Law firms challenge each other in the courtroom all the time.
Conflicts arise. Sides are taken. Verdicts are reached.
For the next several months, though, it’s outside the courtroom where members of the legal profession are calling each other out — this time to raise money for Jacksonville Area Legal Aid.
The 30/60 Challenge for JALA was started by The Jacksonville Bar Association and is patterned after an idea that made the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge so popular.
The concept: The JBA is asking attorneys to spend 30 minutes participating in three upcoming networking events and to donate $30-$60 to support the nonprofit firm that assists the low-income population. When a law firm accepts the challenge and reaches 100 percent participation, it then challenges another firm to do the same.
Started in mid-September, firms like Marks Gray, Holland & Knight, Terrell Hogan, Bedell Ditmar, the board of the Federal Bar Association and Florida Coastal School of Law’s clinical faculty are among whose who have stepped up.
The goal is $60,000 and as of Friday, more than $11,000 has been raised.
“Yes!” exclaimed Giselle Carson, when she heard the latest total Friday.
The Marks Gray attorney, who has been called the brainchild behind the project, said the idea came to her when the statewide petition to raise Florida Bar dues by $100 was circulating. The money will help compensate shortages in legal aid funding, which has taken a hit in recent years due to a down economy hammering the Interest on Trust Accounts program.
Carson said the concern about raising state Bar dues was valid: Attorneys have been impacted by the economy and charity should be voluntary, not mandatory.
If $100 was considered too much, aiming lower might persuade others to donate. And the 30/60 figures equate to a half-hour and an hour, which is how much time is being pitched for attorneys to attend several upcoming events to network. The idea is $30 and attending one event or $60 and attending all three.
The first event is Wednesday at legal aid’s offices Downtown at 126 W. Adams St. The annual open house this year is centered on the building turning 100. Starting at 5:30 p.m., attendees will be able to learn about the agency’s work and the building’s history. It’s free, but those who contributed toward the 30/60 program will receive drink tickets.
Events are being planned for November and December, which the 30/60 challenge will “piggyback” on, Carson said.
Leslie Goller with Terrell Hogan is a former legal aid board member and current member of the organization’s foundation board, its fundraising group. When the idea started making the rounds, she said she immediately was on board. Her colleagues were, too.
“Everyone did it right away,” she said. “Then we asked who we wanted to challenge.”
She said it was some of the defense firms the Terrell Hogan attorneys see across the courtroom each day.
“We thought it was something we could join together to do and show support,” said Goller.
So far, those three firms haven’t replied to the challenge, but she is holding out hope. The firm challenged O’Hara Halvorsen Humphries; Cole Scott & Kissane; and Lynn Leonard & Associates.
“It’s a fun thing to take part in,” she said.
Buddy Schulz said it was an easy sell to colleagues at Holland & Knight. The partner with the firm said an email was sent and immediately “checks started showing up in my office.”
Schulz said Holland & Knight challenged Akerman to step up.
Carson said the hope is the idea catches on even more as firms start challenging one another out in the open via social media and other avenues.
A Facebook page dedicated to the challenge, “30/60 Challenge for JALA” keeps tabs on who’s in and who’s been challenged to take part.
“We all need to provide help,” Carson said. “The support services they provide are critically important.”
As for her firm, Marks Gray challenged Pajcic & Pajcic. A few days later, and like many other firms jumping in, Pajcic & Pajcic was announced it too was “all in.”
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