The miracle unfolded in an email thread where the trash talk was growing among super-competitive Austin family lawyers. Normally their tournament would focus on cooking the best chili and pie. But COVID-19 had derailed their annual chili fundraiser for legal aid.

Knowing the recession had already hit the local legal aid provider’s pocketbook, the Austin Bar Association family law section was at a loss for how to make up its expected $30,000 donation to Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas, which organizes Austin-area attorneys to work pro bono for low-income people.

Austin litigator Amy Lambert had cast the first stone. She emailed her peers to launch a virtual fundraiser—with a trophy and bragging rights on the line—challenging them to beat her firm’s pledge to donate $1,000 per partner to Volunteer Legal Services.

“The emails start—and they start talking trash,” Lambert said. “We deal with traumatic stuff. We support each other, so we are very close knit. We are also very, very competitive. It is the nature of litigation—people drawn to this practice are competitive.”

When the dust settled weeks later, Lambert’s jaw had hit the floor multiple times, she said.

The family law attorneys, who had talked good-natured trash as they upped the ante on donations-per-partner to $1,500, and had engaged associates in smaller-dollar contributions, had given $105,000 to Volunteer Legal Services’ hurting budget.

That represented 250% of the section’s donation in 2019.

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