Legal News

Philly and NY Lawyers Tie For First in Oddest Bet Competiton

By Ashby Jones

Now, before we get to the meat of this post, let us state that we have nothing against friendly World Series wagers. Nor do we have anything against New York City Corporate Counsel Michael Cardozo or Philadelphia City Solicitor Shelley Smith. Nor do we have anything against baseball (Lord knows) or efforts to inspire pro bono service or volunteerism.

But we gotta say that the wager made between the lawyers concerning the 2009 World Series is one of the, well, strangest of this kind of thing we’ve ever heard of.

We bring this up today in light of a press release (link not included) we recently received announcing that Philly’s “top legal heavyweights” are in Gotham Thursday for a day of “volunteering, inspiration and unity.” Coming to New York, it seems, is the price the Philly folks are paying for losing the bet made last October — the Yanks downed the Phils four games to two in the 2009 Fall Classic.

What, exactly, will the five Philadelphia lawyers be doing in NYC? Paying for corned-beef-and-ryes at Mickey Mantle’s? Placing kisses on the plaques at Yankee Stadium’s Memorial Park? Writing “Derek Jeter is better than Jimmy Rollins” 100 times on a Stuyvesant High School chalkboard?

No. According to the release, the morning will be spent:

at the "We the People" Competition, where high school students will compete in making legislative-style presentations about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

And the afternoon?

The afternoon will be spent at the New York Cares Coat Drive Center on Hudson Street in lower Manhattan.

In between — we like this — the Philly lawyers will visit City Hall and the NYC law department, where they’ll receive honorary Yankee jerseys

Said Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo said: “This allows each of our offices to serve many schoolchildren, and we look forward to having the students show us what they've learned about our Constitution, and showing off our talented New York youth to our guests from Philly. It also gives us an important opportunity to support efforts by our Mayors and local, state and nationwide bar associations to encourage pro bono work among legal professionals across the country.”

There you go. Again, we’re all for “good works” spirit behind the bet, we just wish it had, well, a bit more edge. The whole thing makes us hope that, yes, the Yanks beat our Angels in the 2010 ALCS and play the Phillies again and the Phillies win and make Cardozo stand in line at Pat’s during the lunch rush hour (in a Yankee jersey) and return with cheesesteaks for everyone!

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 07, 2010 (boomark / email).