From Holiday Banta to Debra Smilley-Weiner: The lawyers with the funniest names

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By Legal Cheek on

Weird and wonderful

Lawyers, despite being a stereotypically dull and conservative profession, sometimes have really, really great names.

Last year we brought you an article listing some of the best, including Sue Yoo, Harry Potter and Cinderela Guevara.

But why should the moniker fun end there? We’ve scoured far and wide for 12 more of the best funny lawyer names.

1. Janet Bernstein Teebagy

An unfortunate name, but that doesn’t seem to have hindered this Florida lawyer’s career. A former attorney at Greenberg Traurig, Janet Bernstein Teebagy is now the vice president and assistant general counsel of a building materials company.

2. Hugh Cumber

This 5 Stone Buildings barrister has a busy and diverse chancery practice, according to his chambers profile. His name also sounds like cucumber.

3. Robin Kills a Hundred

Ice Miller is a firm that will appear more than once in this list. A full-service outfit based in the states, Ice Miller is home to a legal assistant called Robin Kills a Hundred, apparently, who has worked there for 17 years.

4. B. Knox Dobbins

B. Knox Dobbins Of Counsel works at Eversheds Sutherland and has been a banking lawyer for 35 years. He’s actually been recognised as Atlanta Lawyer of the Year!

5. Debra Smilley-Weiner

Excellent name, excellent CV: Debra Smilley-Weiner is now general counsel at a cybersecurity firm.

6. Nigel Boobier

A partner at Osborne Clarke’s Bristol office, Nigel Boobier studied at the University of Birmingham and has also worked at DLA Piper.

7. Stephanie Wank Kofman

Stephanie Wank Kofman is a big deal: she’s the vice-president of litigation at Sony and a Harvard graduate. If Wank Kofman wasn’t enough wanks for you (sorry…), then there’s also Linda J. Wank, from a boutique law firm in New York called Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. And who could forgot Kim Wanker, the first ever female judge of rural Nevada?

8. David Smellie

Head of employment at Farrer & Co, when David Smellie isn’t in his Lincoln’s Inn Fields office, he’s on BBC’s Breakfast talking about child law issues.

9. Randy Wang

This unusually-named lawyer specialises in transactions and corporate finance at Bryan Cave, the firm in transatlantic merger talks with London-headquartered Berwin Leighton Paisner.

10. Holiday Banta

We told you law firm Ice Miller would get another mention in this list and I hope we didn’t disappoint you with Holiday Banta, a partner in intellectual property. We should say Ice Miller appears to have a penchant for attracting lawyers with strange names; its attorneys include: Samuel Beavers, Kristin McNulty McClellan and Freedom Smith.

11. James Counsell QC

Legal nominative determinism is the best: James Counsell of counsel (from Outer Temple Chambers) sits proudly alongside the likes of Igor Judge (a retired judge) and Hubert Legal (a legal adviser).

12. Jay Ze

Hailing from China, Eversheds Sutherland partner Jay Ze is qualified in England and has studied at the University of Bristol and the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice. But no he’s not married to Beyoncé.

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