You never know what'll get you on the cover of Texas Lawyer, and it's not always the latest windfall verdict or professional faux pas. Staff writer Jenny B. Davis dug down

Future firm partner

deep for her July 14 feature, beyond the CVs of some of the state's most respected legal minds to find an interesting common denominator: fast food experience in their formative years. Her premise: that those early jobs helped make these individuals the attorneys they are today.

For Thompson & Knight associate Kevin Pennell, scooping ice cream at Baskin Robbins at age 14 taught him something about teamwork in a professional context that still rings home. Every time TK partner W. Mark Bennett quickly reads a crowded room or sizes up opposing counsel across a table, he's grateful for the hours he logged at a Chuck E. Cheese in Arlington, wearing a hot and unwieldy rodent costume.

"When you're walking out and you could see the little kid whose birthday it was, you learned how to read a face really fast to know whether they were going to run and hide or run and hug," Bennett told Davis. "Now that's part of my job - to read people, to give clients the best advice we can based on instincts."

That's what I call valuable professional experience. Great journalism? I didn't spit out my Cheerios and yell `Hey Martha!' but the piece made me think a little and sparked some office conversations. And that's more than can be said for many articles that I read. Me? I'm struggling to recall any redeeming life lessons from slinging burgers at Wendy's, except that the long hot and underpaid Austin summer was powerful motivation to finish college. And don't eat the chili.