Publisher's Notebook

Here’s a preview of coming attractions.

In October, we will publish our “Leaders in the Law” magazine, highlighting the honorees in the Class of 2010. Right now we’re collecting info and stories from this year’s group and preparing the copy for the magazine.

They are a highly successful and accomplished group. But one leader admits he wasn’t always so.

Rick Witthoefft of Hirschler Fleischer offers an example of how not to get a job at a law firm. The culprit: himself.

He reported that early on when he was looking for legal work, he put together his resume and a nice cover letter to a firm. Signed, sealed, mailed.

Then he realized that in the envelope he somehow had included “a 3×5 card on which my wife had just typed a friend’s banana nut bread recipe.” Oops.

Witthoefft considered his options. He noted that’s when he learned “that breaking into a public mail box is a federal offense.”

Did he get the job? Nope. But he said he “heard later that they liked the recipe.”

It’s July and we’ve made the turn on 2010. What were the biggest news stories on our website during the first half of the year? In order of popularity, here you go:

1. Fifteen lawyers leave LeClairRyan. …to start a securities law boutique firm.
2. Wise County judge no longer hearing cases. We broke this story last month. Still ongoing.
3. Dress Codes: What is the prevailing view on associates’ appearance? Last month’s web poll garnered a record response.
4. Court Jester: Johnston explains ‘Why Judges Wear Robes.’ Campbell County’s Sam Johnston published observations from the bench.
5. Law firm sues for unpaid fee…gets it all! A stop-the-presses result from Henrico County.
6. It’s now official: The ‘Shaggy defense’ is a term of art. Slate Magazine picked up on this one.
7. LeClairRyan lobbyists jump ship. …to join the Richmond office of a Pittsburgh firm.
8. Griffith: Mims leads the field for high court. We wrote it Jan. 4; Justice Bill Mims was elected in March.
9. Couple not reconciled by ‘accidental sex.’ Not much more can be said, or needs to be said.
10. Former judge accuses prosecutor of lying in court. In N.C. federal court, ex-federal judge Walt Kelley took a U.S. Attorney to task.