The Georgia legal community shrugged off financial bruises from the economic crisis to pour $697,000 into the coffers of food banks around the state, shattering the record of $419,000 set during last year's Legal Food Frenzy.

Final results will not be announced until later this month, when organizers count checks and cash donated outside of the event's digital dashboard and include team bonuses earned in March. A handful of the 225 teams will receive awards based on per-employee donations, total raised and other calculations.

But Greenberg Traurig shone Friday during a fundraising tour de force that pushed the firm from an unknown position in the pack when the day started, into the top 10 teams by midafternoon and $11,000 ahead of the nearest competitor by midnight.

Nearly all of Greenberg Traurig's $51,796.06 was raised on Friday, according to a statement from the firm over the weekend.

Natasha Wilson, who chairs its Atlanta labor and employment practice, spurred the charge for her team "because Greenberg Traurig was admittedly behind in its fundraising for this important annual event," the firm said.

"From there, what began as a friendly competition within one practice quickly gained momentum, driven by impassioned email pleas from the top leadership," including Atlanta managing shareholder Ted Blum, firm vice chair Lori Cohen, firm co-president Ernest Greer and Atlanta business director Tony Hatchett, the firm added.

"We have been haunted by images of cars and people lined up outside food banks," said Greer. "These issues are pressing on all sectors of the community, and that is something that many of us can relate to on a very personal level.

The domestic relief agency Feeding America estimated 1.5 million Georgians struggled with hunger even before social distancing efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic led businesses to close and at least one million Georgians to lose their jobs. Food banks reported 40% to 60% increases in demand.

The Legal Food Frenzy increased its donations about 66%, giving enough money to supply nearly 2.8 million meals, based on the food banks' ability to turn every $1 into four meals.

Greenberg Traurig's convincing performance Friday pushed two-person Habachy Law into second place for total online donations, with $40,623.25.

Joe Habachy's criminal defense practice has won the Attorney General's Cup, which based on per-employee donations, five of the Frenzy's first eight years. In 2019 Habachy told the Daily Report he hoped another firm would "rise to the occasion and put my numbers to shame."

With that wish fulfilled a year later, Habachy said over the weekend, "I am absolutely elated with the results and not just my own."

"Statewide, lawyers took this critical event to an all-new level and stood together to make this the most impactful year of the Food Frenzy," he added. "The results were simply staggering."

Indeed, teams throughout the competition blew through their early goals. Even if Greenberg Traurig and Habachy Law hadn't participated at all, the Frenzy would have brought in more than $600,000 for the food banks—still a 43% increase from last year's record total.

"The Georgia legal community stepped up," said Attorney General Chris Carr, whose office sponsors the event with the Georgia Food Bank Association and the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia. "I say thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Carr had urged lawyers to donate the price of one billable hour. The average donation, among the 5,366 made online, was $129.97.

Callie Roan, a spokeswoman and corporate partnership manager for the Georgia Food Bank Association, said the food banks also rely on donations from other partners, including national funders, corporations, local businesses and private citizens in the community.

There are also at least two more industry competitions coming up. In June, the association will host Realtors Fighting Hunger with the Georgia Association of Realtors. In August the food banks join with the Georgia Society of CPAs to hold the Accounting Food Fight.which takes place each August. 

The final online donation top 10 in the Legal Food Frenzy was:

  • Greenberg Traurig, $51,796.06
  • Habachy Law, $40,623.25
  • King & Spalding, $23,917.74
  • Alston & Bird, $21,990.05
  • Georgia Tech Office of the General Counsel, $20,796.90
  • Troutman Sanders, $15,142.10
  • Arnall Golden Gregory, $14,254.00
  • Office of the Attorney General, $13,774.25
  • Taylor English Duma, $12,021.75
  • Kilpatrick Townsend-Atlanta Office, $11,691.15.
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