Michael D. Hausfeld
AGE: 54
FIRM: Washington, D.C.'s Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll P.L.L.C.

Antitrust and class action attorney with an international reputation as a plaintiffs' lawyer; respected for promoting the public policy component of his practice; co-lead plaintiffs' counsel in the $176 million Texaco Inc. race discrimination settlement and in the international litigation against banks, insurance and industrial companies seeking damages for Holocaust victims; represents several cities in litigation against gun industry -- in 1970s, filed suit to ban bullets as an excessively dangerous product; significant part of some of the biggest class actions of the last decade; co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the ongoing proposed $1.17 billion settlement of the class action accusing vitamin makers of a global price-fixing conspiracy; recently filed a price-fixing action against the tobacco industry and is lead plaintiffs' attorney for opponents of genetically engineered seeds in the ongoing litigation against Monsanto.

Benjamin W. Heineman Jr.
AGE: 56
FIRM: General counsel of General Electric Co.

Innovative head of in-house legal department rated as best in the nation by several legal publications, including this one; widely recognized as a leader in keeping legal costs down and establishing a quality in-house department; recruits senior partners from major firms for middle management, as well as for top jobs at GE and its subsidiaries; several GE alumni have become general counsel at such corporations as McDonalds and International Paper; has built a large overseas legal contingent -- more than 20 percent of GE's 700 lawyers work in Europe, Latin America or Asia; a leader in the push for worldwide corporate compliance with the anti-bribery provision of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Mark Hiepler
AGE: 38
FIRM: Oxnard, Calif.'s Hiepler & Hiepler

Family tragedy led this litigator to a career as an innovative foe of insurance companies and HMOs; won the second-largest verdict ever -- $89.3 million, against HealthNet -- after his sister was denied coverage for a bone-marrow transplant to treat her breast cancer; considered a pioneer and role model in insurance and managed care litigation; often wins the first verdicts or settlements advancing novel theories to get around caps or restrictions on litigation or recovery; represents physicians in negotiations with HMOs; a member of the State of California Managed Health Care Improvement Task Force. Has built on some of the fundamental work by William M. Shernoff, of Claremont, Calif.'s Shernoff, Bidart, Darras & Dillon, one of the originators of bad-faith litigation, whose 1974 $5 million verdict against an insurance carrier established case law in California and who leads the nation's most prominent firm devoted to insurance bad-faith litigation.

Edward D. Herlihy
AGE: 53
FIRM: New York's Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Considered one of the world's top banking transaction attorneys; has served as counsel to one side or the other in more than three-quarters of the largest banking mergers; represented both sides in some deals -- notably, the $29 billion combination of Banc One Corp. with First Chicago NBD and the $34 billion purchase of Wells Fargo by Norwest Bancorporation; represented BankAmerica Corp. in its $60 billion merger with NationsBank, Bankers Trust in its $8.9 billion acquisition by Deutsch Bank AG and First American Corp. in its $6.3 billion merger with AmSouth; also handles nonbanking transactions for financial services companies, including merger of General Re and Berkshire Hathaway; member of the management committee of his firm.

Innocence Project

Barry C. Scheck
AGE: 50

Peter Neufeld
AGE: 49

Scheck, a professor at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, and Neufeld, a partner at New York's Cochran, Neufeld & Scheck, L.L.P. are the foremost proponents of the use of DNA evidence to exonerate suspects and prison inmates; since 1988, they have shaped the course of case law, setting standards for forensic application of DNA technology; in 1992, established the Innocence Project to assist in representing the wrongly convicted; to date, the project has been involved in the post-conviction exonerations of 41 men, including eight on death row; in 1998, established the Innocence Network, to encourage other law schools to set up innocence clinics; 15 have been started thus far. Lawrence C. Marshall, a professor at Northwestern University School of Law, has established a groundbreaking legal clinic that uses investigation by journalism students and litigation by law students to exonerate the innocent.

