Sep. 1, 2012

Munger Tolles bolsters food bank donations with formal Friday challenge

This year, the Food from the Bar campaign in San Francisco raised a record-breaking $565,969 for the San Francisco and Marin Food Banks. The campaign collected 9,729 pounds of food and contributed 889 volunteer shifts at the food bank through the participation of 73 law firms and legal departments throughout the Bay Area. Munger Tolles & Olson LLP was awarded the grand prize per capita award for raising the most money per person of any firm in the campaign. The success of its fundraising stems from Partner Jerry Roth’s willingness to put his dislike of casual Fridays toward a good cause. Roth challenged his coworkers to “Formal Formal Friday.” “I joked at a lunch that I would pledge $50 for every attorney or staff member who took the ‘formal’ in Formal Friday literally by wearing black tie,” Roth said. More than 20 attorneys and staff participated in the Formal Formal Friday challenge, raising an extra $1,000 for the campaign. In a challenge reversal, the office raised $150 in donations for the satisfaction of seeing Roth wear jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers.