Lawyering, Society

Top 500: Vote For Your Favorite Lawyers

header_logoThe annual selection of the top 500 lawyers in America has begun at LawDragon. You can vote for your favorite colleagues, teachers, or counsel.

While I am happy to be on the ballot, I am more happy to see others not on the ballot. Notably, John Ashcroft is no longer on the list. Nor is John Yoo or most other Bush lawyers. Also missing is Alberto Gonzales this year.

What is interesting is the absence of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are also off the list, even though the rest of the Court makes it on the ballot. Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and other members of Congress are also not on the list.

To vote: click here.

242 thoughts on “Top 500: Vote For Your Favorite Lawyers”

  2. Wayne, I am responding to you only to confirm your comment that I have sufficiently impressed and validated my ego to move on to other things this evening.

    Byron, one more suggestion. I was remiss in omitting reference to Augustine. You might try his “Confessions.” Good luck on your journey.

  3. Byron, the reason Mr. Appleton cannot respond to the abortion question should be painfully clear. The devil always appears as a gentleman (sometimes an attorney)

  4. I believe Mr. Appleton is not only not a Catholic, but is probably an excommunicate himself. Please respond to the abortion question Mr. Appleton, since you have now thralled us with your acumen

  5. Byron, you should be seeing an inkling of what I am talking about. I do not respond directly to Wayne/Gregory for reasons which I have previously discussed. You will note that he has already begun to attribute motives to my comments and otherwise resort to ad hominem baiting, something which most of us grow out of by the age of, say, 12. I have explained to Wayne/Gregory in the past that if he identifies himself, I will be happy to engage in a discussion of our differences on any matters, including “liberation” theology, the Catholic witness of the Berrigan Brothers (as well as Dorothy Day and others), the Church’s teachings on social justice, abortion and the danger in the growing alliance between evangelical Catholics and Christian fundamentalists. In short, Wayne/Gregory understands that if he truly wishes to engage me, he must be willing to attach an identity and a person to the debate. But I am not going to participate in a mere exchange of name-calling, references to excommunication, charges of heresy or other nonsense by some anonymous, self-proclaimed defensor fidei.

  7. I am waiting for Mr. Appletons respose regarding the abortion issue. I don’t think I will get it, because then he would have to be intellectually honest enough to admit he could not care less what the Churches teaching and moral stance is on abortion. Please respond Mr. Appleton.

  8. Mr. Appleton, I presume you approach Catholicism with rigor and intellectual disciplene. I can only assume the rigor and zeal you possess is extended into ending the horrible sin of abortion through prayer and works of self-sacrifice….

  9. Mike Appleton:

    thank you for the info. I think Wayne might be little unsure in his beliefs if someone on a blog can get under his skin to that extent. Although faith is like that your head says one thing and your heart another. Even Mother Teresa had doubts about the existence of God.

    Hopefully Wayne will resolve his faith/reason dichotomy.

    I have Chestertons’ Orthadoxy and I will definitely get Paul Johnsons book, I had his history of the American People and read about 1/3 and lost the dam thing. It was a great read at least as far as I got. That will give me some impetus to buy them both.

  10. Mr. appleton, it is painfully obvious your sole motivation for chiming in is to impress and validate your ego. Please respond to the abortion question.

  11. Byron please be aware of M. Appleton. In an earlier post he suggested that the Berrigan brothers were exemplary models of catholic servitude. They were both convicted felons and one was ex-communicated from the church, after he was ordained priest! The only thing consistently obvious and notable you will find about M. Appleton is his abilty to be duplicitous when it serves his end. He championed liberation theology after it was condemned as a heresy by our prior and extant Pope. He continues to throw out a lot of information , some of which is in conflict with itself. M. appleton is still smarting from being ‘put in his Catholic place’by Gregory, some months ago. I can only hope that when M. appleton’s head stops spinning his face is to the front again. Also Byron, Mr.Appleton for the most part is in league with Mespuke and Budda(pest). Mr. appleton what is you stance on abortion? The Church declares it to be mortal sin. If you advocate its’ practice you yourself can incur ipso facto ex-communication! Please respond Mr. Appleton!

  12. Byron, having just caught up with all of the posts on this thread, I note that Wayne/Gregory mentioned Thomas a Kempis. I suggest that you may wish to put him off until you’re a little further down the road. He was a cloistered monk, meaning that he devoted his life essentially to solitary prayer and contemplation. The “Imitation of Christ” is a profound series of mediations and religious exercises for the development of personal spirituality. It is deeply moving, but it may appear a bit too intense, and even gloomy, at this stage of the game. Publications like “Our Sunday Visitor” are homey and pious, but offer little to anyone who wishes to approach Catholicism with intellectual vigor and discipline.

  13. Well, Wayne, you’ve succeeded in bringing me back. I might suggest to Byron that neither you nor your alter ego Gregory ought to be relied upon for anything approaching rational dialogue on Catholic faith or doctrine.

