CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM I MAY 13, 2024
DCFS STILL FALLING SHORT Long-troubled child welfare agency is forced to confront ‘racial disproportionality’ | PAGE 19
GEOFFREY BLACK
Carmyn Tassone was placed with a grandparent shortly after birth, and later a foster family.
A legal startup that’s quickly gaining clout
Parker Hospitality implemented a dress code late in March at its Fulton Market Mexican restaurant Costera.
Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres hires a slate of politically connected lawyers
DINING DRESS CODES TARGET ATHLEISURE New guidelines aim to preserve fine-dining restaurants’ ambiance and keep too-casual patrons from ruining the vibe | By Ally Marotti
B
ooking a meal at a high-end restaurant? Plan on leaving the sandals and hoodies at home. Chicago steakhouses and other high-end restaurants are increasingly implementing dress codes and lists of taboo items, establishing a new generation of attire requirements in a city that has long sought to elevate its fine-dining scene. The new rules, which vary by restaurant, generally seek to ban casual attire like athleisure wear, flip-flops and hats and ask guests to dress in a “sophisticated” or “smart casual” manner. Some are more vague: Le Colonial in the Gold Coast “politely” requests “smart, See DRESS CODE on Page 27
Restaurants must carefully train employees to enforce the rules without losing a customer.
PARKER HOSPITALITY
By Steven R. Strahler
Croke Fairchild Duarte & Beres is on a roll. Founded just before the pandemic, the law firm has grown vigorously despite that particular global disruption. And now it’s clouting up, hiring a bipartisan batch of lawyers promising access to some of the most lucrative and controversial projects on the drawing boards, like the Chicago Bears stadium proposal. A firm led by partners in their 40s is turning to their parents’ generation to help bring home the bacon. In the last few months, Croke Fairchild brought on David Reifman, the former Chicago planning and development commissioner, to build out a real estate practice and then hired Jim Durkin, who retired last year as the Illinois House Republican leader, to do the same with municipal clients. The firm tapped the third branch of government in luring former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride, who starts June 1, to develop an appellate court practice. All told, more than 80 lawyers
are on board, with the number headed toward 100, sufficient to rank about 30th among the city’s largest law offices.
Croke Fairchild is aiming at a growing gap in Chicago’s legal market between behemoth law firms and the rest. Croke Fairchild’s surge is not unprecedented, but it is remarkable and comes with obstacles that have blown up many predecessors. Technology has lowered barriers to entry for startup law firms, but it hasn’t solved management issues associated with the rapid assembly of partners with different risk appetites, career goals and compensation requirements — lawyers who can choose where to live and work See CLOUT on Page 26
VOL. 47, NO. 19 l COPYRIGHT 2024 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ORPHE DIVOUNGUY The city’s economy is stalling while the rest of the country is seeing positive developments.
CRAIN’S LIST Our annual ranking of the Chicago area’s largest publicly traded companies.
PAGE 2
PAGE 13