Editor’s Note

Robert Benchley, one of the Algonquin Round Table characters in the Twenties, was a noted and self-proclaimed procrastinator. One evening he was sitting at his typewriter trying to write on a story while a party was going on down the hall. Stuck after writing ”The,” Benchley wandered down to the party and came back to work on his story. After staring at ”The” for a while, he typed, ”hell with it,” and went back to the party.

Unfortunately, all you procrastinating lawyers (with last names starting from A through M) only have until June 30 to say, ”the hell with it,” when it comes to completing your MCLE requirements. But fortunately, Chicago Lawyer staff writer Maria Kantzavelos has come to the rescue with a story on all the creative ways the ISBA, CBA, IICLE, and other CLE providers have come up with to make it as pain-free as possible to keep your license. Maria’s story lays it all out for you the requirements, the choices, the CLE festivals (not kidding), and movies you can watch.

And speaking of roundtables, our cover story was put together by staff writer Olivia Clarke, who assembled a group of five in-house lawyers to discuss how law firms can build stronger relationships with corporate lawyers. They talk about misconceptions outside counsel have of the work they do, how they choose firms, and their thoughts about the salaries that young associates receive. There’s a wealth of information and opinions here.

Continuing with this month’s focus on corporate counsel, Maria found four in-house lawyers who work in dream jobs those legal jobs that mesh with childhood daydreams, glamour, or hobbies. She talked with the Bulls’ senior vice president/ financial and legal, who is the guru of the NBA salary caps; the general counsel for Rich Melman’s Lettuce Entertain You restaurants; the lawyer for Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions; and, the vice president of Midway Games, a video-gamer from her childhood.

And Stephanie Potter, the Daley Center reporter for the Daily Law Bulletin, has a profile of Lily Rin-Laures, a partner at the IP firm of Marshall, Gerstein & Borun. Rin-Laures does fascinating work in pharmaceutical patents, bringing to bear her degree from Northwestern Medical School along with her Harvard Law School education. But, before all that, she was a math prodigy, entering Johns Hopkins at 13 and graduating at 17 with a degree in chemistry. And, most disheartening of all, Rin-Laures is a nice, relaxed mother of three who teaches Sunday school.

In our columns this month, Seth Darmstadter, an associate at Meckler Bulger & Tilson, begins his series of tips for other young lawyers essentially, Seth says, ”don’t do what I did!” Young lawyers and curious elder lawyers can find Seth’s tips in ”Climbing the Ladder.”

As much as we like pop culture around our office, we rarely dip into it in public, but this month, Arin Reeves looks to ”The Office,” of all places, for insight into diversity issues. The studied idiocy of the show, she finds, can open the door to honest conversations about race and ethnicity in real offices. Who knew? Take a look at ”Diversity in Practice.”

And David Heilmann, in his ”Practical Matters” column, thinks out loud about whether law firms still need offices, much less the office towers under construction right now.

I sat around with a bunch of lawyers at Jones Day a month ago, talking about the magazine, what they liked, what they wanted to see, and so on, and one of them said, ”I pretty much only read Russ’s column.” It was on of those bittersweet moments: ”Glad you like our restaurant reviews, but, you know, we’ve got 67 other pages you could look at.” For Russell Selman’s fan at Jones Day, and all his other readers, Russ reviews Sixteen, the new restaurant at the partially completed Trump Tower. As always, his column covers more than just the dishes on the menu, and this month, Russ’s polo-playing South American friend, Frito, makes another socially awkward appearance.

But, don’t forget, we have 67 other pages filled with wit and wisdom.

— Robert Yates