Pennington County Bar Association (Rapid City, South Dakota) Contact: Connie Larson E-mail: connie.larson@state.sd.us Pennington County Bar Association Law Week Activity Summary: The Pennington County Bar Association’s Law Week activities touched the community. Activities included the Ask-a-Lawyer program, which answered 324 calls. Almost one thousand grade-school students participated in coloring and poster contests. Approximately two hundred high school students attended a death penalty debate, a family law discussion, a presentation on careers in the law, and death penalty mock trials. Activities also included performances of "Impeach Justice Douglas!" a professional theatre production. Presentations to almost six hundred high school students and the public facilitated discussion of legal topics. The Law Day Banquet involved presentations of "Impeach Justice Douglas" and local awards. Activity Narrative: The Pennington County Bar Association annually sponsors Law Week activities. Law Week activities for 2002 spanned the week of April 30-May 3 and included the Ask-a-Lawyer program, poster and essay contests in local schools, informative events at the county courthouse, and the Law Day Banquet. The Law Week activities were coordinated by a committee that included representatives from the Bar Association, the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court, the Federal District Court, the Black Hills Legal Professionals Association, National American University, Western Dakota Technical Institute, Periaktos Productions, and the Rapid City Arts Council. All programs were highlighted on local television and radio morning and noon news programs. The Ask-a-Lawyer program, which provides free legal assistance from local attorneys for callers, was held nightly April 30-May 2. The Ask-a-Lawyer program was advertised in the local paper and through public service announcements and South Dakota Public Television. Statewide, the program received approximately one thousand calls per year. In 2002, 40 experienced Rapid City area lawyers answered three hundred twenty-four calls. Local grade-school students were involved in coloring and poster contests, which were judged by attorneys and courthouse staff. The theme for the coloring and poster contests was "Defenders of Freedom." This theme was important in Rapid City, as we have a local Air Force base, Ellsworth Air Force Base. Personnel from Ellsworth were deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom. In all, sixteen grade schools (936 students) and middle schools (61 students) participated in the coloring and poster contests. Teams of attorneys, judges, legal professionals, and others went to all participating schools and presented each participant with a pencil and a certificate of congratulations from presiding circuit court judge. Winners received a variety of prizes depending on where they placed. Prizes included Really Big Coloring Books, certificates, Law Day water bottles, movie passes, and U.S. Constitution booklets. The teams discussed how the law works and the importance of the legal system with students. High school children were reached through programs at the county courthouse. All high schools in the area are invited to bring students to attend the program, which include a death penalty debate, a family law discussion, a session introducing careers in the law, and a jury trial exercise imitating the penalty phase of a death penalty trial. One hundred ninety-eight high school students attended the courthouse activities. The death penalty debate involves experienced prosecutors and defense attorneys. The family law discussion provides information about the South Dakota family law system and is facilitated by prominent local lawyers. The careers in the law session includes law enforcement officers, court clerks, court reporters, legal assistants, judges, and lawyers. The most popular annual program at the courthouse is likely the jury trial exercise. Students sit as jurors in a mock trial, which begins with a professional television news clip, produced by a local attorney and news personality, regarding an upcoming death penalty trial. A group of trial attorneys stages the arguments for the jury. The jury trial facts change each year. This year marked the first year the Law Week activities that included special performances of “Impeach Justice Douglas!” a professionally produced theatre production about Justice William O. Douglas. The presentations to area high schools facilitated a "Dialogue on Freedom" that included many issues that have reemerged in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Dialogue topics included balancing national security and civil rights, social diversity, citizens’ rights to dissent and disagree with government policies and actions, and the meaning of the Bill of Rights. Classroom presentations were made to approximately six hundred high school students in four Pennington County high schools, and a full performance for the public was presented on Saturday, May 4, 2002, at National American University. Admission to the public performance was a donation of food to the local food bank. Approximately sixty people attended the public performance. The Law Day Committee also accepted applications for the Liberty Bell award, an annual award given to a nonlawyer who contributes to improving the legal system. This year’s award was presented to Bishop Lorenzo Kelly, who counsels county jail inmates and young men in trouble to assist them in making better decisions. He also acts as a father figure. The week culminated in the Law Day Banquet, a formal banquet for lawyers and legal professionals. Excerpts from "Impeach Justice Douglas" were performed. The Liberty Bell award was presented, as well as Dakota Plains Legal Services’ award for the lawyer who contributed the most pro bono hours to the program. Sample Programs Home | By Audience | By Location | By Sponsoring Organization