There was something even darker than the sea of navy and black business suits packed into this morning’s Bisnow-hosted symposium about law firms: The future of the billable hour.

Anyone who’s had to hire one knows that lawyers usually charge by the hour. Or, more precisely, by the tenth of an hour. In this economy, that means law-firm clients are growing grumpier with each six-minute phone call to their outside counsel.

Michael Helfer, general counsel of CitiGroup and a panelist at the Bisnow event, put it bluntly when he said CitiGroup’s inhouse legal department has been reduced during the past few years by nearly 300 employees, many of whom were laid off. The lawyers who are left have had their compensation slashed by as much as 60 percent. Helfer says he’s consequently lost his patience for paying his company’s outside lawyers premium fees. “The amount of sympathy I have for the argument that $1,000 an hour is a reasonable rate . . . is nil.”

Oh, ACORN. Not only have you sparked the greatest congressional witchhunt since the McCarthy ear, you’ve also prompted Darrell Issa to start making jokes again, which may be your worst crime against America. This week in Congress: All the attention is starting to go to Joe Wilson’s head. Better milk those fifteen minutes... Both Roy Blunt and Tom Perriello are also basking in praise but Michael Burgess feels snubbed. Jim Oberstar is using caps TO REALLY, REALLY EMPHASIZE HIS POINT; Arlen Specter is eager to link the two metropolitan cities of New York and... Scranton; Rob Wittman needs to stp abbrvtng, and Vern Buchanan still isn’t sure about this alleged “swine flu.” And like everyone else in Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is enjoying watching Tom DeLay shake his bon-bon on Dancing with the Stars. And the “waiving” of flags, apparently.

>> See a slideshow from the evening here

What: The Navy Memorial Lone Sailor Awards dinner.

Where: The National Building Museum.

When: Tuesday, September 22, 6 to 10:30.

Who: The black-tie gala was a who’s who of distinguished men in uniform, politicians, and their spouses attached at the arm. With so many decorated seamen, high-ranking Marines, and Congressmen, the only misters and misses in attendance seemed to be with the media. Among those drawing the most attention were Kentucky Senator and former major-league pitcher Jim Bunning; Tennessee Congressional representatives Marsha Blackburn and Steve Cohen; Pennsylvania Congressman Christopher Carney; vice chief of naval operations Jonathan Greenert; former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe; former CEO of CNN and managing editor of Time Walter Isaacson; John McCain’s mother, Roberta McCain; master chief petty officer of the navy Rick West; and former commandant of the Marines Paul X. Kelley. After hobnobbing with photographers and admirers during the VIP cocktail hour, the boldfaced names turned their attention to the evening’s three awards recipients: cosmetic business giant Leonard Lauder; FedEx founder Fred Smith; and baseball great Yogi Berra.

Scene: Named after the symbolic statue standing outside the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, the Lone Sailor Awards honor distinguished sea-service veterans who exemplify military values in their civilian career. In fact, without a resume of brass honors dangling from your uniform or a posse of aids trailing your every move, even those in the blackest of ties could feel under-dressed beneath the vaulted arcades and Doric columns of the National Building Museum. This was probably the only awards show in town preceeded by a national anthem and pledge of allegiance (capped off with a cry of “Go Navy, beat Army!”), and at no point did Kanye West rush the stage to dispute the show’s outcome. Slick government contractors rubbed shoulders with well-heeled dignitaries, and two jumbo-trons played narrated videos recapping each recipient’s lifetime achievements to more standing ovations than a State of the Union address.

Eugenia Kim drew on her Korean heritage for her first novel. Photograph by Chris Leaman

Everything is churning on the Korean peninsula in Washington writer Eugenia Kim’s debut novel, The Calligrapher’s Daughter.

In a dream, Najin—the willful young woman at the center of this story about self-discovery, spiritual awakening, and the fraying yet firm bonds of family—glimpses her ancestors’ response to Korea’s early-20th-century sociopolitical upheaval: “I saw how the wind blew their sighs of sorrow, the rain scattered their tears, and snow spread their icy dismay as Western thought, Japan and Bleak Future crossed our unwilling, hermit’s threshold.”

Determined to uphold family tradition, Najin’s father betroths her to the son of a painter and fellow resistance worker. Outraged, Najin’s mother sends her to live with family in the royal city of Seoul. The move opens both professional opportunities for Najin and a rift between father and daughter that two decades can only begin to mend.

Employing a variety of narrators, Kim’s writing is most arresting tethered to the tongue of Najin, a character modeled loosely on the author’s mother, who emigrated to the US with her husband in 1948.

It’s the connection between Najin and her mother that gives this sprawling, buoyant tale its emotional anchor.

Henry Holt, $26

Chris Hogan started his fashion blog, Off the Cuff, in 2006, but his love affair with personal style goes back to 1992, when he landed his first retail job at a Ralph Lauren store. “Ralph is the master of lifestyle branding,” he says. “I learned a great deal about the psychology of branding and brand identification.”

Hogan takes those lessons to the entries of his blog, where he helps men discover a style that works with their lifestyles and reflects their interests. He writes to an international audience—Hogan counts approximately 16,000 readers a month in more than 40 countries—so he focuses less on labels and more on pinpointing classic trends. Because he hails from New Haven, it makes sense that Hogan identifies his own style as “Ivy League”—think East Coast preppy—but that doesn’t mean he recommends his look for everyone. “I try to help my readers navigate all of the options and understand that real style is very personal and starts with the individual,” he says.

We caught up with Hogan to chat about men’s fashion in Washington. Wardrobe basics? Fashionable politicos? Skinny suit or classic fit? Read on for his picks.

The Redskins were 8–8 last year in coach Jim Zorn’s first season, compared with 9–7 in Joe Gibbs’s last. For the decade, they’re 67–80, and three times (2000, 2001, and 2008) they went 8–8. This year the Redskins will get enough out of owner Dan Snyder’s big-spending ways to remain promising, but Snyder and his sidekick, Vinny Cerrato, don’t spend wisely enough to be Super Bowl contenders.

The Redskins like to think they’ll become one of those surprise teams like Arizona was last year. They hope that signing Albert Haynesworth, retaining DeAngelo Hall, and drafting linebacker Brian Orakpo will make the defense tougher and that quarterback Jason Campbell will have a breakout season. The reality is that they may not have the offensive line to protect Campbell, they play in a tough division, and they’re a long shot for the playoffs.

This is likely to be another of Dan Snyder’s wait-till-next-year teams. Here are our predictions:

• “Daniel silva’s new novel the defector is number one on the ny times list I recommend it very highly will keep you reading with excitement”

• “[My wife] callista and I love Antrim 1844 in taneytown md and we put it in our novel gettysburg it is a great bed breakfast and restaurant”

• “Callista and I watched mama mia the other night. I liked the dancing queen sequence so much watched three times. meryl streep did great job”

• “Chef geoff has a great new restaurant next to tiffanys at tysons The food is superb and interesting Sitting outdoors is best Newt”

—Compiled by Sophie Gilbert

This article first appeared in the September 2009 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here. 

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