Quite a few people have been asking me how I came up with my list of Top 50 advocates.

I think all of these "Top 40"-type lists are somewhat arbitrary.  I tried to limit myself to the 50 "most influential" advocates, whether they be appellate stars, trial/ plaintiffs lawyers, or figureheads like Obama or the ABA President.

Otherwise, I used these three criteria in creating my list:

1. Living advocates
2. Actual advocates (in other words, people who have written many briefs).  That's why I ended up with Judge Easterbrook, who was the deputy solicitor general, but not Scalia, who's a great opinion writer but who has never really served as an advocate.
3. People who showed up on many other lists, particularly on Chambers & Partners rankings, which rely mostly on client opinions and thus are not so much of a popularity contest.

What's interesting, at least to me, is that even after narrowing 1 million lawyers down to just 50, I've found that a lot of these 50 advocates are unknown.  I think the profession as a whole could do more to identify and promote standout performers like these.  For example, I just asked some female associates if they could name any top female appellate advocates.  They couldn't name a single one, even though at least a half dozen are in the upper echelons of appellate practice.

What say you? What would be a different (or better) way to come up with a list of names?  Is anyone conspicuously absent from my list?