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The Legal Food Frenzy heated up along with the weather Monday.

By 4:30 p.m., defending champion Joe Habachy had nearly closed a $5,000 gap between his second place and Georgia Tech's legal department's leading spot among teams raising money for the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

Meanwhile, Troutman Sanders broke into the top 10 firms in the competition, in which firms and others in the legal community work to restock food bank shelves around the state. The event is timed for just before summer vacation, when many of the one in five children around the state who don't know when they'll eat next lose access to meals at school.

The food banks can turn a $1 donation into $8 of groceries, so the impact of each team's totals is far more than what the numbers show.

The top 10 team teams in Atlanta were, as of 4:30 p.m. on Monday:

• Georgia Institute of Technology Office of Legal Affairs (captains Susann D. Estroff and Kate Wasch), $12,005;
• Joe S. Habachy PC (Joe Habachy), $11,545;
• King & Spalding (no captain listed), $7,240;
• Troutman Sanders (James Stevens), $5,656;
• Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton (Karen Robinson-Salley and Jennifer Deal), $4.680;
• Alston & Bird (Cheryl Naja), $4,620;
• Baker & Hostetler (Emily Spiller), $4,075;
• Office of Attorney General (Katelyn Byrd), $3,607;
• Squire Patton Boggs (Deborah Lempogo), $3,150; and
• Moore Ingram Johnson & Steele (Leslie Neubauer), $2,815.

The next 10 teams were:

• Arnall Golden Gregory (Winifred Rice), $2,635;
• McGuireWoods (Elizabeth Arnettt Buckley), $2,630;
• Hudson Parrott Walker (Laura Desautel), $2,625;
• Fisher & Phillips (Katherine Sottile), $2,520;
• Chick-fil-A (Holly Buth), $2,350;
• Jones Day (Ashley McClung), $2,339;
• Lueder, Larkin & Hunter (Cynthia Hodge), $2,311;
• Taylor English Duma (Jonathan Boros), $2,135;
• Paul Hastings (Sara Weed), $2,000; and
• Serta Simmons (Lynn Carrico), $1,850.

Overall, the Atlanta competition had raised $119,979, or 39 percent of the $300,000 goal before the event ends Friday night. Information about starting a team, donating to a team or other topics can be found here.  (If you don't know which team to support, the Daily Report team will gladly accept your donations here.)

The event is co-sponsored by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr—who has challenged lawyers to donate the price of one billable hour—the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia and the Georgia Food Banks Association.