It’s time to announce the winner of July’s Lawyer of the Month competition. Last month, we had a potpourri of lawyers allegedly behaving badly for readers to choose from. In the end, there was one clear winner, who stole more than 50 percent of the total vote.
Let’s find out who took home the honorific of Lawyer of the Month — and while we’re at it, let’s pray that she doesn’t sue us. Noticing a trend here, readers? Our LOTM winners sure are overly litigious….
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July’s Lawyer of the Month is Benula Bensam, a law student at Cardozo Law School. Yes, we know, this is a Lawyer of the Month competition, but sometimes law students do things that are crazy enough to get them into the running. Here, Bensam took home 57% of the overall vote, so you know that she had the proper “credentials” to be a nominee in the first place.
Bensam’s claim to fame was her reprimand by Judge Jed Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.), after she sent him numerous notes questioning his rulings in the Rajat Gupta insider trading trial. That’s how gunners have “fun,” right?
At any rate, such behavior could be seen as an attempt to improperly influence a judge, so Rakoff had the U.S. Marshals bring her in. During the process, the Marshals took Bensam’s cell phone, which they later returned. But that didn’t stop her from suing over the whole ordeal.
In case you’re not sure how outrageous this really is, here’s the caption from her complaint:
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Yep. Congratulations, Benula! You’re really doing your law school proud.
If you’re interested in seeing her complaint, it’s available in full on the following page….