Throughout the year, the ABA’s Law Student Division sponsors programming for the benefit of law students and for the communities that support them. The Division’s annual Negotiation, Client Counseling, and National Appellate Advocacy competitions help students hone their lawyering skills, and the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program encourages law students to reach out to the community by helping people prepare their income tax forms.

Each of these programs relies on the efforts of volunteers to plan, organize, and bring these events together. These volunteers, called national student directors, take countless hours out of their already busy academic schedules to make national ABA/LSD programming a reality.

Why become a national student director?

"I have enjoyed meeting students and professors from other schools that are involved in the competition process," says Melissa Stewart, Negotiation Competition national student director and a student at the University of Oklahoma Law Center. "The ABA/LSD staff have been great to work with and very helpful with questions I have had."

Even as Stewart ended the Negotiation Competition last month, Michael Kennedy, National Appellate Advocacy national student director and a student at Creighton University School of Law, was gearing up for his competition.

"I have enjoyed the opportunity to help plan an event that will help fellow law students improve their advocacy skills," Kennedy says.

Mari Gianukos, a student at Baylor University School of Law, has guided the Client Counseling Competition to another successful year as that competition’s national student director.
Cynthia Pearson, a student at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, is the Division’s VITA national student director. Pearson’s efforts have paid off, as more schools and students than ever have volunteered to help citizens prepare income tax forms this year, topping last year’s record of more than 150 schools and 600 volunteers.