SPOTLIGHT

A Generous Volunteer Wants to Change the Image of "the Me Generation"

Melane Conyers-Ausbrooks is known among East Coast law students as the fairy godmother. She is a second-year law student at Howard University Law School, Howard's ABA/LSD representative and Lieutenant Governor for Membership for the Law Student Division's Eleventh Circuit. At last fall's roundtable meeting of law student leaders in four circuits, from New England to Washington, D.C., she presented a skit about American Bar Association membership. Appearing as fairy godmother, with wings and magic wand included, a fanciful Conyers-Ausbrooks introduced a "Christmas Carol"-style look at the richness of law student life as an ABA member, and the emptiness of life without membership.

Conyers-Ausbrooks says service has always been important to her. She was active in her church and in community groups in high school. In college she and a friend cofounded an organization to help black women students connect with faculty members and administration. She worked on coat drives and voter registration efforts as part of a service organization, and was active in efforts to get the University to divest itself of investments in the then-apartheid government of South Africa.

Melane (pronounced Mull-lane) has cut back some due to the time constraints of law school, but she is still involved. "When you give of yourself, you also get in return. I get a good feeling that I've done something for someone else, especially since we get called 'the me generation.'"

The fairy godmother gig led Conyers-Ausbrooks to another starring role, as a disco queen. To help promote a '70s-night fund-raiser that several area law schools sponsored, she and some friends attended classes throughout the day of the party in costume: a gold dress, an Afro wig and platform shoes. The party was a success, and the students were able to donate canned goods and money to a couple of local charities.

At Howard, Conyers-Ausbrooks participates in a Black Law Student Association mentoring project for a local high school, as well as in the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program. (For more information about VITA or to volunteer, call the national student coordinator at 800/FON-VITA (366-8482)).

She returned to school after seven years in the "real world," working as a trainer and troubleshooter for a software firm. Her job took her to some 40 states, and many of the people she met along the way were lawyers.

Conyers-Ausbrooks grew up in a small town north of New York City. She was weary of small town life, where everybody knew about everybody else, and wanted to get lost a bit, so she went to college at the University of Maryland. It worked, but, in retrospect, she thinks it was a mistake for her. So when she looked for law schools, she wanted a smaller setting. Again, her choice has worked for her; Howard University has a law school with a national reputation, a rich tradition and, most importantly for her, only about 375 students total.

Conyers-Ausbrooks has been married to her husband, Mark, for almost five years; they have a Dalmatian named Macy, named after her favorite department store. She says Mark has been supportive, but, at first, law school was a strain on their relationship. Sometimes they have to plan ahead for simple things like having dinner together. Still, she says, Mark has a new awareness of the time demands placed on law students, and they both enjoy their discussions about current events and legal issues.

They are about to embark on a new adventure-as parents of a teenager. The couple will soon become legal guardians of a 16-year-old relative, a youngster from a troubled neighborhood in New York City who has been subjected to all sorts of peer pressures. He lived with them last summer but, when he returned home, got in trouble again. Explains Conyers-Ausbrooks, "I felt he wasn't lost yet, but another year or two and he would be."

Lee Farbman