Ooh La Lawyer? Site Ranks Attorneys' Hotness

July 10, 2008 — -- She has long blonde hair, sparkly blue eyes, a killer body and can sue you with the best of them.

While attractiveness may not come to mind as a priority when choosing legal counsel, one controversial blog recently ranked attorneys from across the nation based purely on their "hotness" – not their impressive resumes.

HotAttorney.wordpress.com, a blog that was taken offline earlier this week after being widely criticized in The National Law Journal and on several legal blogs, had posted photographs and employment information about young female lawyers.

The most recent post on the blog, whose creator remains unknown, was published on July 2 and proclaimed Heather Bias, a blonde-haired law associate at the Denver firm Snell & Wilmer, as "HotAtty of the Day."

Nora Brunelle, a lawyer from Fabian & Clendenin in Utah, was also awarded the title by the site, which explained the reasoning behind her nomination: "After an extremely short review, we find Ms. Brunelle compliant with our Hotness requirements."

The mastermind behind HotAttorney.com, who has yet to be identified, responded anonymously in an e-mail to The National Law Journal's request for an interview.

"On our own initiative, we decided to take the site down earlier today," the unidentified blogger told the Journal on July 7, disputing claims that they had shut down in response to complaints.

ABCNEWS.com was unable to contact the blogger since the Web site has since become inaccessible.

Is Your Lawyer Hot…or Not?

Several of the women who had their faces pictured and law firms' addresses posted on the HotAttorney said they weren't even aware of the site until it had already been taken down.

Even so, several featured lawyers told ABCNEWS.com that getting noticed because of their physical appearance is a far cry from why they went to law school in the first place.

"I would say that [my looks] are not what I want to be known for among the shareholders in my firm and other lawyers in the community," Fabian & Clendenin's Brunelle, 31, told ABCNEWS.com.

Brunelle, who said she heard about the site through her colleagues, said she was "very embarrassed" to be involved but would not pursue any legal action now that the site has been removed.

Another featured lawyer who asked that she not be identified told ABCNEWS.com that she found the site to be very disappointing and that she hoped it would not happen again.

But not all of the lawyers deemed hot by the site are upset – some are actually amused by the rankings.

Denise Gitsham, a first-year associate at Washington D.C. firm K&L Gates, told ABCNEWS.com that she sees no harm in showing that smart people can be pretty too.

"I wasn't upset at all [when I heard about the site]," said Gitsham, who once appeared on ABC's 'The Bachelor.' "I think it's good to have a sense of humor about it."

"It's great when people realize beauty and brains can exist in the same person," added Gitsham.

Bias, the latest "HotAtty of the Day" said that she thinks the site is "harmless."

"It's kind of funny," said Bias, 30. "I wasn't embarrassed."

David Lat, the editor-in-chief of legal blog AboveTheLaw.com, said that while many of these lawyers were surprised to hear of the online attorney ranking system, he actually launched a similar idea in 2004.

After developing a blog known as BeneathTheirRobes.com, Lat began an online contest to name the "Superhottie of the Federal Judiciary."

The poll, which had the tagline "Too Sexy for Their Robes," wasn't as controversial, Lat said, because the nominees were already public figures and some of them even nominated themselves to be considered for the title.

Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Alex Kozinski nominated himself and won the "hottie" title at age 59, said Lat.

"There was some controversy over 'Superhottie of the Federal Judiciary' too," said Lat.

"Some of the more traditional judges thought it was beneath the dignity of the federal judiciary," said Lat. "But others thought it was a fun contest and realized that judges are people too and it's okay to humanize them a bit."

Lat said while he's still on the fence about HotAttorney.com, he does see it as a bit more problematic than his site because it only names female attorneys, whereas his competition was open to both sexes.

But much like some of the women rated on the site, Lat isn't so sure there's anything wrong with recognizing people, whether they're lawyers or not, for their attractiveness.

"I don't see anything inherently objectionable about saying, 'Oh, this person is attractive,'" said Lat. "Perhaps we've gone too far in the direction of political correctness when saying you view someone as attractive is offensive."

"Merely observing someone as good-looking is automatically branded sexist," he added.