News & Publications Awards & Recognitions The Top 100 - California Law Business Ranks the State's Most Influential Attorneys for 2000The Top 100 - California Law Business Ranks the State's Most Influential Attorneys for 2000
California Law Business
October 30, 2000
Tanya Vince Rothman
The phone calls started at midnight.
"Hello," my husband growled into the phone. "No, no. You want my wife." He handed me the phone and there it was on the other end of the line: The Campaign.
The American public should be thankful they have only two (or so) candidates vying for one office. We have 170,000 lawyers - and they all want on the list.
This year, the process to pick the state's most powerful attorneys got ugly.
"You must have Nelson Street on the list. He's the finest lawyer in the state, everyone depends on him," said the caller. "And he's a great dad."
"Call me at the office in the morning," I replied before hanging up. There were flowers when I arrived and a masseuse - ready to cater to my every need as I sorted through the dozens of e-mails and voice messages telling me Nelson was a great lawyer, a great counselor, a great golfer, a great pet owner and, of course, a great dad.
"But," I asked his daughter (we'll call her Karenna) when she finally got hold of me, "what do I do about the fact no one has ever heard of your dad?"
Hmm. That was just one of our predicaments as we sorted through more than 850 votes you cast in this year's Top 100 survey of the most influential lawyers in California. Our 12 tireless staff members spent the last month calling lawyers up and down the state and across a broad cross-section of legal profession. We called big law firms, law schools, public interest organizations. We rang up African-American attorneys and gay Irish lawyers, feminist Republicans from San Diego and the budding and budded entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley. We asked them to name the most "influential" California attorneys - who's hot, who's not. No votes for oneself or one's partners were allowed.
Being friendly sorts and realizing our own limitations, we also accepted names from attorneys who contacted us. And, therein, we encountered a phenomenon that surfaced last year but this year took on a life of its own - stuffing of the ballot boxes.
Which is why we've turned the Top 100 selection process into something of an electoral college. As before, the list is essentially based on pure tabulation of votes. Again though, as in the past two years, we have exercised our editonal discretion when we reached the lower vote totals. We looked at who made the nomination, recent accomplishments and other factors - including whether the nomination passed the straight-faced test. We discounted those votes obviously inspired by ballot-box stuffing.
In the end, we came up with the 2000 edition of the Top 100, our third. Debate it, argue about it, have fun with it. Let us know what you think.
And Karenna, you can stop calling. At least until next year.
THE TOP 100
Brian J. Panish
The renowned litigator has procured more than 60 verdicts and settlements above $1 million. He's also won seven jury verdicts in excess of $10 million. "He tends to be modest and very generous in sharing credit for his victories. Not a lot of great lawyers do that."
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- The Top 100: California Law Business Ranks the State's Most Influential Attorneys for 1999
