41 Law Firms Vie for Top Honors in Annual Contest to Give the Most to Local Food Bank
A battle between Toronto law firms to come out on top in an annual competition to see who can donate the most to a local food bank is expected to raise nearly $250,000 in cash and food donations this year.
A winner among the 41 competing law firms will be determined on Friday, when the Toronto Law Firm Challenge for Daily Bread concludes, reports Legal Feeds, a blog for the Canadian Lawyer and Law Times. The contest has been organized for 10 years by Blake Cassels & Graydon.
One of the firms expected to be among the leading contestants is Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein, an approximately 35-lawyer litigation boutique which reportedly raised $25,000 at a recent event. A number of large firms are trying to reach an overall goal of $35,000.
Participants have come up with a number of events to encourage donations, including a so-called celebrity pie duel between well-known “personalities” at Blakes that brought in $30,000. Pairs of celebrities in a litigation-like storyline (husband v. wife, corporate v. securities) vied to raise the most money from contributors in a contest that was updated online (articling students were sent to collect the pledges in person). Then, those who prevailed won the right to publicly “pie” the opposing member of the pair.
“It’s a friendly competition,” articling student Tamara Nachmani of Blakes tells the legal publication. “There will be an overall winner but there is also a prize for most per capita raised to encourage the smaller firms to compete. Right now Paliare Roland has raised $404 per capita, which is incredible.”
