Lawyers on the Run: The JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge

Here in New York, we’re in the midst of the JPMorgan Corporate Challenge, a race sponsored by JPMorgan that raises money for the Central Park Conservancy. An ATL reader at a major New York law firm described the race (which is really two races; it’s now run over two consecutive evenings, due to the large number of participants):

[The Challenge] is a 3.5 mile race in Central Park that took place yesterday and will finish tonight. See here. Last year, there were over 6,500 finishers — a number of whom ran on “teams” for BigLaw.

While this particular race is NYC-centric, I think a story about how difficult it is to stay even semi-fit as a BigLaw attorney would strike a chord with your readers.

Indeed. Although many lawyers are avid runners, including marathoners, balancing training with billing hours isn’t easy. But some manage to find the time, as our source points out….

Taking last year’s Challenge as an example, it is really impressive that Bill Martin of Wachtell (the first BigLaw associate or partner to finish) ran at a pace of 5:45 per mile. On the other hand, he finished a not-so-impressive 84th, and there are very few BigLaw associates or partners in the top 500.

That was last year. How did things go this year?

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We don’t have the complete results yet, since the second half of the race is tonight — but a number of lawyers ran last night, and they did quite well. Bill Martin of Wachtell, for example, basically matched his time from last year (pace per mile: 5:47). He was the fastest of the 40+ Wachtell runners in the race.

Another powerhouse law firm whose name starts with “W,” Weil Gotshal, also fielded a team of about 40 runners. Their fastest runner, with a total time of 22:21 for the 3.5 mile race (pace per mile: 6:23), is a name that should be familiar to ATL readers (and reality TV devotees): Charlie Herschel, of “Survivor” fame.

Congratulations to the finishers from yesterday, and good luck to everyone running tonight!

P.S. We might do a follow-up post with the results of tonight’s half of the race. Feel free to send interesting observations about lawyer participants to tips@abovethelaw.com. Thanks.

First-time winners prove fast in Central Park [JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge]

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Earlier: ‘Run, Forrest, Run!’ (And then go get a J.D.)