Their personal identity information gets compromised by data breaches. From the Washington Post:

Sometime late last year, an employee of a McLean investment firm decided to trade some music, or maybe a movie, with like-minded users of the online file-sharing network LimeWire while using a company computer. In doing so, he inadvertently opened the private files of his firm, Wagner Resource Group, to the public.

That exposed the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of about 2,000 of the firm's clients, including a number of high-powered lawyers and Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer....

A spokesman for Breyer said the justice had no comment on the security breach, which came to light after the reader notified Security Fix and the blog alerted some of the Wagner clients.

Eh, but who cares about lowly -- or low-paid -- Supreme Court justices? Lordly law firm partners were also victimized: "'This may explain why two weeks ago I got a $9,000 cellphone bill from AT&T,' said Steven Agresta, a partner with the law firm Alston & Bird."

Or maybe a certain A&B summer associate got a hold of Agresta's cell phone, and decided to call his homies back in Croatia. Did Agresta also get charged for a small fortune in necktie purchases?

Update: Some of you have asked for an update about Divljan Shatterhand Steele. He's still a summer associate at Alston & Bird, where he is doing well and has become something of a minor celebrity.

Justice Breyer Is Among Victims in Data Breach Caused by File Sharing [Washington Post via Drudge]

Law school commencement speakers have a tough gig, coming up with original pearls of wisdom for people who already know it all. We wish this year's crop of speakers luck! The TaxProf Blog has a list up of the chosen few here (also available after the jump).

ATL has a top ten list for you, with the reason he or she made the cut. In no particular order:

1/2/3. Stephen Breyer, at American University / Samuel Alito, at Catholic University / Stephen Breyer, at Northeastern

Breyer- 2. Alito- 1. The rest of SCOTUS- 0.

4. Jerry Springer, at Northwestern

For the ability to generate a comment clusterf*ck. Our question: Will there be midgets?

5. Timothy Finchem (Commissioner of PGA Tour), at UVA

Maybe he'll offer golf swing advice. That's probably more useful than the usual commencement speech wisdom.

6. Scott Turow (legal novelist), at Loyola-New Orleans

As suspenseful as his novels are, we bet he can craft an exciting graduation speech.

7. Sandra Day O'Connor, at William & Mary

As good as a sitting justice? Maybe better, since she can spill more dirt.

8. Ted Turner, at Baltimore

Perhaps the CNN founder will talk about how Nancy Grace has changed the face of justice reporting. Her report on an 18-month-old forced to smoke a marijuana pipe. Wow. Inspirational.

9. AG Michael Mukasey, at Boston College

No Founder's Medal for you!

10. Ohio AG Mark Dann, at Case Western

We hope he rolls up in the "Sunshine Express," his SUV with flames down the side. And brings his trouble-making posse.

Law School Commencement Speakers [TaxProf Blog]

In October 2006, when LEWW reviewed her wedding, we wrote of Aileen McGrath (at right, with handsome hubby Jason Gillenwater):

Aileen is the President of the Harvard Law Review. HELLO!!! And this isn't mentioned in the announcement, but we've learned that she'll be clerking next year for Chief Judge Michael Boudin, of the First Circuit -- feeder judge extraordinaire.

So, Aileen, have you picked which Supreme Court justice you'd like to clerk for?

She has. We've learned that Aileen McGrath (Harvard 2007 / Boudin) has accepted an offer to clerk for Justice Stephen G. Breyer in October Term 2008. One source tells us: "[S]he’s universally recognized as brilliant. She was president of the law review and a Sears Prize winner."

We also hear that the fourth clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas for OT 2008 is a D.C. Circuit clerk (believed to be clerking for Judge David Sentelle). Will someone please give up the name?

Update: Her name is Claire Evans. She's a 2002 graduate of Rutgers School of Law - Camden, and she's the first alum of the school to score a SCOTUS clerkship. She clerked for Judge Jerome Simandle (D.N.J.) in 2003, and then for Michael Chertoff, back when he was still on the Third Circuit. Reports our source:

"Chertoff liked Claire so much that he took her to the Department of Homeland Security when he left the bench for Washington. Apparently, Claire continues to amaze and has now secured the most coveted of credentials -- a U.S. Supreme Court clerkship."

