Alberto Gonzalez - Lawyer of the Year

The votes are in boys and girls .... and the winner of the American Bar Association's 2007 "Attorney of the Year" is (wait for it, wait for it) .... Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. I shit you not, I'm not making this up.

Gonzales, who resigned in September after 2 1/2 years at the department amid investigations into whether he broke the law and lied to Congress, was given the reward which is given to the lawyers who made the most news.

Gonzalez's shitty tenure as Attorney General started to unravel following a public furor surfaced last January over the firings of nine U.S. attorneys, and whether they were politically motivated. His conflicting public statements about the ousters led Democrats and Republicans alike to question his honesty. In addition, a former top aide to Gonzales testified that he potentially illegally tampered with a witness in ongoing Congressional and DOJ investigations by stating that he tried to coach her answers about the firings.

And for this he received Lawyer of the Year.

Originally I figured he won because he was the only one running. But on closer inspection, there were other stellar nominees. They other high-profile lawyers that were nominated for the distinction included (1) Monica Goodling, the Justice Department's liaison to the White House who quit in April amid the political firestorm, and (2) Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation into the leaked identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson. Given the low level of competition, I'm surprised that my bipolar, workaholic boss with an army of personal demons wasn't nominated as well. I guess there's always next year, though.