    For your information, Byron, I suggest you read a book entitled “Luther and Aquinas on Salvation.” It was published by Sheed & Ward back in the ’60s and gives an excellent analysis of the topic. It is no longer in print, but I’m sure you can find a copy in a library or online. Martin Luther was no intellectual match for Thomas Aquinas, but he didn’t purport to be. In fact, it was not his intent to start a new church. His purpose in posting the theses was reform. In any event, Aquinas is still regarded as the greatest of all Catholic theologians and his “Summa Theologica” is a comprehensive explication of the Catholic faith.

    If you are interested in bona fide Catholic apologetics, I would recommend John Henry Newman, Hilaire Belloc and G.K. Chesterton. You will find that they did not resort to puerile name-calling, hysteric rants or schoolyard bullying to explore the foundations of their faith, and did not feel the need to belittle or demonize those who disagreed with them.

    For an understanding of the development of the early church, you should read anything written by Elaine Pagels, a brilliant contemporary scholar, or by Bart Ehrman, whose work is also highly readable. Finally, I recommend Paul Johnson’s “History of Christianity” as probably the finest recent survey of the intellectual and theological development of Catholicism and Protestantism.

    You should be aware, Byron, that the comments of Wayne and Gregory do not represent Catholic thought. Indeed, I suspect that he/they are not actually Catholics. In the first half of the last century, they would have been deemed “scandalous” by Church authorities for bringing the Church into disrepute by the personal, vicious and uncharitable nature of their comments. And although invited to do so, he/they have steadfastly refused to identify themselves so that their credentials to opine authoritatively on Church doctrine could be evaluated. Anonymity is a favorite shield of purveyors of vitriol. He/they are to theology what Rush Limbaugh is to political philosophy and John Bolton is to the science of diplomacy, pretenders motivated by hatred rather than love. But I suspect that you will discover that fact yourself in due course.

  14. Byron, as you continue to read and folllow the writings of the bloggers on this post, you will become acutely aware of a couple of things. Budda(pest) and Mespuke, hate, I said HATE, the Catholic Church. They believe it is an institution made up of fairy tales and superstitions and run by phonies, pedophiles and other assorted social deviants. They are incapable of seeing the glorious and humble merits attributed to the calm and holy lives of the Blessed Mother, the Apostles and all the saints of our General Roman Calendar. The Church to them is a punchline and joke, to be mocked and ridiculed at every turn. They believe the value and worth of a man is based on his ability to skillfully debate a person into submission. This tragic little bit of worldly merit is all they seek and sadly, it may be all they ever receive. You and I both need to pray for them and the world. We need to pray to end abortion, bigotry, heresy and all forms of sin, that cry to us for additional prayer. On a daily basis pray your rosary and ask the Madonna to shield you from the attacks of the devil. I hate no one Byron, the only thing I truly detest and abhor is sin, and its’ ramifications…….

  15. lol

    Gyges,

    Have you ever seen The Kids In The Hall skit w/ Dave Foley as “The World’s Worst Surgeon”?

    It starts with a line something like, “I’m the world’s worst surgeon. I’m terrible at it. Loose patients all the time. I went to Med School to see just how far I could get on charm and bullshit and, ha ha, it turns out it’s pretty far.”

  16. So, If I were to try and become one of the top 500 Lawyers, would I first have to become a lawyer? I’m thinking about trying to bluff my way into it.

    I’ve got this great plan. I start showing up on web-sites and pretend to know stuff. THEN I come back as a different person and talk about how great I was as a the first person. (This is where it gets tricky, so you’ll have to follow closely).

    The first me is the decoy. Because people generally assume that other people know what they’re talking about if they say it confidently enough, people will figure that I must know what I’m talking about to be able to critic my previous discussion. If I don’t link to the discussion it doesn’t even matter what I said originally, because nobody will be able to check if the first me actually was right or not.

    Hopefully somebody will ask me for clarification, that way I can expound vaguely on a theme. Even better is if that person later disagrees with me. I could insult them, and ask them “would you engage your Law professor in debate?” Thus elevating my status to that of a law professor.

    It can’t possibly fail. Right?

  17. You seem sincere and earnest. I also think you sound quite astute. I might also suggest for your reading pleasure, all three volumes of Radio Replies, by Father Rumble and Carty. Father Rumble was a convert to the faith from anglicanism, and then became an ordained priest in Australia. I hope and pray that your journey in the faith leads you to eternal life in heaven with Our Lord. Hopefully, you can touch many lives for our Faith while you take up your cross as a member of the Church Militant on earth. If I have offended you and set a poor example-forgive me Byron.

  18. Trust me Byron, I am definitely not threatened by a “neophyte”, even one named Byron……

  19. Believe it Byron, all of us need pastoral counseling and spiritual direction, yes- even you Byron…..

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