"[S]he holds the highest cumulative grade point average in the history of Rutgers School of Law - Camden. And, because of a grading change implemented the year after Claire graduated, it is now mathematically impossible for Claire's epic GPA to ever be topped."

Finally, expect more SCOTUS clerk hires in the near future. From an in-the-know tipster:

There's movement among the justices now. At least Alito, Roberts, Kennedy & Breyer have scheduled interviews in the last few days. Kennedy has scheduled pre-screen interviews, at least some of which are with Judge Kozinski.

The current tally of OT 2008 Supreme Court clerks, with Aileen McGrath and Claire Evans added, appears after the jump.

Welcome. If you're at home, tune in to C-SPAN, which is rebroadcasting the recent book party for Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Thomas's eagerly anticipated memoir, My Grandfather's Son, is now in bookstores -- and topping the bestseller charts (to the relief of his publisher, HarperCollins, which reportedly paid him a $1.5 million advance).

7:05: The party is being held at the elegant, red-brick Capitol Hill home of radio host and syndicated columnist Armstrong Williams. Expected to attend: 250 guests, including six Supreme Court justices, Vice President Dick Cheney, and several U.S. senators.

Armstrong Williams is interviewed. He explains that the party has been in the works since June. An overwhelming turnout is expected; more people were turned away than allowed to attend.

7:08: Justice Thomas climbs the stairs. When he enters the kitchen -- which is right at the top of the stairs, and thus (oddly) where everyone enters and exits -- he’s greeted by hearty applause.

Various guests hug him. One guest gushes over his 60 Minutes appearance. CT explains that CBS News made no promises about the nature of its coverage. Interesting. Considering how flattering that segment was, and how uncritical Steve Kroft was in his questioning of Justice Thomas, one might have suspected that Brangelina-type stipulations were in place.

More after the jump.

As we previously mentioned, and as Lawrence Hurley of the Daily Journal reports here, Congress is considering a proposal that would raise federal judges' salaries by a significant margin. Here's what the new scale would look like (with current salaries indicated parenthetically):

District Court Judges: $247,800 (up from $165,200)
Court of Appeals Judges: $262,700 ($175,100)
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court: $304,500 ($203,000)
Chief Justice of the United States: $318,200 ($212,100)

This proposal would cost millions in taxpayer dollars. So we have a better solution to the problem of federal judicial pay, which Chief Justice John Roberts has dubbed a "constitutional crisis."

Here's our brilliant idea: Require all federal judges to marry rich!

Don't you just love couples in which one spouse is a judge, with all the power and prestige of judicial office, and the other spouse is rolling in dough? Off the top of our head, we can name a number of federal judges who have married well -- or at least wealthy. (Like Judge Kimba Wood, above right, with her well-heeled hubby, Frank Richardson.)

We list some judges who have married into money, and we invite additional examples from you, after the jump.

Congress Mulls Salary Raise for the Judiciary [Daily Journal via How Appealing Extra]

Earlier: Skaddenfreude: Chief Justice to $318,200?

Wouldn't it be nice if a kind reader were to nominate Above the Law in this contest?

We realize ATL isn't always a laugh riot. But c'mon, folks -- it's a competition for most amusing LEGAL BLOG.

(We're reminded of Justice Breyer's recent quip, in which he compared being the funniest Supreme Court justice to being the tallest dwarf.)

Top 10 Funniest Law Blogs [Legal Antics]

Justice Stephen Breyer recently appeared on NPR's popular trivia show, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me. Alas, his performance on the trivia portion of the show -- which focused on biographical details about rock stars -- was less than illustrious. This led one of the hosts to scold Justice Breyer as follows: "Back to the appeals court for you!"

But the parts of the show in which SGB was interviewed were interesting and sometimes amusing. For example, we didn't know this:

Answering panelist Paula Poundstone, Breyer revealed his robe never gathers lint. “It’s a synthetic,” he explained, purchased 25 years ago when he was a federal appeals judge in Boston.

Some good riffing from the hosts around this revelation. Mo Rocca asked Justice Breyer, "Why not have Justice Alito just pick the lint off for you?" And also: "Do you ever wear the robe to the supermarket, just to wow people?"

