In the pitched election battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore, someone has to lose. Except, of course, the dozens of lawyers representing the two candidates. For them, even the losers likely will end up winning enhanced prestige and billing rates, legal observers agree. From top litigators to no-name attorneys who have risen from relative obscurity to seize their 15 minutes of fame, the election-battle attorneys are earning high marks from their colleagues and have …showed first 75 words of 1001 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1001 total…e-mail solicitations. Some Democratic attorneys agreed to volunteer their time while counting on pledges of reimbursement for travel costs and other expenses. "The jury's still out" on whether they will ever see the reimbursements, one Democratic lawyer said. Even so, the case seems likely to pay big dividends in future exposure and billings. Said Weidner, the Jacksonville attorney: "There are going to be an awful lot of lawyers who do awfully well from all this."