Mild-mannered legal advocate by day, superhero by night?
James Egan, part of the team that successfully secured Gwyneth Paltrow’s good name in the Park City, Utah ski accident trail (also known as the best show on television in March 2023) has suddenly found himself an unexpected news-adjacent heartthrob.
Fashion columnist Evan Ross Katz was the first significant voice out of the gate, sharing a photo of Egan on Instagram and writing, “Gwyneth’s attorney James Egan? I think we should have that conversation.” In the comments, Katie Couric, of all people, remarked: “He’s cute.” (The jury finds no evidence of perjury! Who would deny Couric’s statement of fact?)
Follow-ups from Katz after the initial post included warning television producer Ryan Murphy to stay away from Egan, as well as responding to chatter, writing “Clark Kent yeah yeah yeah.”
There were others, so the Sex-symbol-law-daddy/”>New York Post noted, who went so far as to rechristen Mr. Egan “Law Daddy.” It’s been a while since we’ve had such an unexpected television hunk discovered while doing his job; all, of course, follow in the footsteps of the O.G., Arthur Kent, the Scud Stud.
Anyhow, Billy Bush did the right thing, and asked Egan about the phenomenon as he was headed out the door following Paltrow’s exoneration. (She was found not responsible for the snowy collision by a jury of her peers on Thursday, and countersued retired optometrist Terry Sanderson for the amount of one U.S. dollar plus her legal fees. “I felt that acquiescing to a false claim compromised my integrity,” the Oscar-winning actress said in a statement following the reading of the verdict.)
“Where are you going right now?” the Extra correspondent asked, perhaps expecting him to respond, “I’m going to Disney World.” Egan said he was off to see his one-year-old son, who had his birthday during the trial. Bush followed-up, mentioning that many have compared the young esquire to Clark Kent. “I’ve heard that. It’s weird,” he said. We present the following as evidence:
Egan lives in Salt Lake City and is a partner at Epperson & Owens, which he joined in February 2016. According to the firm’s website, he is “experienced in each phase of a medical malpractice case,” spent a summer in India at a public health organization, and won a “best thesis” award for his undergraduate work in literature at Honors College at the University of Utah.
His most famous client had no comment about the internet’s sudden interest in him, but representatives thanked V.F. for asking.