Finally, this was a good quip (although one we think we've heard before):

Being the funniest Supreme Court justice, [Breyer] said, "is like being one of the shortest tall people."

We must quibble, however, with the premise of the question. Justice Breyer drew the most laughs of the nine justices over a fairly short period of time, as noted on the show. But over a longer period of time, which we view as a more reliable indicator, Justice Breyer was only the second-funniest justice on the Court -- lagging behind Nino, by far.

Not My Job: Justice Stephen Breyer [NPR / Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me]
Justice Breyer Gets the Rock-Star Treatment [Washington Wire via WSJ Law Blog]
Justice Breyer Goes 0-3 on NPR News Quiz [Associated Press]
So, Guy Walks Up to the Bar, and Scalia Says... [New York Times]

* Domenici asked for ousting of New Mexico U.S. Attorney. [New York Times via How Appealing]

* Descendants of ex-slaves not welcome in Cherokee Nation. [Jurist]

* Prosecutors decide to pass on attempted murder charge for astronaut in kidnapping case; CNN decides to use a more flattering picture. [CNN; compare with CNN (2/05/07)]

* And speaking of unflattering pictures... [CNN]

* Breyer to appear on NPR "comedy" show. [AP via Yahoo!]

Update: In case you were hoping to attend the "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" taping, you should note that it has been pushed back by a week.

In a comment appended to our last post on Supreme Court clerk hiring for October Term 2007, one of you wrote:

Not 100% certain, but I think that the last RBG hire is Tom Saunders (Yale 2004 / Leval), and that Breyer hired Michael Bosworth (Yale 2003 / Rakoff (SDNY) & Katzmann).

We did some poking around, and we've confirmed this information. So two more Yalies and Second Circuit clerks are bound for One First Street. We apologize for being late with this, especially the news about Tom Saunders (who was hired back in August 2005 for OT 2007).

If you have any more news -- for example, whether Justice Samuel Alito has made offers yet based on his recent round of interviews -- please email us.

After the jump, an updated tally of Supreme Court clerks for next Term.

"You mean to tell me that this guy has argued before the Supreme Court? This guy, in the button-down shirt? Seriously?"

******************************

Here are the remaining photos from our recent Movie Night With Justice Breyer. The first batch was posted over here.

As we previously explained, these pictures are pretty awful -- dark and blurry. Because of all the priceless art lying around, we weren't allowed use a flash inside the darkened precincts of the Phillips Collection.

And we're not great at photography to begin with. And we could use a better camera. (Did you catch that, Sony and Canon publicists?)

But if you're looking for a break from all the law firm pay raise coverage, maybe you'll appreciate them. Check them out, after the jump.

Poor Justice Breyer -- he's totally trapped! (But nice necktie, Your Honor. Is it Hermes?)

Supreme Court justices: They're just like us. They get cornered at cocktail parties by matronly women they don't really know.

And no, that's not Beverly D'Angelo, aka Barbara "Babs" Miller of Entourage. We wish.

But yes, that is the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin -- FROOMKIN!!! -- over her shoulder, on the far right.

*****************************

Last week, we attended a movie night with Justice Stephen G. Breyer, sponsored by The Week magazine. It was held at the Phillips Collection, an amazing modern art museum here in Washington, DC. We were treated to cocktails and dinner, followed by a screening of The Third Man -- Justice Breyer's cinematic selection.

Photographs, plus brief commentary, after the jump.

We're stepping away from the computer for a bit. We are attending this exciting event, a dinner and movie screening with Justice Stephen G. Breyer, sponsored by The Week.

Some posts, including Non-Sequiturs, will appear while we're gone. But if some exciting news breaks and we're slow to cover it, it's because we're spending quality time with SGB.

Finally, while we're making administrative announcements, we're planning to close our December 2006 Couple of the Month poll tomorrow, January 19, at 1 PM (Eastern time). You can cast your vote here.

The second poll we're running, concerning which side you support in Charney v. Sullivan & Cromwell, we will keep open for a while (at least through the weekend). You can vote in that poll by clicking here.

The Third Man [IMDb]

Last Friday night, we attended a Yale Law School alumni dinner here in Washington, at Acadiana restaurant. It was timed to coincide with the big AALS conference of law professors in DC, since so many YLS alums are in legal academia.

