Lawyers rock to help homeless

That sound you hear across the Potomac is a gaggle of rock bands tuning up and rehearsing songs for the legal community’s annual battle of the bands to benefit the less fortunate.

It’s the 11^th annual “Banding Together” event where lawyers and staff put down the briefs and pick up guitars to rock out for the homeless. Bands raise money through website donations and collections at the June 26 event at Washington’s Black Cat music club.

The band names are inspirational:

• The Estoppelgängers – “Whimsical galumphing” from Latham & Watkins
• Buffalo Creek Disaster: Not just another pro bono project – A new band, possibly the first to carry the mantle of Washington mega-firm Arnold & Porter.
• Attractive Nuisance – A “wall of sound” from Steptoe and Johnson
• The Precedents – the product of a two-firm musical merger
• The Unnamed Party – A three-firm band that was leading in donations at last report

The event raised $277,000 last year, said Washington lawyer Ryan Montgomery, a board member of Gifts for the Homeless, an all-volunteer nonprofit that provides clothing for Washington’s most needy.

“We’re hoping to beat it this year,” he said, adding that every penny raised goes to purchasing clothes for the homeless of DC.