Idol gossip

Yesterday, David Lat announced the winner of the “reality blogging” competition to select the new editor of Above the Law. And today we meet the winning contestant, Elie Mystal, f/k/a Sophist, to whom Lat will be handing over the reins. As Above the Law's new editor-in-chief, Mystal will assume the day-to-day editorial responsibilities while Lat will exercise bigger-picture oversight as managing editor for Breaking Media, ATL’s parent company.

As the competition’s guest judges acknowledged, Lat’s shoes will be hard to fill, and in my view Sophist’s posts didn’t quite live up to the promise of his avatar. But I look forward to seeing where Mystal takes ATL and wish the best to both Mystal and Lat in their new roles.