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:
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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Comments
BORED
"It's big. oh AND you "get" to be Commissioner of the Tournament the following summer."
So does that mean you're guaranteed a job for at least 12 months?
What a Horribly Written description of The Event by their Firm.
I Enjoy randomly capitalizing the First Letter of words Too!
Their Softball team has some poor sap (summer? real attorney? staff?) dress up in a full Moose suit as the team Mascot. How they came up with Moose is beyond me, but they are freakin' weirdos.
They normally have to pay for their parking themselves? How TTT is that?
Paul Hastings has a similar game they play but with wire hangers instead of balls.
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Who cares?
i would rather work at Venable with the "weirdos" and enjoy myself than with commentors 3 and 4 - nothing says a fun person to work with like grammatical attacks or the inability to laugh at oneself.
Venable is German for 'shit stain.'
YOU ARE ALL IDIOTS
Skadden Secure
"bonified"
Freudian slip?
"bonified"?
Illiterate Venable tipster: please don't be a lawyer. Please, please, please.
This post means nothing without pictures of the Bocce Babes and their twins.
There is regular fun, and then there's law firm fun. Guess which one bocce ball falls under.
The Moose suit is worn in their DC office in the dead of summer when temps reach 100+. That sounds like punishment if you ask me. Sincerely, 4
Even weirder - they put a live moose in the moose suit.
Who cares? Putting a Bocce ball court on the roof of your building doesn't change the fact that you are still a second rate firm.
15 - Pics of the moose's knuckle or it didn't happen.
6 - So does CWT. It's called "We Own You", and they use a ball and chain.
everyone knows it is a real moose. they just say someone is wearing a moose costume to be "politically correct." møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti, after all.
What the f_ _ _ is bocce ball?
Why don't you play an American sport like basketball, softball or football?
This firm is un-American and should be sent to Guantanamo.
Bocce ball??? Do they also eat arugala and put Dijon on their hamburgers? Maybe the firm is made up of terrorists. Dick Cheney: Please waterboard all of the partners.
5, who doesn't have to pay for their own parking? Every single firm in SF does, except the folks at Munger's tiny outpost. And if we're just talking about DC, I know Covington attorneys have to pay for parking.
The only offices I know where parking is free are those in suburban outposts where land is cheap (Silicon Valley, Tyson's Corner, etc.). I pay $400 a month in SF.
The parking in Texas is huge!
Hmm, in DC, involves preppy sports, singing, and most likely drinking... how many of these people are UVA grads?
Paying your own parking is pretty standard in DC for assocs at least.
I mean seriously, who hasn't shit themselves at the UVA softball tournament?
Bocce Ball: Something played by old Italian men in Irvington, NJ on a hot, sweaty Monday, wearing ill-fitting wife beaters, black socks and orthopedic shoes.
I played bocce ball once in Charleston, SC.
25 - You're an idiot. Please refer to 28 for a description of the kind of people who play bocce.
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Do mudpeople play bocce ball?
28 = Bigot.
who cares?
Who the hell cares about a third tier firm who spends their free time (lots of it there from what I understand) playing with their balls on the rooftop? I do that every night and you don't see an article being written about me? Venable sucks.
Instead of "weird" how about "most child molestor-friendly"?
230 a month for parking? In Texas that covers my 3500 sq ft wife's botox and my anus bleaching.
We pay for parking in Tysons Corner. Its $100 a month.
Does having a bocce court help Venable attract organized crime clients?
what is wrong with all you people? why cant a firm have an event thats supposed to be fun without all you bashing it hiding behind your anonymity on the internet??
you clearly are just miserable/angry people that lash out at anyone and everyone. Bocce is a fun game thats simple enough for anyone to play.
loosen up a little and try to live a little. jesus. i love how it always turns into attacks against a firm saying they're not as good as wherever it is you're so goddamn lucky to work at.
id take working at a firm that has events and actually tries to make their own fun at those lame softball leagues. have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up
what is wrong with all you people? why cant a firm have an event thats supposed to be fun without all you bashing it hiding behind your anonymity on the internet??
you clearly are just miserable/angry people that lash out at anyone and everyone. Bocce is a fun game thats simple enough for anyone to play.
loosen up a little and try to live a little. jesus. i love how it always turns into attacks against a firm saying they're not as good as wherever it is you're so goddamn lucky to work at.
id take working at a firm that has events and actually tries to make their own fun at those lame softball leagues. have a coke and a smile and shut the fuck up
23, I'm at an SF firm. My firm pays for parking.
40 & 41,
You're kinda new around here, aren't you?
You're also kinda a douche, aren't you?
I pay 310 for parking in Boston, and that's out at the seaport. It would be about 250 if I parked in the outside lots.
I am a Venable client. This is not a third tier firm. I much prefer working with folks who pay for their own parking rather than those who expect me to pay for them. So what if they play bocce? From what I can tell, the bocce tournament is a lot of fun and provides a big morale boost. Partners team up with associates, paralegals and support staff. Everyone is equal during the bocce tournament.
45 = michael jackson
There are bocce leagues gaining in popularity in DC. It's like the surge in popularity for kickball. And like kickball, it's mainly an excuse to drink beers and meet chicks.
For the record this post was not a "tip." This post was hijacked from a personal blog where someone shares things with family and friends. The blog is not private because of the large family so the blogger took the chance on leaving it public. The blogger doesn´t care about grammar or writing style for lawyers. The blogger was dumb enough to name abovethelaw which got picked up in a search (probably) and the rest is history. So go ahead and mock if that's the way you build your self esteem.
I love Bocce...it's a nice change of pace.