Atticus Wegman of Aitken*Aitken*Cohn in Santa Ana, Calif., a listee in the 2012 issue of Southern California Rising Stars, has the distinction of being the first lawyer named Atticus on any of our Super Lawyers or Rising Stars lists. In part two of our two-part interview, Wegman talks about the positives and negatives of being named for the most famous and revered fictional lawyer of all time. (Part one can be read here.)

Were you named for Atticus Finch?
I was. I grew up in a small town in Iowa, 5,000 people. The county has about 30,000 people and my uncle is currently the county attorney there, and my grandpa was the county attorney before him. My great grandpa was the state treasurer of Iowa.

That was my mom's side of the family. She was always surrounded by law and she always wanted to go to law school but didn't. She loved "To Kill a Mockingbird" and decided to name me after Atticus Finch. I doubt she thought about how that would affect me if I entered the field of law. [Laughs]

And how has it affected you? What are the negatives of being named Atticus?
The obvious negative is being unable to live up to the expectations of anyone who has read the book. Living up to the expectations is both a negative and a positive, I think, because it holds me to a high standard.

A fictional standard.
Exactly. When I make initial appearances before judges, sometimes I'll get asked that question; and I'll have to say, "Yes, I was named after Atticus Finch." Then I'll put out a disclaimer about expectations and I usually get a laugh.

Atticus Wegman of Aitken*Aitken*Cohn in Santa Ana, Calif., a listee in the 2012 issue of Southern California Rising Stars, has the distinction of being the first lawyer named Atticus on any of our Super Lawyers or Rising Stars lists. In part one of our two-part interview, Wegman, a civil litigation attorney who graduated from Chapman University School of Law in May 2010, talks about how he found employment in this tough legal job market.

The last few years have been a particularly tough time for law school grads. How did you wind up at Aitken*Aitken*Cohn?
When I was in law school, the whole global financial crisis was happening and everyone could see that the legal market was changing. So I said to myself, "I'm not going to be able to rely solely on grades and submitting resumes; I need to get practical with the legal training and try to get as much experience as I can outside the classroom." So I put a lot of focus on trying to apply what I was learning as I was learning it.

I started at Aitken*Aitken*Cohn as a law clerk at the beginning of my second year and just worked as much as possible--trying to find a good balance between work and school. I worked my second year, and that summer, and all third year. The entire time I was hoping I could make some connections, and maybe that could transition into a full-time associate position.

Which is what happened.
Exactly. Get in and make as many personal connections as you can. And do a good job. I did anything and everything I could--whether it was helping the firm move files to storage, attending personal functions with other attorneys, or attending work events. I was always asking: "Is there anything else I can do?" You have to go out there and take on much more than you can handle.

Real estate attorney Alan B. Schaeffer at Pickrel, Schaeffer and Ebeling in Dayton, Ohio offered some tips for success -- even in challenging times -- in our 2011 issue of Ohio Super Lawyers & Rising Stars.

The 2012 issue of San Diego Super Lawyers will be out in June. In the meantime, here are some of the numbers we crunched from among the listees.

1. We received more than 5,500 nominations and evaluations.
2. Sixty percent of lawyers selected this year have been on the list each of the last five years.
3. Three attorneys have been listed in the Top 10 each of the last five years:

• George S. Howard Jr. of Jones Day
• Virginia C. Nelson of Law Offices of Virginia C. Nelson, who was profiled in the article, "Unstoppable," in the 2008 issue
• Dennis A. Schoville of Schoville & Arnell, who was profiled in the article, "King of the Long Shots," in the 2008 issue

The average number of years in practice for a listee is just over 29. The earliest year of admittance for a listee is 1953, while the most recent, shared by two lawyers, is 2001.

Here are the top 10 practice areas: