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2nd ‘Legal Food Frenzy’ a big success

The second annual Legal Food Frenzy produced twice as much food as the first and exceeded its goal by more than a third.
The Richmond firm of Schettine & Nguyen PLC won the “Attorney General’s Cup” by raising the most food per capita, Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced last week. The firm has three lawyers and seven staff members.

The first food frenzy generated 679,000 pounds of food, and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks set a goal of 1 million pounds of food for this one, which ran from March 31 to April 11. More than 180 law firms participated and produced 1,366,401 pounds of food for food banks in the state.

McDonnell said, “To raise over 1.3 million pounds of food, in only the second year of this event, is incredible. Thousands of Virginians will receive the nutritional meals they desperately need because of the generosity of Virginia’s legal professionals.”

Leslie Van Horn, executive director of the state food bank group, said, “At a time when we are seeing a surge of individuals and families looking for assistance from their local food bank, the incredible generosity of the legal community will be felt throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

The statewide frenzy is an extension of a program developed in Hampton Roads by the Foodbank of Southeast-ern Virginia. The Young Lawyers Division of the Virginia Bar Association coordinated the event with the state’s seven food banks.

Firms were grouped by size and awards were given based on the total amount of food produced and on the amount produced per capita. Schettine & Nguyen also received “The Brunswick Stew Award” for producing the most pounds per person among firms with 20 or fewer lawyers and staff and “The Shenandoah Apple Award” for the total amount of food from firms of that size.

Other winners are:

• Medium Law Firm (21-100 lawyers and staff): “The James River Shad Award” to Christian & Barton LLP (Richmond) for total pounds and “The Hanover Tomato Award” to McKenry, Dancigers, Dawson & Lake (Virginia Beach) for the amount of food per capita.

• Large Law Firm (101 and up): “The Smithfield Ham Award” to McGuireWoods LLP for total pounds and “The Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Award” to Vandeventer & Black LLP for the amount per capita.

• Sole Proprietor (1-2): “The Virginia Peanut Award” to Thomas A. Louthan (Winchester) and Lumsden & Overstreet (Roanoke).

• Law school: Regent University Law School (Virginia Beach) for both total pounds and pounds per capita.

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