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In This Issue:
FEATURES
Room for Improvement
Civil Law?
Make Law, Not War
Running to Class, Running for Office
DEPARTMENTS
Officially
Speaking
Hot Practice
Jobs
Letters
Briefly
Online
Coping
Opinion
DIVISION DIALOGUE
Law
Student Division Assembly Tackles Student Loans, Affirmative Action, and Education
Financing
Volunteer Tax Program is "Vital to Communities
Schools Honored for Exceptional Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
New SBA Vice Chair-Elect, Delegates to Work for Student Interests
Students Encouraged to Join Oct. 30 Work-A-Day Program
South Texas Students Show Knack for Appellate Work
Announcing the 2000 National Appellate Advocacy Competition
Public Service Summer Internship Program
Meet the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (Liaison Note)
Spotlight: From Olympic Luge to Law, Student Takes on Life at Breakneck Speed
October 1999 -- Vol. 28, No. 2
Roll Up Your Sleeves
Students Encouraged to Join Oct. 30 Work-A-Day Program
It began eight years ago as a small idea at the University of Illinois College of Law—students set aside their casebooks for a day and volunteered for various community projects.
From its humble beginning, “Work-A-Day” has grown into the ABA Law Student Division’s largest single-day public-service event, drawing thousands of participants from more than 150 law schools across the country on the last Saturday of each October.
Enthusiasm for the program continues to grow. Students at the nation’s 181 ABA-accredited law schools are invited to roll up their sleeves and pitch in on Oct. 30 for the biggest event yet. The 1999-2000 theme, “Building Strong Foundations for the New Millennium,” emphasizes the strengths on which communities are built, says project director Amy Williams, a third-year student at the University of Oklahoma Law Center.
“I would like to focus primarily on children, who are truly the foundation of our future communities, but there are plenty of ways to strengthen the relationship between law students and their neighbors,” Williams says. Ideas for a Work-A-Day event centered on this theme might include a Habitat for Humanity house-building event or any other volunteer activity that gets law students out of the library and into the community.
“Even if you can’t do it on Oct. 30, I encourage everyone at every law school to find a weekend in October to set aside for this worthy event,” Williams adds.
“Work-A-Day is an example of the good that law students do in their communities throughout the year,” says Division chair Kyle Mitchell of Florida State University College of Law. Mitchell is urging schools to maximize participation. “Pick a day and let everyone know about it,” he suggests. “Pick a project that people will feel comfortable participating in.”
The Division has created the Outreach Assistance Initiative Programming Manual, an easy-to-use collection of successful project ideas that provides step-by-step instructions on how to run a successful program. The Division will even fund new programs up to $500 to get them started. Both the manual and funding application are available at www. abanet.org/lsd/manuals.html. Check it out, and get your fellow law students into the community to lend a helping hand! •
Brandon Bigelow