Officially Speaking

Partnerships Will Bring Change

The word partnership is prominent in a law student's vocabulary. When we entered law school, many of us had dreams of making partner at a large law firm. In classes about business associations, we learn that a partnership is a contract with one or more competent people to place their money, effects, labor and skill-or some or all of them-in lawful commerce or business, and to divide the profit and bear the loss in certain proportions.

But this is not what a societal partnership is about. Lawyers have always played an important role in U.S. history as the "gatekeepers" of justice. As such, they have been given the responsibility of ensuring that the rights of all are guaranteed. Thus, it could be said that lawyers have a partnership with society.

For the rest of the school year, try to forge a partnership with some element of your law school or community that brings about a positive social change or simply makes life easier or better for all of us. It can be as simple as volunteering for a local charity or caring for a loved one. Partnerships between student organizations or between your law school's faculty and the student bar association are also possibilities. Get involved in the Law Student Division's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program or a legal clinic at your law school-anywhere you can use your legal skills to help someone.

My partner for the year is Law Student Division First Circuit Governor H. Lamar Willis of Boston College Law School in Massachusetts. Willis is the chair of the Law Student Division's Standing Committee on Diversity and also represents law students as liaison to the American Bar Association's Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession. Together, Lamar and I would like to announce two initiatives that we hope will positively impact your law school experience.

Foremost, the Law Student Division would like to announce the creation of an annual Diversity Day. On April 4 of each year, the division will be encouraging every law school and every law student to pause a few moments and remind themselves that racial and ethnic parity in this country are not a reality. The goal of Diversity Day is not to highlight our differences or the failings of our society, but to recognize our similarities and overcome our problems together through education. April 4 was chosen as the date for Diversity Day because it is the anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Law Student Division Board of Governors felt this date best reflects the need to improve the opportunities for women and minorities in our profession, while highlighting what can happen when democracy breaks down and citizens ignore the rule of law.

In addition, the division's Board of Governors recently approved the creation of a Professionalism, Ethics and Diversity Fund. This fund will provide division members and law schools with up to $500 to produce programming on those issues. The PED Fund may be just what you need to start your own partnership at your law school. Applications are available by contacting the Law Student Division's office at 312/988-5624 or on the division's Web site at http://www.abanet.org/lsd. (For more information on the PED Fund, see the article on page 34.)

As law students, it is imperative that we adequately prepare to confront the numerous challenges that our society faces. While we may not agree on the answers to society's problems, we will be challenged to help solve them. But we cannot solve them alone. Only through partnerships can we even dream of success.

Bennett M. Miller
Chair
Law Student Division

H. Lamar Willis
First Circuit Governor
Chair, LSD Standing Committee on Diversity