The Ballers at Venable

We’ve written before about a unique perk for the attorneys in Venable’s D.C. office. Like many firms, the office has a rooftop with amazing views of the nation’s capital. Unlike most firms, it also has a rooftop bocce court.

The bocce balling and Venable’s representation of Michael Jackson led us to ask at the time whether the firm is DC’s weirdest. We hear the attorneys there were actually thrilled with the superlative.

Venable is proud of its bocce ball and touts its annual bocce tournament on its diversity page. This year’s tournament took place earlier this month. We came across an account of the bocce showdown:

Friday June 5 was the annual Bocce Happy Hour Kickoff. We take our Bocce Seriously – 64 teams in a “March madness” format. there are lots of rules, heckling, trash talking, and a prize. usually a month of free parking ($230) and your name inscribed on the Sir Francis Drake Trophy Cup. It’s big. oh AND you “get” to be Commissioner of the Tournament the following summer.

This year, the “Commissioner” decided to combine bocce March Madness with an American Idolish singing competition. Some of the bocce ballers got dressed up for their serenades, including “one guy dress[ed] up as Susan Boyle” who sang “Memories.” It sounds painful to us, but our narrator swears it was fun.

Read the full account of the bocce balling, karaoke singing, alcohol-fueled tournament, after the jump.


Here’s the full account:

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So Friday June 5 was the annual Bocce Happy Hour Kickoff. We take our Bocce Seriously – 64 teams in a “March madness” format. there are lots of rules, heckling, trash talking, and a prize. usually a month of free parking ($230) and your name inscribed on the Sir Francis Drake Trophy Cup. It’s big. oh AND you “get” to be Commissioner of the Tournament the following summer.

Way back in the summer of 2006, two Female Associates dubbed themselves the Bocce Babes and trash talked their way to a championship. One girl had never played the game before. It was dumb luck. And a lot of fun. One of the Babes has Twins who made them Bocce Babes t-shirts for the final game, which still hangs on the Babe’s wall.

When they were Commissioners? They Ruled that All Teams must have a Name. And so? The Bocce Babes gained eternal fame.
2009 Kickoff and the Co-commissioner is a bonified, award-winning film maker and former actor (he was on Law & order even – he’s hilarious and why he left that all behind for law school? Oh that’s another post). These guys are creative. They come up with Bocce Idol, where a few “contestants” will sing Bocce Parody Songs and be Judged by the Panel….

We had one guy dress up at Susan Boyle and do “Memories” Oh but it was “Bocce” He dissed the entire firm one by one. Loved it. And there was my favorite, “Bocce Springsteen” who sang to me, “You’re My bocce Babe, ” (you’re my lucky day). and then? Paula Abdul, disappointed in the contestants, treated us to “My Life Would Suck Without Bocce.”

And you thought law firms were all stuffy and boring and such.

We know law firms aren’t always stuffy and boring. If so, our jobs here at ATL would be terribly difficult.

We don’t know who triumphed in the bocce tournament. But in the tournament for DC’s weirdest law firm, we judge Venable to be the winner.

Earlier: Venable: DC’s Weirdest Law Firm?

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