Do these folks look imposing or what? They could have won the best dressed award in Scottsdale, AZ, the last several days where, instead of golfing, they were debating issues like managing construction risk, public-private partnerships and immigration policy at the mid-year meetings of ACREL, an acronym you should know (but if not can see spelled out in the picture). And yes, you recognize a couple of Washingtonians among the organization’s five top officials: DLA’s Jay Epstien (treasurer) and Ballard Spahr’s Roger Winston (VP).

ACREL is the leading organization of U.S. real estate attorneys, nationally known figures elected by their peers for outstanding legal ability, standards of conduct, contributions to the profession, and willingness to sit in windowless rooms with beautiful weather outside.

And when they finally go outside, it’s actually for a good cause—they are big believers in community service. On Saturday, 25 of them volunteered at the Phoenix Zoo in a landscaping project to prevent erosion near the Cheetah exhibit. The weather was very hot and the digging was in rock and sand, but let’s face it, that’s easy compared to the digging they usually have to do in law books.