The first thing we do, let's feed all the lawyers

At lunch today, as you choke down soggy salad from your dreary company cafeteria, try not to envy Steve Cowley.

It's possible he'll be dining on, oh, seared sea scallops and spring greens with wheatberry salad, asparagus, dried fruit, roasted Roma tomatoes, aged gorgonzola, blood orange aioli, and white balsamic vinaigrette.

Cowley, a partner at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, won't be giving his corporate credit card a workout at a fancy downtown restaurant. He'll simply take an elevator to the 19th floor of his office building at 111 Huntington Avenue.

If you thought there was no good reason to become a lawyer, think again. The 600 employees at Edwards Angell have a perk most of us can't even fathom -- a gourmet in-house cafeteria in which the daily special is not ham-and-cheese on white.

"At most cafeterias, Monday's Asian chicken is the same as Tuesday's barbecued chicken is the same as Wednesday's jerk chicken ," Cowley says. "But this is not standard cafeteria fare. You actually look forward to next week's menu."

The epicure behind this impressive operation is Ken Desmarais, a trained chef who cooked aboard a corporate yacht before joining the firm 21 years ago. His culinary creations roam from swordfish scaloppine to Calvados-molasses pork loin on warm flatbread with thyme-roasted Granny Smith apples .

He also knows how to have fun: On opening day for the Red Sox , he serves Fenway Franks and each Friday there's an ice-cream social.

The tab for all this luxury? A bargain. Soup is $2, sandwiches are under $5, entrees max out at $5.75. And get this: Anyone who works past 7 gets free dinner. Now you know why lawyers are always burning the midnight oil.

SACHA PFEIFFER