Positions: litigation associate, Boies Schiller & Flexner; bestselling and critically acclaimed author of Prozac Nation, Bitch, and More, Now, Again; former music critic for New York magazine and the New Yorker.
The case for disgrace: The New York Times described Wurtzel as someone “whose attempted suicide, drug use, self-mutilation and indiscriminate sex have made her famous.” Despite graduating from the nation’s #1 law school, Wurtzel failed the New York bar exam. Standardized tests may not be her forte; according to the Times, she scored a 160 on the LSAT — well below the Yale average.
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(Another reason Wurtzel made this list: honestly, we needed at least one woman on here. And until conclusive proof can be found that she had anything to do with Vince Foster’s death, Hillary Clinton — current U.S. Secretary of State, former U.S. Senatrix — doesn’t cut it.)
The case against: The reason Liz Wurtzel is famous for her aforementioned “attempted suicide, drug use, self-mutilation and indiscriminate sex” is because she took these difficult experiences and fashioned them into works of literature (which also happened to sell very well; this can’t be said for much literary writing). Many of her indiscretions took place well before she set foot inside 127 Wall Street — indeed, they may have helped her win admission to YLS, insofar as they inspired her writing — so they really shouldn’t be associated with the school. (Blame them Wurtzel’s other alma mater, Harvard.)
As for the bar exam, there have been many brilliant bar-exam failures over the years, casting doubt on the test’s value as a measure of merit. And Wurztel passed the second time, making her first-time failure moot.