The keynote speaker at the dinner was Professor Heather Gerken, who was snatched up from Harvard by Yale last year. She gave an interesting talk about her proposal for a "Democracy Index," a national system for ranking the election-law practices of the different states. (We won't repeat her remarks here, since Professor Gerken's proposal is laid out in detail in her Legal Times commentary.)

Before Professor Gerken spoke, the audience was addressed by Dean Harold Hongju Koh. He updated us about recent developments at the law school, and gave the standard spiel about the brilliance and diversity of Yale's first-year class.

(In case you're wondering, the Yale 1Ls have a median GPA of 3.91. Their ranks include oodles of Rhodes Scholars, Marshall Scholars... and a massage therapist. You can have the Rhodies, the whole lot of 'em; just give us the massage therapist.)

Dean Koh also delivered remarks that could be viewed as part of his new charm offensive: an attempt to reach out to YLS conservatives, in the wake of some criticism on that front.

Some random photos -- plus very surprising news about Justice Clarence Thomas and Yale Law School, the alma mater he's had a rocky relationship with -- after the jump.

We're continuing to profile the current class of Supreme Court law clerks. We've written up the Alito clerks for October Term 2006 already, and we're working on profiles of the Breyer clerks.

(We reiterate our prior request for tips about the SGB crew, especially Thiru Vignarajah. We probably have enough material about the other three.)

Looking ahead to the future, here's what we know so far about the justices' hiring of law clerks for October Term 2007. Most of it is taken from Wikipedia.

Caveat lector: Wikipedia, of course, can be edited by pretty much anyone. So please note that much of the information appearing below is UNCONFIRMED. We have added links to additional, confirmatory sources where available, so you can weigh for yourself the reliability of the information.

Justice John Paul Stevens
1. Todd Gluth (Boalt Hall 2005 / W. Fletcher)
2. Sara Klein (Cardozo 2005 / Barry (3d Cir.) / Lifland (D.N.J.))
3. Kate Shaw (Northwestern 2006 / Posner)
4. Abby Wright (U. Penn. 2006 / Boudin)

Justice Antonin Scalia
1. Aditya Bamzai (University of Chicago/Sutton/OLC)
2. John Bash (Harvard 2006 / Kavanaugh)
3. Bryan Killian (Harvard / Niemeyer)
4. Rachel Kovner (Stanford / Wilkinson)

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
1. Michael Chu (Harvard / D. Ginsburg)
2. Stephen Cowen (U. Chicago / D. Ginsburg)
2. Andrianna ("Annie") Kastanek (Northwestern 2005 / Ripple)
3. C.J. Mahoney (Yale 2006 / Kozinski)

Justice Clarence Thomas
1. William S. Consovoy (George Mason 2001 / E. Jones)
2. Eric McArthur (Chicago 2005 / Luttig)
3. Carrie Severino (Harvard 2005 / Sentelle)
4. Heath Tarbert (U. Penn 2001 / D. Ginsburg)
5. Leila Thompson (NYU / Lambert (D.D.C.) / Sentelle)

Update: Upon information and belief, William Consovoy is now scheduled to clerk for Justice Thomas in October Term 2008, not October Term 2007. For more, see here.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1. Brian Fletcher (Harvard 2006 / Garland)
2. Zack Trip (Columbia 2005 / Kearse)

Justice Stephen G. Breyer
1. Eric Feigin (Stanford 2005 / Wilkinson)

Justice Samuel Alito
1. David H. Moore (BYU 1996 / Alito)
2. Jessica Phillips (Northwestern 2006 / Flaum)

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (retired):
1. Heidi Bond (U. Michigan 2006 / Kozinski)

(Random observation: WOW. This is shaping up as the best Term ever for Northwestern Law School, with three of its graduates landing SCOTUS clerkships so far. And U. Penn is doing quite well, too.)

As we all know, Wikipedia is not infallible. So if you have corrections (or additions) to any of the OT 2007 law clerk information appearing above, please email us. Thanks.

Update: SCOTUS Clerk Hiring News: An Errata Sheet

List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States [Wikipedia]

The week before a major holiday is usually pretty slow. And the Friday before the holiday weekend is usually dead -- the perfect time for Mike Nifong to announce he's dropping the rape charges against the Duke lacrosse team defendants.

