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what's happening with . . .
The ABA Young Lawyers Division
The Young Lawyers Division (YLD) can help you recruit new lawyers into your entity. Below are some of the best ways to work with us. You are encouraged to contact our staff for more information.
The New Lawyer Roadmap
The New Lawyer Roadmap catalogs the resources and opportunities that the ABA has for new lawyers and is available on the YLD website.
The Roadmap uses the following categories:
- Young Lawyer Subgroup: Does your entity have a forum or committee for young lawyers?
- YL Rate(s): Do you have a young lawyer dues rate or discounted rates on your publications or CLE?
- Newsletters/Publications: Are there any publications online or offline targeted to young lawyers?
- Programming: Do you have basics programs for young lawyers either live or via teleconference?
- Fellowships/Scholarships/Internships/Mentoring:
Does your group provide any such programs?
- Awards/Competitions: Do you present any awards to young lawyers in your field?
The YLD invites all entities to:
- Use the Roadmap as a resource for new young lawyer initiatives
- Add new information pertaining to the entity throughout the year
- Link to the resource from your website
YLD Staff Contact:
Tracy Kaempf, YLD Program and Committee Manager,
kaempft@staff.abanet.org,
312-988-5626
101 and 201 Practice Series
The 101 Practice Series is an online resource for new lawyers covering basic training in both substantive and practical aspects of law practice. With over 170 quick tips and tools, this series is an essential resource for lawyers in their first three years of practice and is exclusively available to ABA members.
The 201 Practice Series, which will launch this year, will go a step beyond, relating to more "advanced" topics for young lawyers who already have a baseline of knowledge in the relevant field.
Entities can provide relevant content for their young lawyers by linking to the practice series articles in their field. Contact YLD for a 101 or 201 practice series logo that you can post on your web pages. Using the logo will make young lawyers recognize that the content is for them.
The Practice Series web page is:
www.abanet.org/yld/projects.html
YLD Staff Contact for logos and other practice series questions:
Tracy Kaempf, YLD Program and Committee Manager,
kaempft@staff.abanet.org,
312-988-5626
Public Service Projects
You can also generate interest among young lawyers by providing public service opportunities, and asking young lawyers to help execute them.
Each year, the ABA YLD creates a unique public service project for our members and our state, local, and specialty affiliated young lawyer groups to execute. Other ABA entities can also take on these projects.
Wills for Heroes
Wills for Heroes is the 2007-2008 public service project. The YLD is partnering with the Wills for Heroes Foundation, a not-for-profit organization providing basic estate planning services to emergency first responders free of charge.
Typically, emergency first responders complete an estate planning questionnaire prior to arriving at a Wills for Heroes event. Once onsite, participants are assigned to a volunteer attorney licensed in that state who examines the questionnaire and inputs the information into a laptop preloaded with the appropriate software. The result includes a basic will, formally signed and finalized by a notary, before the participant leaves the site. All services are provided free of charge.
You can help in two ways:
- Devise a template: We are seeking estates and trusts attorneys in unlisted states to devise the template.
- Implement the program: We are seeking bar associations and firms interested in implementing the program. Find out more about the program at: www.abanet.org/yld/wills/home.html
YLD Staff Contact:
Kristine Gregorio
gregorik@staff.abanet.org
312-988-5665
Choose Law
The YLD recognizes that it must assist and encourage individuals of color in all years of their development to become attorneys. In 2006-07, the YLD developed a project designed for high school students of color: "Choose Law: A Profession for All".
Choose Law encourages individuals of color to become attorneys through use of a video, a written guide, a website, attorney volunteers and educators. Through Choose Law, students learn about the importance of the legal profession and how the law affects all aspects of their lives.
Choose Law materials are available for purchase and download online at:
www.abanet.org/yld/chooselaw/home.shtml
Cosponsorship
The YLD is also interested in cosponsoring relevant programs, publications, and activities. “Relevant” refers to initiatives that:
- Provide instruction on a substantive area at the new lawyer level (basics, fundamentals, 101’s, introductory, overviews)
- Cover a core skill (e.g., public speaking, effective writing, and ethics)
- Promote public service/pro bono work
- Promote diversity in the profession
- Develop bar leadership skills or
- Educate others about young lawyers
The Top 6 reasons to ask the YLD to cosponsor relevant initiatives are:
- Involving the YLD is the right thing to do
- The Division can help entities engage new lawyers in their activities, whether as an author, speaker, meeting attendee, customer, or in a leadership role.
- The YLD will know about the initiative and be strongly equipped to answer questions that come in, particularly from members who don't distinguish one ABA group from the next but identity the type of initiative as one relevant to young lawyers.
- Cosponsorships can be "in name only"
- The YLD will work with groups to communicate with the relevant YLD committee(s) to execute or implement initiatives
- Promotional benefits of cosponsorship with the YLD include:
- Your event will be included in YL calendar of The Young Lawyer (distribution of 140,000 plus)
- Your event will be included in YL calendar and products area on the YLD homepage, the one-stop shop for young lawyers.
- You can work with the YLD to generate a tailored message sent to related committee's list serve, which may include people not accepting other ABA communications
Other ABA entities often approach the YLD to cosponsor programs. The Division also extends cosponsorship invitations to other ABA Entities. The documents linked below outline procedures and guidelines for obtaining cosponsorships with the YLD:
Entities wishing to cosponsor events must follow these guidelines:
Cosponsorship Approval Guidelines
Entities wishing to cosponsor publications must follow these guidelines:
Publishing Cosponsorship Guidelines
YLD Staff Contact:
Tracy Kaempf, YLD Program and Committee Manager,
kaempft@staff.abanet.org,
312-988-5626
The SOC e-News is published three times a year by the Section Officers Conference (SOC). Each issue will contain information and resources specially designed for Section, Division and Forum officers. Please feel free to contact us with your comments or questions, so we may include them in future editions.
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