Joseph D. Jamail
AGE: 54
FIRM: Houston's Jamail & Kolius

One of the most successful plaintiffs' attorneys of all time; won the largest corporate jury verdict ever, $10.3 billion, in Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco Inc. in 1987, later settled for an equally astounding $3 billion; Pennzoil brought him an estimated $420 million in fees; frequently goes years without reaching the courtroom because opposing counsel would rather settle than face him; handles full array of plaintiffs' work, from products liability and personal injury to corporate torts; recent settlements include $22.5 million in a professional malpractice action against a Big Five accounting firm and $80 million for Aetna Inc. in a subrogation claim.

Craig W. Johnson
AGE:53
FIRM: Menlo Park, Calif.'s Venture Law Group

A leading figure in venture capital law, founded high-tech boutique in 1993 after leaving Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where only the legendary Larry Sonsini was a bigger rainmaker; involved in many startups, helping create business strategies and alliances; the firm has handled hundreds of high-tech company IPOs, including those of StrataCom , Collagen Aesthetics, Wise Technology and Aspect Communications Corp.; credited with taking Yahoo! from a garage business to current position; firm started with 14 Wilson Sonsini lawyers and is now up to 95; created a model for law firms representing high-tech entrepreneurial businesses -- Venture Law takes an ownership position in its clients.

Michael 'Mickey' Kantor
AGE: 60
FIRM: Washington, D.C., office of Mayer, Brown & Platt

Former U.S. secretary of commerce; as President Clinton's U.S. trade representative, he concluded more than 200 agreements and was instrumental in negotiating NAFTA and its side agreements on labor and the environment; since leaving the administration in 1997, has become one of the most sought-after international attorneys, representing companies in corporate and financial transactions on worldwide basis; clients include Ford, Aetna, Boeing, CitiGroup, Monsanto, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, UAL, UPS, PepsiCo and AOL; gives advice and represents the high-tech industry with regard to permanent normal trade relations with China; guides U.S. companies on access to Europe and Asia; senior adviser to Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover & Co.

Robert J. Katz
AGE: 52
FIRM: General counsel of Goldman Sachs & Co.

Top financial industry lawyer; has moved further into corporate management at Goldman Sachs since joining the investment banking firm in June 1988 as partner and general counsel; now a managing director, a member of the management committee and, since May 1999, member of the firm's executive office; led Goldman in its 1999 IPO; key figure in 1998 in bailout of Long-Term Capital Management; former partner at New York's Sullivan & Cromwell; vice chair and chair-elect of the board of trustees of the Horace Mann School; member of the national board of the Survivors of the Shoah Foundation; member of the Cornell University Council.

Robert A. Kindler
AGE: 46
FIRM: New York's Cravath, Swaine & Moore

Corporate attorney with extensive M&A experience; represented Time Warner in its $165 billion merger this year with AOL and MCI WorldCom in its $115 billion acquisition of Sprint -- the largest telecommunications transaction ever; represented Johnson & Johnson in its successful hostile bid for Cordis and acquisition in 1999 of Centocor for $4.9 billion; previously worked on formation and financing of DreamWorks studio; regular clients include Lucent, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, AOL, Campbell Soup, Qwest, Broadwing, Bethlehem Steel, Brunswick, Cummins Engine and DreamWorks. Robert D. Joffe, the firm's presiding partner since Samuel Butler stepped down in January 1999, has extensive litigation and counseling experience in antitrust, copyright, contract and the First Amendment; has shepherded Time Inc. through its various transformations since 1978.

Joel I. Klein
AGE: 53
FIRM: Assistant attorney general, Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice

Scourge of Microsoft Corp. and a thorn in the sides of telecommunications giants; as assistant attorney general, he has established and pursued aggressive antitrust enforcement and review; in 1998 alone, exacted largest antitrust fine in U.S. history, against UCAR International Inc., for participating in an international price-fixing cartel, launched a major antitrust action against MasterCard and Visa, and began the suit against Microsoft that will determine the landscape of the technology world for the next generation; in telecommunications, has led forceful merger review; recently required Bell Atlantic, Vodafone and GTE to divest wireless businesses to resolve antitrust concerns; has blocked several attempted moves by Baby Bells into long-distance markets. William E. Kennard, chairman of the FCC, who has taken a primary role in many of these telecom competition battles, has led efforts to prosecute slammers and established education rate funding to link classrooms and libraries to the Internet.

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