Happy New Year and Lawyers!!!

It’s 2006, wheee! Happy New Year! What better way to celebrate than with a new blog? Better yet, a new blog that celebrates law, laywers and all the joy they bring? The Wall Street Journal knows that, and happily kicks off its aptly-named “The Law Blog” by former Forbes reporter and lapsed litigator Peter Lattman, whose self-proclaimed mission is “to scour the universe for compelling stories in two related areas: business and law, and the business of law.” Plus he’ll have gossip (does what I did in the stairwell as a summer associate count?).

His first tidbit: apparently Ana Marie Cox is stepping aside at Wonkette, welcoming former prosecutor and carefully-self-outed-in-the-New-Yorker “Article III Groupie” David Lat, of the blog “Underneath Their Robes” which may or may not have been inspired by a Shakira song. It’s unconfirmed but seems to make sense, given that both Cox and Lat have surnames with just three letters and are both evidently “spicy.” (Update: Looks like the NYO‘s Anna Schneider-Mayerson had the news last night.) Other nuggest include the fact that Scooter Libby hired Paul Weiss, which I did not know, a quick pr&#233cis of Scalia and the SCOTUS laugh-riot, and the revelation (to me) that new ABC World News Tonight anchor Bob Woodruff used to be an associate at Shearman & Sterling (which means I can now legitimately refer to him as “The Shearminator”). I also didn’t know that ABC News prez David Westin or the late great Howard Cosell were lawyers. You don’t say! In honor of him, Lattman, Shakira, and all the other lawyers in the bunch,we bring you the Highly Incomplete and Utterly Random Fishbowl List of Journalists Who Are Also Lawyers:

Bob Woodruff (new ABC “World News Tonight” anchor, as of tonight)
David Westin, president, ABC News
Jonathan Glater (NYT; knows his law blogs)
David Margolick (Vanity Fair contributing editor/former NYT legal beat)
Mickey Kaus (Slate “Kausfiles” blogger)
Dahlia Lithwick (Slate)(and Canadian!)
Emily Bazelon (Slate)
Michael Kinsley (WaPo/Wiki)
Jeffrey Toobin, the New Yorker/CNN (and one of my Dad’s favorite commentators)
Geraldo Rivera, former scrappy lawyer
Dan Abrams, once his trusty sidekick
Tim Russert, “Meet The Press”
Norm Pearlstine, former Time Inc. editor
Ann Coulter, er, opinionated pundit/columnist
Catherine Crier, former judge
Nancy Grace, former prosecutor, now hosts eponymous show
Henry Schleiff, President and CEO of Court TV
David Blend, Thrillist writer
Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit
Richard Posner, judge/thinker/writer of Bill Keller’s favorite essays
Andrea Strong, The Strong Buzz foodie blog
Rachel Sklar, FishbowlNY (aka your trusty blogger)

Update:
Tim Grieve, Salon’s “The War Room”
Wendy Davis, MediaPost, “Online Media Daily” editor/writer
Marc Z. Kramer, CEO, New York Daily News

Almost-lawyers:

Bonnie Fuller (Star/AMI editrix – one yr. law school)
Rachel Kramer Bussel (Village Voice/MB columnist – two years law school)

Who did I miss? Lawyers, reveal thyselves! Email me here and let’s chat about stuff I vaguely remember from law school.

UPDATE: I incorrectly listed Bill O’Reilly as being a lawyer (and having once litigated actual “War on Christmas”). Both are wrong. Sorry Bill!

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