William R. Newlin
AGE: 59
FIRM: Pittsburgh's Buchanan Ingersoll P.C.

President and chief executive officer; has overseen the expansion of the firm from 78 lawyers to 425 during the past 20 years; a leader in Pittsburgh civic and business life -- co-founded the Pittsburgh High Technology Council, the CEO Venture Funds and the Pittsburgh Biomedical Development Corp., all considered major forces in the diversification and revitalization of the Rust Belt city; as chief mayoral adviser, was critical in keeping the Pirates baseball team and Penguins hockey team from leaving town; in his own practice, represents National City Bank of Pennsylvania, Equitable Resources Inc., Black Box Corp., and many new high-tech companies.

Pierce O'Donnell
AGE: 53
FIRM: Los Angeles' O'Donnell & Shaeffer

Has won numerous cases setting precedent in intellectual property, products liability and environmental law; represented writer Art Buchwald and won $1 million verdict, settled during the appeal, in a critical challenge to Hollywood's accounting system; this year, won a key ruling in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for singer-songwriter Ron Isley, affirming a $5.4 million copyright infringement judgment against singer Michael Bolton; as defense counsel for such clients as Pfizer Inc., is credited as setting national standards on junk science and environmental issues; won reversal at California Supreme Court of a $4 million toxic tort verdict against Bridgestone/Firestone by conceding gross negligence but denying intentional harm; in May, won reversal of $143 million trademark verdict against Pfizer.

Charles J. Ogletree Jr.
AGE: 47
LAW SCHOOL: Harvard Law School

Prominent legal theorist and civil rights attorney; founder and director of Harvard's Criminal Justice Institute and its Trial Advocacy Workshop; also of counsel to the Washington, D.C.'s Jordan Keys Jessamy & Botts, L.L.P.; heads a national movement challenging racial profiling; a leading proponent of reparations for descendants of slaves; legal counsel to Anita Hill in the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings; recently joined the team of attorneys for Gerald Amirault, convicted in disputed day-care sexual abuse case; also represents a Harvard Divinity School dean forced to resign after the discovery of pornography on his office computer; helped South Africa draft its constitution; considered a mentor and role model nationwide for black lawyers and prospective criminal defense counsel.

Ronald L. Olson
AGE: 58
FIRM: Los Angeles' Munger, Tolles & Olson

High-powered corporate litigator known for getting better-than-expected results for clients in trouble, even when liability is clear; lead counsel for Merrill Lynch & Co. in the Orange County bankruptcy; co-lead counsel for MCA Inc. in a case against Viacom/Paramount for ownership of the USA cable network; lead counsel for Shell Oil Co. in a series of antitrust cases in California and Hawaii and for the Philippines in litigation against the Marcos family; called in as troubleshooter for Salomon Bros. Inc. when longtime Munger Tolles client Warren E. Buffett became its chairman; Buffet later said that Olson's negotiations with authorities kept the company from going out of business; a member of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway and Edison International; combines active litigation practice with full plate of community involvement.

Theodore B. Olson
AGE: 59
FIRM: Washington, D.C., office of Los Angeles' Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher L.L.P.

A member of the inner circle of the Supreme Court bar; big wins include Hopwood v. University of Texas School of Law at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, striking down university affirmative action policies, and the 1996 Gasparini v. The Center for Humanities Inc., affirming the power of the federal appellate courts to review excessive jury awards; represented the prevailing party in the 1999 Supreme Court decision holding that Hawaii's racial voting restrictions were in violation of the Fifteenth Amendment; often called in by defendants who have lost massive judgments; recently hired by Chrysler Corp. in its appeal of a $262.5 million products liability award; won an appeal for Dow Jones & Co. Inc., vacating a $220 million libel verdict, and for Deloitte & Touche, reversing a $78 million accounting negligence jury verdict; a member of the legal advisory committees of the National Legal Center for the Public Interest and the Center for Individual Rights.

