or some similar term) of his service on the Court. With wonderfully apt remarks, she also gave him, as a memento of the dinner (which featured salmon as the main course), the framed original of a humorous letter from the great Justice Joseph Story offering thanks for a gift of salmon. The celebratory remarks of professors Charles Fried, Laurence Tribe, and John Manning were likewise excellent.
Read the full report here. As Whelan notes, the welcome extended to Justice Scalia in Cambridge — by law school dean hottie Elena Kagan — was notably warmer than the somewhat chilly reception accorded to Nino in New Haven.
Harvard Law School Celebration of Justice Scalia [Bench Memos on National Review Online]
Earlier: An Addendum on Nino in New Haven
At the risk of seeming Harvard-centric — yesterday we wrote about Larry Tribe’s dog — we bring you this brief report on the Ames Moot Court finals, held last week at Harvard Law School. From the Boston Globe:
Every year, the Ames Moot Court finals at Harvard Law School are a pretty amazing affair, bringing together a dozen third-year law students who have already beaten out a couple hundred of their classmates, in front of high-ranking real-life judges. But this year, the cast of characters seemed particularly interesting.
On one team was Erika Harold (at right), the 2003 Miss America. The other team included Kevin Terrazas, who started law school after serving in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division.
The bench for the competition was similarly distinguished. It’s traditional for a Supreme Court justice to preside over the Ames Moot Court finals, and this year was no exception: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the Court’s increasingly influential swing vote, wielded the gavel. He was joined on the bench by two of the most brilliant members of the federal judiciary: Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, of the Fourth Circuit, and (super-feeder) Judge Merrick B. Garland, of the legenday D.C. Circuit. Both Judge Motz and Judge Garland have been mentioned as possible Supreme Court picks in a Democratic administration.*
The case presented was a fictional one, captioned Adam’s Apple Markets v. Aphrodite Cosmetics. The team representing Aphrodite, which featured veteran Kevin Terrazas as an oralist, won best overall case. Beauty queen Erika Harold and her teammates won the prize for Most Congenial best written legal briefs. Tian Tian Mayimin, who argued for defendant Aphrodite Cosmetics, won for best oral presentation. (But in announcing the oralist award, Justice Kennedy “noted the judges emphasized substance over style.” Does that mean that Mayimin’s style left something to be desired?)
Were any of you in attendance at this august event? If so, and if you have any funny or interesting tidbits to add, please do so in the comments.
* Does anyone remember those TV commercials for Motts applesauce cups, in which a little kid says to his co-conspirator, “I got the Motts”? If Judge Motz is ever nominated to the Supreme Court, we’d like the president to announce her nomination by exclaiming, “I got the Motz!”
Shirin Shakir Memorial Team Wins 95th Ames Moot Court Finals [Harvard Law Record via How Appealing]
Miss America Loses Harvard’s Moot Court Competition [WSJ Law Blog]
Ames Moot Court Final video [Harvard Law School via How Appealing]
Moot Court Finals Rule at HLS [Harvard Law School]
The Federalist Society Annual Dinner is basically one huge party. And no party would be complete without a rockin’ after party.
The Oscars have the Vanity Fair after-party; the Fed Soc dinner has the Harvard Law School after-party. And it’s supremely convenient. Unlike many after parties, which are held in obscure venues like underground bars or illegal clubs, the HLS Federalist Society party is held just across the hall from the ballroom hosting the dinner.
Like many non-HLS folk, we crashed the Harvard afterparty. Pictures from the raucous festivities, plus a few final photos from the dinner itself, appear after the jump.
Continue reading “ATL Party Crash: Wherein the Harvard Federalists Throw a Bitchin’ After Party”
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