GALLERY: Justice for All Ball pulls in record crowd

Planners rolled out the red carpet and set up an overgrown Oscar statuette for the 25^th – and largest so far – Justice for All Ball in St. Louis.

More than 730 people registered for the Feb. 21 dinner, dance and silent auction at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch, a fundraiser for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, according to information provided by the organization. That’s the largest attendance in the history of the ball, which also got the most sponsorships it had ever received, LSEM Executive Director Dan Glazier said in an emailed statement.

In previous years, the event was held in the Chase Park Plaza and 680 was the maximum attendance for the venue.

Planners tied the ball and silent auction’s silver anniversary to a “silver screen” theme, offering photos and video interviews in a “red carpet area” sponsored by ALIVE Magazine and Grayward Entertainment.

Red carpet hosts Melanie Moon of Fox 2 News and St. Louis designer Laura Kathleen Baker, a finalist in the ninth season of “Project Runway,” also chose “best dressed” winners (men, women and couple) from the red carpet attendees.

Coolfire Studios took the video and will edit it to be put on YouTube. Photos also will be posted in online galleries and attendees will be able to download them. LSEM’s Facebook page will have links to the galleries.

The silent auction of 180 items raised more than $35,000, with the biggest ticket item – a week in a private vacation home in Destin, Florida — going for $2,400. Other high-dollar sales were a week in a Current River cabin donated by the family of Rory Ellinger, a lawyer and state representative who died last year, which sold for $1,925; and a bottle of Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye whiskey, which sold for $1,000. Overall, the event is expect to raise more than $100,000 for Legal Services.

The 2015 event committee co-chairs are Stephanie Dorssom and Priscilla Murray. Auction co-chairs are Judy Gorin and Deborah Smiley.

Twenty-one law firms, legal organizations and individuals that contributed a cumulative $6 million over the past 20 years were designated honorary chairs of the event.