Looking for a Model on Which to Base Your Career as a Big Firm Lawyer? How About Dan Webb?

In yesterday's New York Times, Winston & Strawn's Dan Webb was profiled as a "superlawyer."

In a steamy day in New York last week, Dan K. Webb, the chief counsel for the New York Stock Exchange in its case against Richard A. Grasso, its former chairman, was doing what $700-an-hour lawyers normally do - juggling a boatload of cases. . . .

That night, Mr. Webb, who is 59, worked until 2 a.m. preparing for a deposition in his capacity as the lead counsel for Philip Morris in the government's $300 billion lawsuit accusing the tobacco industry of racketeering.

One drawback to being a superlawyer is the dedication that's required: Webb says that in some years, "he bills up to 3,000 hours." Ouch. Webb is on the opposite side of one of my cases in Madison County, Illinois, and I wrote about him here.