It's not just Pepper Hamilton. Email screw-ups are committed by even the most renowned lawyers -- like longtime Skadden Arps partner Sheila Birnbaum, a living legend of the product liability defense bar. As we previously wrote, "Birnbaum, who heads Skadden’s Complex Mass Tort and Insurance Group, has a nickname reflecting her expertise: 'The Queen of Toxic Torts.'"

From the Insurance Coverage Blog:

Some of [Mississippi Attorney General] Jim Hood's proneness to gaffes must have rubbed off on Sheila Birnbaum of Skadden, Arps, a lead counsel for State Farm, when she was down in Mississippi to hear Hood testify February 6....

Birnbaum accidentally replied to all the people on the distribution list for an e-mail Hood's press spokeswoman sent out this morning to a number of people, including reporters. Birnbaum thought she was responding to other State Farm lawyers.

Ah, the perils of "reply all." Perhaps a CLE course should be given on how to use it properly?

(Part of the class could be devoted to client confidentiality issues. I Can Haz Ethics Credits?)

P.S. Birnbaum, by the way, does very nicely for herself. Back in May 2001, Forbes published an interesting list of some of the country's highest-paid corporate lawyers. Birnbaum reportedly earned $3.8 million a year -- and that was back in 2000-2001, before the latest Biglaw boom.

State Farm attorney mistakenly sends query about having Hood held in contempt to reporters, Hood's press spokesperson [Insurance Coverage Blog]
Email May Hurt State Farm, Miss. Truce [AP via Forbes]
Highest Paid Corporate Lawyers - 2001 [Forbes]
Sheila L. Birnbaum [Skadden]

Earlier: ATL Practice Pointer: When Emailing Super-Sensitive Settlement Information, Double Check the Recipient List
Separated at Birth: Sheila Birnbaum and Harold Koh?

When we surfed over to the WSJ Law Blog a few minutes ago, quickly scanned the page, and saw the photo for this post, we thought it had to do with Yale Law School. But upon closer inspection, we learned we were wrong.

Instead, it was a post about Skadden Arps partner Sheila Birnbaum. Birnbaum, who heads Skadden’s Complex Mass Tort and Insurance Group, has a nickname reflecting her expertise: "The Queen of Toxic Torts." The superstar litigatrix attended the Supreme Court oral arguments this morning in the Philip Morris punitive damages case.

So why did we think, for a few brief seconds, that the post was about Yale Law School? Here's why:

Sheila L. Birnbaum [Skadden]
Dean Harold Hongju Koh [Yale Law School]