At the corner of First and M streets, Northeast, a lunchtime crowd snakes down the sidewalk, with some waiting close to an hour for a hot dog. At the front stands a man in a black suit and red tie, handing out foil-wrapped franks from beneath a red-and-yellow umbrella that reads “SHYSTERS,” a nod to the term for unscrupulous lawyers. The cart is plastered with stickers declaring “The customer is always wrong” and “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

The guy behind the grill is Isaac Stein, an attorney for the IRS Chief Counsel’s Office, where he helps write the 401(k) rules that govern Americans’ retirement plans. When the federal government shut down, he launched the one-man hot dog stand built on the motto: “The only honest ripoff in D.C.”

A lawyer in a suit isn’t what most people

See Full Page