Two celebrity lawyers lined up at the microphone along with several rank-and-file Federalist Society members. The first was a well known federal judge who shall go nameless. The guy just couldn’t resist making sure everybody knew he was a big shot and seemed to assume that he would be adored for it. He asked a snarky and ultimately pointless question.

Later in line came Boyden Gray–at the time at least as well known as the judge and probably a little more so. He mumbled his name and identified himself as “a lawyer in Washington.” His question was gentle and insightful. If you didn’t know better, you might have thought Boyden Gray was just another Washington lawyer, practicing his craft in relative obscurity. But most of the people in the room did know better. That’s why it was so endearing.

[If you have to review your CV at the podium, you’re probably a legend in your own mind. Apparently that didn’t apply to George H.W. Bush’s White House Counsel, and for obvious reasons. RIP. — Ed]