Carter G. Phillips
AGE: 47
FIRM: Washington, D.C., office of Chicago's Sidley & Austin

Noted appellate attorney; law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger; during his three-year term as assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, argued nine cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government; in private practice, has argued 19 cases before the Supreme Court; this term, represented the petitioner in eight cases, including win this spring in Norfolk Southern v. Shanklin, where he persuaded the court that state tort claims involving grade crossings were pre-empted by federal funding; significant cases include NCCA v. Smith, involving application of Title IX to the NCAA, and Yee v. City of Excondido, a challenge under the takings clause to city laws on mobile homes; managing partner of his firm's Washington, D.C., office; sits on management committee.

John R. Phillips
AGE: 57
FIRM: Washington, D.C.'s Phillips & Cohen

Premier whistleblower attorney, who helped write the 1986 revision by Congress of the False Claims Act; since 1992, cases brought by Phillips and his firm have generated more than a billion dollars in recoveries for the federal government; these cases include the first major qui tam suit brought against a medical lab, which ended in a $110 million settlement by National Health Laboratories and led to payments of more than $800 million in damages and penalties to the government; brought two high-profile qui tam cases against giant health care provider Columbia/HCA Healthcare Inc. and the largest hospital management company Quorum Health Resources Inc., which were seen as leading to greater Medicare billing compliance by all health care providers and, in 1999, the first decline ever in Medicare spending; founder of Taxpayers Against Fraud, chairman of the executive committee of Handgun Control Inc. and co-founder of the Center for Law in the Public Interest.

Louis T. Pirkey
AGE: 61
FIRM: Austin, Texas, office of Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

The nation's foremost trademark litigator, he has represented clients in more than 200 trademark and unfair competition litigations in federal trial and appellate courts; has won many infringement cases before juries, including a case for Haagen-Dazs and Pillsbury Co. in defense of a suit brought by Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Co., a case brought by Burger King against Pilgrim's Pride Corp. and a recent summary judgment for Exxon Corp. in the highly publicized "Tony the Tiger" trademark case, brought by Kellogg Co.; he is representing 3M in three pending cases; president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the first trademark attorney to hold that position; a former member of the national Trademark Review Commission, which produced the Trademark Law Revision Act passed by Congress in 1988.

Robert Pitofsky
AGE: 70
FIRM: Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission

Since 1995, has transformed and revived the commission; in the past three years, has pushed for sweeping consent orders requiring record divestitures before clearing mergers between BP and Amoco, and Exxon and Mobil; challenged the BP/Amoco/ARCO merger; his preparation for a challenge of the proposed merger between Barnes & Noble and the largest book wholesaler in the United States helped scuttle that deal; pushed for a novel disgorgement remedy in an action against Mylan, a maker of generic drugs that had allegedly cornered the market on a key drug ingredient; also pressed for innovative challenges to fraud and invasion of privacy on the Internet; previously blocked the proposed merger between Staples Inc. and Office Depot Inc. and between Rite Aid Corp. and Revco D.S. Inc.; former professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Harvey L. Pitt
AGE: 55
FIRM: Washington, D.C., office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson

Former general counsel of the SEC; considered the top securities attorney by many; in the past three years, has represented Lloyds of London in its effort to effect reorganization of the insurance market and has represented the New York Stock Exchange in the SEC investigation of trading practices on the exchange floor; represents each of the Big Five accounting firms on a wide range of regulatory issues; co-chairs the Task Force on Rule 10b-5 Joint and Several Liability of the American Bar Association's business section; was a major defense counsel in the insider-trading scandals -- while representing Dennis Levine, helped uncover Ivan Boesky's criminal activities, then represented Mr. Boesky in his $100 million plea.

R. Robert Popeo
AGE: 62
FIRM: Boston's Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C.

Chairman of the firm and of its litigation section, with a long-standing reputation as a top trial attorney and Boston power broker; led his firm to its current status as a litigation power in the Northeast; represents corporate and individual clients in civil and criminal litigation; in the past three years, has successfully fended off state and federal indictments of General Electric Co. in connection with civil and criminal investigations of its alleged contamination of the Housatonic River; has advised Gillette in deflecting a hostile takeover; has represented Lane Bryant Co. in a Massachusetts labor law case with potential national implications; in 1997, he successfully defended the former governor of Rhode Island on racketeering charges; is heavily involved in Boston civic affairs; chaired a Boston Bar Association task force that helped formulate a plan to reform the Massachusetts court system.

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