Try to picture 200 people standing on their chairs at a business meeting. That was C. Joseph Coleman III's prescription for breaking out of the routine and seeing things from a different perspective. Coleman headed the Law Student Division's Vision Task Force (VTF), which just completed a year-long review of everything the division does. While presenting the report at the division's Annual Meeting in August, Coleman had the assembled student bar association presidents and ABA/LSD school representatives briefly stand on their chairs.

The task force's 85-page report, which was released at the Annual Meeting, covers marketing, member benefits, programming, the relationship between the Law Student Division and the American Bar Association, organizational structure, and the division's purpose.

Immediate Past Division Chair Jeffrey Jacobson created the VTF last year. While serving his year as chair-elect of the division, Jacobson realized he wasn't being as productive as he could be. "I didn't really know enough about the Law Student Division and the association to be able to say that ‘these are the programs we need to do,'" he says. "I didn't have the vision until I had actually started doing the job. I want a legacy; I didn't just want to walk out without having done anything. And I thought, if I can't figure it out, how is anybody on the Board [of Governors]—which is even newer than I am—supposed to figure it out?"

So he created the Vision Task Force and appointed Coleman, then governor of the division's Eleventh Circuit, as chair. Coleman says he's always had an interest in "business restructuring and change, politics and how they all work together, how to motivate people, how to inspire people, how to truly effectuate change; I thought, what a great opportunity for me to try to actually do that."

The task force spent a year conducting surveys, interviewing dozens of law students, and compiling the results. Their report is broken into six chapters: Versatility, Imagination, Success, Improvement, Opportunities and Never Quit. Each chapter analyzes a different area of the division, discusses the issues and makes recommendations for the future.

Versatility speaks to marketing the division. Among the recommendations: implement a permanent law student membership, whereby students can register during their first year for ABA membership throughout their time in law school.

Imagination speaks to member benefits. Among the recommendations: work to secure discounts with commercial airlines, national chains and retailers for division members.

Success speaks to division programs. Among the recommendations: improve training for the national and regional officers; expand and publicize Work-A-Day public-service projects.

Improvement speaks to the Law Student Division's relationship with the larger ABA. Among the recommendations: create a pilot program to test the feasibility of pairing ABA lawyer members with law student members in a mentorship program.

Opportunities speaks to the division's organizational structure. This is the longest chapter and has two full pages of recommendations, including revamping national meetings and reworking the election process.

Never Quit speaks to the division's purpose. Among the recommendations: continued support for public-service programs as a vital component of the division.

"I hope it serves as a catalyst," Coleman says. "It's not a gospel: ‘If you do these things, we will have the success.' It's not that at all. In our opinion, to achieve that unbelievable success and greatness, this is where you need to start."

Jacobson agrees, and hopes the report will help future student leaders. "One of the things that I learned about my time here is that, just about the time that you really get it. . . you have to leave!" he says. "Right about that time, it's time for you to hand over the position."

He hopes this report will help give future ABA/LSD leaders a head start. "And so maybe, because they're so ahead of where they otherwise would have been, they can be more productive, they can be more efficient, they can be more creative, they could be inspired to take more risks."

If your law school had an ABA/LSD school representative at the Annual Meeting, the school should have a copy of the VTF report. If not, you can read the report on the Internet at http://www.hooloovoo.com/vtf/. You can also have the report e-mailed to you from that Web site.

Lee Farbman