Other highlights from the past week in legal news and ATL:

* Get to know this year's Alito clerks!

* And help us get to know the current Breyer clerks.

* Dean Harold Koh's Christmas gift to Yale Law School conservatives: newfound warmth and friendliness.

* Speaking of Yale Law School, YLS grad Yul Kwon just won Survivor. Congrats, Yul!

* Stuff you knew already: Supreme Court clerks are cooler than you. Lawyers have mediocre sex lives. Pro se litigants are insane.

* Last week dragged in a few more law firm bonus announcements, but nothing exciting. To skim the coverage, click here, then scroll down through the headlines.

* On the subject of bonuses, Biglaw associates: Please take our 2006 bonus poll (first announced here):

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

In case you missed it, yesterday we profiled the four current clerks to Justice Samuel Alito. Click here to read that post.

Moving up the seniority chain brings us to Justice Stephen G. Breyer. According to Wikipedia, these are Justice Breyer's four law clerks for October Term 2006 (please notify us of any errors you see):

1. Jaren Casazza (Columbia '04 / Jacobs / Wood(S.D.N.Y.))

2. Tacy Flint (Chicago '04 / Posner)

3. Stephen Shackleford (Harvard '05 / Boudin)

4. Thiru Vignarajah (Harvard '05 / Calabresi)

To profile the SGB crew, we need a little help from you. Please send us interesting tidbits, fun facts, or amusing anecdotes about these members of the Elect, by email. We also welcome any photographs you might have. Please be sure to include the clerk's full name somewhere in your message (because we often locate messages relevant to drafting a specific post by running searches in our inbox).

We note that Amber Taylor has already profiled this foursome. We therefore implore you to send us information that is especially salacious and scandalous quirky, so we don't simply repeat what's in her write-ups. Thanks!

List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States [Wikipedia]
The Breyer Clerks [Prettier Than Napoleon]
A Law Clerk Hiring Update: Alito's Experienced Hands, Breyer's Hires, and More [Underneath Their Robes]

Earlier: Justice Alito's OT 2006 Law Clerks

Here's our recap of the past week in ATL, completely free of Biglaw or bonus news (which will be summarized in a separate "Week in Review" post).

The theme for this week's news: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

* Hardworking lawyers are still unhappy with their sex lives.

* Celebrities still get in legal trouble (and so do state court judges).

* Borat-related lawsuits still keep getting filed.

* The Duke lacrosse team rape case is still FUBAR.

* Law school libraries are still foul-smelling at the height of final exams.

* Pro se litigants are STILL AWESOME.

* Senator Orrin Hatch is still on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

* Justice Breyer is still concerned about sectarian violence in the 17th century.

* Eumi Choi is still our idol.

* Working for the government still offers many young lawyers more interesting work, and greater responsibility, than Biglaw life (but without a five-figure bonus).

* Also, public interest work still attracts some of the most promising law school graduates.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

This is a continuation of our prior post about an event we recently attended at Georgetown Law School, "On Liberty: A conversation between Justice Stephen Breyer and Professor Charles Fried." For more background about the event, click here.

For the conclusion to our write-up, keep on reading. We bring you a "true confession" from Justice Breyer, as well as Professor Fried's interesting views on gay marriage.

(Before returning to Harvard Law School, Professor Fried was a justice on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the state's highest court. But he was back in academia when they decided the gay marriage case, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.)

Our coverage continues, after the jump.

As we mentioned earlier, on Friday we headed downtown to Georgetown Law School for "On Liberty: A conversation between Justice Stephen Breyer and Professor Charles Fried," of Harvard Law School. We were invited to this event by Georgetown Law Professor Neal Katyal (whom we thank for his hospitality).

Yesterday we shared with you our photos from the event. Now, the first half of our write-up -- after the jump.

As we mentioned last week, on Friday we were delighted to attend "On Liberty: A conversation between Justice Stephen Breyer and Professor Charles Fried," of Harvard Law School.

We were invited to this event by Georgetown Law Professor Neal Katyal, a legal academic celebrity (and former Breyer clerk). Professor Katyal did an excellent job as moderator of the discussion.

A more detailed report will follow in short order. For now, check out our pretty blurry pictures -- after the jump.