I am deeply honored about being named by the ABA as a "2007 (Runner-up) Lawyer of the Year." (Take a grain of salt and then scroll down to the part about the "Lawyer-Blogger.")
I will delete any comments pointing out that Michael Nifong, Sooter Libby, Howard K. Stern, Monica Goodling, and Alberto Gonzales were also on the ABA's list.
UPDATE: I had hoped that the post would be understood as being in the same vein as all the bloggers who were Time Magazine's Person of the Year last year, and my thanks for Legal Profession Blog for getting my (poor) attempt at humor.
That was just a joke, unless John Steele is the superhero name for David Lat. But John's top ten legal ethics stories post is in fact featured by the ABA Journal's online weekly version. http://www.abajournal.com/weekly/blog_names_years_top_10_make_that_11_legal_ethics_stories
Posted by: Childress | December 14, 2007 at 10:01 AM
Childress, yes it's a joke, but the runner-up award was for all lawyer-bloggers, not just for Lat. (And unless I'm mistaken, Lat is a former-lawyer-blogger.)
Posted by: John Steele | December 14, 2007 at 10:26 AM
John, I am quoting from an old "Bob Newhart Show" episode when I say: "Isn't it unprofessional to explain your jokes?" (I know Alan remembers that!)
Bill
Posted by: Bill Gallagher | December 14, 2007 at 04:46 PM
Bill,
Yes, I'm probably being paranoid to boot! Enjoy the break. My students are taking my exam right now so I can't get an early jump on the weekend. I have to sit by the phone.
Posted by: John Steele | December 14, 2007 at 05:22 PM
Good news, John: you just moved one step closer to the title...
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2007/12/update-alberto.html
Posted by: Childress | December 15, 2007 at 07:41 PM
Alan,
As did the lawyer-bloggers at LPB! At first I was stunned to see Gonzales named as Lawyer of the Year, given that (imho) the best argument as to why Gonzales shouldn't be considered a scofflaw is because he was simply over his head as a lawyer. But then I recalled that Time Magazine often considered bad people or controversial people as the Person of the Year, simply based on the newsiness of the person's year. In that sense, the ABA's award made sense. But now this backtracking has muddled the issue entirely. They should have anticipated the reaction and (1) if they were going to go with the newsiness-without-regard-to-virtue criterion, they should have named Gonzales and defended their choice; or (2) not named Gonzales in the first place.
Posted by: John Steele | December 16, 2007 at 01:26 PM