I think SI should run an annual Hot Lawyer Issue

So the Hot Male Ass contest has been nixed?? Skadden management should have allowed at least equal time before sending out the email.

Where did the blog get those non-firm photos of the nominees??

Yet another reason (as if I needed one) why I'm glad I turned down Skadden's offer. I'd hate to work at a firm where such things were going on. Typical that FEMALE associates are the subject of the contest.

They should have done the men's contest first. I wonder if they would have gotten in trouble if they had.

4:26 - I'm sure you'll be missed. It is certainly hard to find uptight killjoys to work in Biglaw.

Gawker's winner is hotter.

4.33 - actually, it's harder to find blah guys with no character or moral core who go along with the herd in Biglaw.

I would be ok with it if nominees were notified of their nomination and given an opportunity to decline. So possible at ATL or Skadden but highly unlikely at Gawker.

In fact, the fear of Gawker of the like getting into the action is what would prompt me to remove myself from any such competition.

4:42 - I'd feel more comfortable too with an opt-out - assuming it didn't kill the contest (because most scaredy-cat Biglaw associates would opt out - this profession is so darn conservative).

I think rational people would opt out for fear of being mocked and their self-esteem crushed. If you haven't noticed, we are a mean, mean blogging generation. (But we are also exhibitionists, so maybe all of that attention is worth deflecting the inevitable mean-spirited and sexist comments.)

What does the winner get, a slap on the ass and a multi-million dollar lawsuit? Sounds like a good contest to me.

From the picture, Mattie is not that hot. I voted for the first asian chick

My biggest problem is that the "winner" wasn't even in the top 3.

Yet another reason to lack faith in the new crop of Big Law associates: Teacher, teacher, Jonnie [insert politically correct act].

What happened to a healthy sense of humor, not to mention FUN?

PS: The crop of female hotties are in fact attractive, and one would not predict thieir reducule and derision.

I object to that fact that, out of a pool of more than 2000 attorneys, nearly 1/2 of whom are female, Skadden can scarcely scare up a week's worth of skank-tail for me to objectify and deride.

I'm an associate at Skadden and I'm better looking than any of them, so I'm getting a kick out of these responses.

Objectification of women to 190K!

LAT, YOUR CLAIM TO FAME IS CONDUCTING THOSE CONTESTS BACK ON UTR. KOZ ET AL. DIDN'T MIND; WHY SHOULD SKADDEN'S POWERS THAT BE?

" I think rational people would opt out for fear of being mocked and their self-esteem crushed"

Might I add by a bunch of fucking nerds? Jesus. Nothing like being assessed by a bunch of dudes I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole.

5:14 = bitter at not having been nominated

Lat, your website is truly disgusting. Your family can't be proud.

Blows, your family must be proud of you -- that is if they like uptight dorks who disapprove of legal gossip blogs.

So who complained? Humorless partners or attention deprived plain women who felt neglected?

Thanks for policing people's sites. With me so far behind in the delegate count, you may be the last defenders of righteousness.

Approve of the contest - and think it's quite accurate, as the third runner up caused a professor at Tulane Law to get fired after they had an intimate relationship.

The contest is lame, like all attempts to create community or fun at a law firm. People should just crank out their work and go home.

That said, I don't see how anyone could find this particularly offensive unless they have no lives and are in constant search of the adrenaline rush of being outraged. It's not like the firm sponsored it or it was negative. Worst case scenario the people involved could have played adult and asked to be removed from the site.

let's do t14 next

How did Lavanya not win the original contest?

East Asian babes = smarter and better looking than white girls.

HTFH.

How convenient that the memo came down when the MEN were to be evaluated. Sounds to me like ol' Hank doesn't want to face the shame of not being nominated a "hottie" in a sea of average men.

If the contest is only for women, as it was at this point, then it's obviously inappropriate. They need to have contests for *both* genders (or better yet, one gender-neutral contest), and they need to be willing to remove people who opt out. Anyone who would have a problem with that set-up is too old to still be working, or just plain sucks.

"The contest is lame, like all attempts to create community or fun at a law firm."

7:14, you sound kind of like the people who were in an uproar over the Debevoise skits last week, but I don't think Skadden Insider is an attempt to create community or fun at Skadden -- at least not one that is sanctioned by the firm. I always thought it was an independently run blog that the firm probably is not very excited about -- and this time, the firm decided to explicitly express its feelings. To people at Skadden, is that incorrect? If I'm right, I guess that the blog does attempt to create some sense of community among Skadden associates, but I don't think it's quite the same as forced bonding initiatives like retreats and skits.

Lat, you really should run some more hotties contests and bring back LEWW as a regular feature. Posts on associate bonuses have been boring for a while now.

I need an explanation as to why Mattie won the original one. Was her boyfriend running the poll and tabulating/mixing up votes? Or are horse-faced manly looking girls actually redefining beauty standards?

I had a tryst with Lavanya in college, and it was great, I tell you. Lavanya all the way!

Please stop it already. These associates did nothing to warrant this kid of publicity and to have their physical appearances discussed in a public forum. Even if some of these women may have public profiles on Facebook, that doesn't mean they implicitly consented to this use of their photos-- and I don't care that the use may not have violated any laws or policies, I just think it's a sucky thing to do without informing the "contestants" and telling them they can opt out.

Very mature, Rilla. Why don't you post YOUR picture so we can mock you for no particular reason other than the fact that we can?

I'm not sure that I understand what the big deal is about being nominated and discussed. Perhaps being the hottest people in a group of attorneys doesn't sound like much of an honor, but I don't think I'd be traumatized if I received such a nomination. As for the douchebags who critique the womens' appearances, I'd just assume it's a bunch of dorks who couldn't get a date (one that doesn't require an hourly fee, anyway) to save their lives. I can see why Skadden asked the blog to pull the plug on such competitions, but I'm not sure that I understand the uproar over whether the women consented to be part of the competition. Most of the people who end up written about on ATL didn't consent to anything, and yet we all read it every day.

February 12, 2008 10:23 PM & February 12, 2008 04:53 PM nailed it.

For better and worse, Skadden associates always seemed to treat the place as an extension of college and not a firm IMHOP.

On another note, I am really interested to see how the case law develops on this sort of right of privacy issue.

This whole debate reminds me of this article, "How the Web Became a Sexists' Paradise."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/06/gender.blogging