Each week Seattle’s Olympic Hills Elementary School bursts with music as the entire fourth- and fifth-grade classes break out their band instruments and 80 choir students sing out. In West Seattle, another 70 students at Pathfinder Alternative School tune up for sessions that culminate in their spring band concert. Money for both programs comes from the annual Seattle law firm battle of the bands known as Lawyerpalooza, now in its sixth year.
It’s an understatement to say we had no clue what we were doing in 2002 when my colleagues and I at Lane Powell started planning the first-ever Lawyerpalooza. But after five shows and $100,000 donated to Seattle elementary school music programs, we’re getting the hang of it and are ready to do Lawyerpalooza 6 on April 24 at the Showbox at the Market.
LP 6 is sponsored again by Robert Half Legal and Iron Mountain and organized by lawyers and staff from Lane Powell, Perkins Coie, Stoel Rives, Karr Tuttle Campbell, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, Gordon Derr and the Puget Sound Association of Legal Administrators. Six lawyer bands will be vying for the coveted Golden Palooza and, this year, there will be a second award for the band that raises the most money.
It’s a night of great music and fun and an opportunity to have a meaningful impact on kids’ lives. Zoe Jenkins, principal at Olympic Hills, credits Lawyerpalooza with giving her school (where three-fourths of the students are on free and reduced lunches) the financial support to “make unusual things happen in creative ways.” Similarly, Pathfinder Principal David Dockendorf says the Lawyerpalooza funding enables his school to more than double the number of students who participate in the music program.
Tickets are $20 and are available at the door, from the bands and our Web site at www.lawyerpalooza.com.
Go Back