Above The Law’s 2020 Lawyer Of The Year Contest: The Finalists!
From distinguished to despicable, who should be Above the Law’s Lawyer of the Year for 2020?
The past year has been, for better or worse, a big year in legal news. So it should come as no surprise to see big names dominating our list of finalists for 2020 Lawyer of the Year. Thanks to everyone who responded to our request for nominations for 2020 Lawyer of the Year. We narrowed the many excellent nominees to a slate of ELEVEN (yes, that’s how crazy this year was) fascinating lawyers — distinguished, despicable, or debatable, depending on your point of view.
Here are the nominees, in alphabetical order, with a brief blurb about each:
Stacey Abrams: After losing her bid for Georgia governor in 2018 following a purge of voter rolls, the Yale Law graduate and former Georgia assemblywoman founded Fair Fight, an anti-voter suppression group, pledging to register as many disenfranchised voters of color as possible for the 2020 presidential election. Through her efforts, Abrams helped turn her state blue, allowing Joe Biden to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to secure Georgia in about 30 years.
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Bill Barr: After firmly implanting himself in Trump’s rear end to politicize the Justice Department, Barr seems to have come out of his MAGA stupor as his tenure as Attorney General comes to an end. Not only did he recently commit the unpardonable sin of telling the truth about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election (i.e., that there was no evidence of it), but he failed to publicly disclose an ongoing federal investigation into Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Now he says there’s “no reason” for special counsel to be appointed in either case. He’s trying to save what little is left of his reputation after all.
Amy Coney Barrett: Her Honor is the fifth woman to serve on the Supreme Court, which is normally something worthy of celebration, but her nomination and confirmation were marred by great controversy. Trump “saved” Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and now the newest SCOTUS justice threatens to undo all of the legal accomplishments her predecessor worked her entire life to achieve. Plus, her nomination ceremony was the start of White House COVID superspreader events.
Joe Biden & Kamala Harris: President-elect Biden, a Syracuse Law grad, will be the oldest U.S. president in the nation’s history, and Vice President-elect Harris, a UC Hastings Law grad, will be the first woman and first woman of color to serve as VP in U.S. history. The pair beat Trump in a historic vote during the pandemic, where mail-in voting helped them secure their victory.
Marc Elias: The former GC of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign, this Perkins Coie partner leads Democracy Docket, and per one of our nominators, he’s responsible for “protecting democracy against the dumbest would-be authoritarians.” In September 2020, he joined the Biden presidential campaign’s special litigation team. Thus far, he’s helped lawyers win more than 100 election law cases in 2020, all in an effort to protect the voting rights of Americans.
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Jenna Ellis: The self-proclaimed constitutional scholar made her way to infamy this year as a member of Trump’s Elite Strike Force, suing left and right in an attempt to overturn the results of Election 2020. Not only did “Doctor” Ellis and her team failed repeatedly, but she got destroyed in the New York Times when it came to her colleagues’ thoughts on her legal chops.
Rudy Giuliani: From respected New York mayor to a leaky lawyer spewing conspiracy theories, 2020 has not been too kind to Giuliani or his legal career. Leading a team of attorneys that Trump reportedly referred to as “fools that are making him look bad,” Rudy would probably like it if people looked upon his wrecking ball filings with normal scrutiny. But hey, at least he got his own Randy Rainbow video.
Kayleigh McEnany: This recent Harvard Law grad had one heckuva year. After being appointed as White House press secretary in April 2020, McEnany made the following pledge during her first briefing: “I will never lie to you. You have my word on that.” After peddling the alternative facts of the day for months on end, the former Above the Law columnist’s tremendous fib was so considered so outrageous that it landed in the annual update to The Yale Book of Quotations.
Sidney Powell: This conspiracy-flinging former prosecutor threatened to “RELEASE THE KRAKEN” on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in America, but all she accomplished was being released from Trump’s legal team. Her trainwreck legal filings have included not just typos and factual inconsistencies galore, but plaintiffs who didn’t even know they were going to be suing. On the bright side, Trump was reportedly considering naming her as special counsel on election fraud, but AG Bill Barr shut that down.
Jeffrey Toobin: Have you rubbed one out during a Zoom video meeting with your colleagues? Don’t do it. Toobin did, and hasn’t ended well for him. After getting caught whipping out his weenie on camera, the award-winning author and legal analyst was fired from the New Yorker after nearly 30 years with the publication. He’s currently on leave from CNN and may return in the future, but for now, he’s been reduced to a human hashtag, #MeToobin.
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Before we turn over the vote to our readers, we’d like to reserve some honorable mentions for the likes of vocal anti-Trump activist George Conway of the Lincoln Project; his wife, Kellyanne Conway, who served as Trump’s campaign manager and former senior counselor; Tiffany Trump, a recent graduate of Georgetown Law; and Above the Law’s founder David Lat, who fought hard in his battle against COVID-19 and is not just surviving, but thriving. Last, but certainly not least, the legal luminary most deserving of an honorable mention is the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away from complications of pancreas cancer on September 18. She was the second woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court, and the first Jewish woman to serve on the highest court in the country. A champion of women’s rights and civil liberties, Ginsburg served as encouragement for many women to embark upon careers in the legal profession. Her dying wish was that she “not be replaced until a new president is installed.” If only our leaders had listened. May her memory be a blessing.
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: Who should be named Above the Law’s Lawyer of the Year for 2020? Cast your vote below. Polls are open until SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. (EST).
Who should be named Above the Law’s Lawyer of the Year for 2020?
- Marc Elias (39%, 479 Votes)
- Stacey Abrams (32%, 393 Votes)
- Joe Biden & Kamala Harris (7%, 91 Votes)
- Rudy Giuliani (5%, 66 Votes)
- Amy Coney Barrett (5%, 62 Votes)
- Jeffrey Toobin (4%, 51 Votes)
- Bill Barr (3%, 31 Votes)
- Sidney Powell (2%, 30 Votes)
- Jenna Ellis (1%, 9 Votes)
- Kayleigh McEnany (1%, 9 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,221
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
