Rumour has it that lawyers are a bit competitive. Precedent doesn’t believe it for a second, but we’re willing to concede another cliché: people who work hard like to play hard, too. From baseball to basketball to dragon boat racing, these firms are scoring big time

Top of the Tourney

These firms show their prowess not just in the courts, but on them. Tournaments like Bay Street Hoops, the McCarthy Tétrault LLP Charity Beach Volleyball Tournament and the Sporting Life 10k Law Challenge are more than just ego boosts for the brawny. In 2010, lawyers raised over $330,000 for charity by participating in these three events.

Front-Runners

The Sporting Life 10K got interesting in 2007 when a group of lawyers launched the Law Challenge, cajoling their competitors to raise funds to support Camp Oochigeas, which hosts retreats for children with cancer. This May, partners and associates raced to raise over $150,000. Of the firms we surveyed, Torys came out on top in both overall time and fundraising. The firm’s associate Tim Robbins was 2010’s fastest lawyer, crossing the finish line in an impressive 38 minutes and 48 seconds.

Event Winners:
1 Torys (42:34)
2 FMC (45:02)
3 Blakes (45:11)
4 Goodmans (45:37)
5 Faskens (46:36)

Top Fundraisers:
1 Torys $28,423
2 Stikemans $9,110
3 Blakes $8,535
4 Goodmans $7,969
5 Osler $6,227

Hoop-Law

Bay Street Hoops, one of Toronto’s largest charity sporting events, brings equally big bragging rights. Rivalry is fierce as firms tip off against their competitors and Canada’s reigning bean counters. This year’s tourney raised $160,000 for children’s charities.

Event Winners:
1 Torys 1st in the women’s division
2 Blakes 2nd in men’s competitive division
3 McCarthys semi-finalist in the women’s division

Top Fundraisers:
1 Blakes $10,345
2 Torys $5,000
3 Cassels, McCarthys, McMillan (tie) $2,500

Net Gain

Every year, McCarthys articling students organize a throw down on the beach, volleyball-style. This spring, 17 Bay Street firms hit the sand to raise $20,000 for Moorelands Community Services, an organization that helps underprivileged youth in Toronto.

Event Winners:
1 Goodmans
2 Blakes

Top Fundraisers:
1 McCarthys $6,442
2 Osler $2,182

TEAM SPIRIT

In addition to charity sporting events, many firms also have long traditions of established teams that get their lawyers and staff out of the office for training, competition and fun.

Paddling to the same drum

Bennett Jones’s dragon boat crew, Tragically Quick, gets bonus points for creativity and synchronicity. Every year the firm’s crew of staff, students and lawyers train for the Great White North Dragon Boat Challenge — Paddles up!

A league of their own

In the early 1970s, the all-female baseball league the Ladies Legal Beagle was born. The league, made up of both staff and lawyers, was popular on Bay Street before folding quietly after 30 years. But this year, the Beagle came back for an encore thanks to Blakes litigator and former coach Hugh Desbrisay, who hatched the idea of a reunion game for the Blakes team, originally called the Blakes Bar Belles. On July 7, in Withrow Park, alumni held what Desbrisay called a “throw down the gauntlet, bragging rights showdown,” with veterans competing against younger Blakes staff. The vets won and all celebrated with a trip to the pub. That’s tradition too, after all.