The American Bar Association picked Alberto Gonzales. The Wall Street Journal’s law bloggers picked a frequent commenter only as “Loyola 2L.”

Everyone else seems to be naming a Legal Newsmaker of the Year, so why not us? Which member of the Maryland bar has had the greatest impact — positive or negative — on Maryland law or the Maryland legal community this year?

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

* Gov. Martin O’Malley, who, by not acting to change the state’s lethal-injection protocols, has continued a de facto moratorium on executions.

* Court of Appeals Judge Glenn T. Harrell, who wrote the majority opinion in the gay marriage case (PDF).

* U.S. Attorney/4th Circuit judicial nominee Rod J. Rosenstein, whose office wrapped up the Thomas Bromwell case this year. (subscriber-only link)

* Baltimore County Circuit Judge Susan M. Souder, who ruled that fingerprint evidence is not scientifically reliable enough to be admitted in a death-penalty case; or Patrick Kent, chief of the forensics division in the Office of the Public Defender, who raised the argument.

* Paul W. Minnich (yes, he’s admitted in Maryland), whose York, Pa.-based law firm was lead counsel for the father of Matthew Snyder, the Marine whose funeral was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church. A jury in federal court in Baltimore awarded $10.9 million in damages. Or, how about Jonathan L. Katz, who represented the church in that same action?

What do you think?

CARYN TAMBER, Legal Affairs Writer 

When I visited Chicago last month, my colleague and I noticed reports of theft of stainless-steel appliances from residential construction sites. My colleague shared that in his hometown of New Orleans, residents often complain of copper pipe thefts from home sites under construction.

Turns out the theft of this valuable metal doesn’t always happen so far from home.

Patuxent Square, a new commercial/residential development in North Laurel, Md., is hiring a night watchman after $10,000 of copper pipe fittings were ripped off at its construction site, the HoCo Times reported last week.

And the Patuxent Square development is just one of many. According to the story, the Howard County Police say copper thefts from county construction sites tripled in October (14 reports) and November (13 reports). At scrap dealers, copper yields about $3.20 per pound.

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor 

Akin to the American Bar Association’s “Lawyer of the Year” award, the Wall Street Journal last week asked its readers to nominate their most newsworthy lawyer of the year. Well, the results are in – but nobody seems to know who the person actually is!

According to the Journal, the “landslide” winner is “Loyola 2L,” (otherwise known as L2L) a law blogger whose claim to fame is beating “a loud and consistent drum of discontent around the Web by posting in online forums about the job prospects for graduates of nonelite law schools.”

L2L first appeared on the law blog scene about a year ago; from the moniker, the Journal speculates he or she was a second-year student at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Many of L2L’s comments center on how law school rankings (Loyola is a tier-two school) play an unfair role in access to well-paying jobs upon graduation.

Although now presumably a third-year, L2L’s true identity (gender included) remains a mystery to the general public.

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