In Chicago billables are still king at the big firms, but with mid-level firms and especially where machine connections are involved (not that anything can be clouted in Chicago, no, sir) ethnic rather than religious connections of all sorts matter a lot. There Irish firms and Polish firms and Italian firms, black firms and Mexican ones (defintely way further from centers of power) etc. And Jewish firms of course. But if you want to do business with the city or with people who do business with the city, and especially if you want to, say, be a judge, it can't hurt if your name starts with Fitz or O' or ends with ski, also carries weight if your name ends with an "o". It helps a lot too if you have made large contributions to the Powers That Be. I'm not suggesting that bribes are required; we're very law-abiding here, of course. I'm not sure anyone cares about your religion, except it can't hurt to be Catholic, at least if you are also Irish or Polish or Italian, I don't think Mexican counts.
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