Porter County Bar Association Law Day 2002 | Law Day 2001 Contact: Lois Jones Holiday, Deputy Prosecutor Porter County Bar Association 15 N. Franklin Street Valparaiso, IN 46387 E-Mail: lholiday@Portercogov.net Law Day 2002 Activity Summary: On Law Day 2002 we expanded our talks by members of the Porter County Bar Association to eight local High Schools. Thirty-three lawyers spoke to 29 classes, ranging in size from 12 to 200+, reaching 1403 students plus approximately 50 teachers. These numbers show that the program is continuing to grow rapidly, with more than twice as many students reached as in 2001. This year we also sent our news release to the Indiana State Bar Association. The Bar Association placed the News Release information on its website and published it in the April edition of Res Gestae, the monthly legal magazine that is distributed to all Indiana State Bar Association members. Students at Valparaiso University, School of Law were also invited to participate as speakers. Speakers were advised that this year's Law Day theme was Assuring Equal Justice for All. They were instructed to give a presentation to the students on a legal area of personal interest but to make sure the subject discussed related to the overall topic. Since 33 lawyers participated and class sizes ranged from 12 to 200+ students, each presentation was different. Several of the more interesting presentations are outlined below. 1. Small Claims and Traffic Cases from a Judge's Perspective. A Superior Court Judge with 30+ years of legal experience walked the students through a typical pro-se hearing, giving insight as to what he considers and how participants should conduct themselves in the courtroom. Speaker Judge Robert Kennedy. 2. Answering questions for a Senior Class of 200+ students. A Deputy Prosecutor and a Public Defender discussed a recent high profile murder case, legal ethics, the stresses and joys of being an attorney, law school, and women in the law. Speakers Lois Jones Holiday and Bryan Truitt. 3. American Rights. Discussion of the right to vote, freedom of speech and privacy, Public Disabilities Act, fair labor laws, prohibition on slavery, right to unrestricted travel, and right against self incrimination. Speaker Julia Hoham. 4. American Rights. Discussion of the death penalty, racial profiling, and the 4th Amendment, heroin as a growing problem, and making healthy lifestyle decisions. Speaker Peter Boyles. Thirteen lawyers participated in 2002 for the first time. Back to top Law Day 2001 Activity Summary: On Law Day 2001 members of the Porter County (Indiana) Bar Association volunteered their time to speak to students at five local High Schools. Twenty-one lawyers spoke to 20 classes, reaching 654 students plus 11 teachers. Each lawyer chose a topic of interest and explained how the legal system affects American children and adults on a regular basis. Students and teachers received law related items for future use. The purpose of having these lawyers speak was to foster more awareness of the legal system in general and to present a positive image to the community regarding the legal profession. Activity Narrative: The Porter County (Indiana) Bar Association recognized Law Day 2001 by having members speak to students at 5 local High Schools. This activity has been going on for many years but our efforts were greatly expanded this year. In 2000 we spoke at 2 schools reaching approximately 135 students. This year 21 lawyers spoke to 20 classes, reaching 654 students plus 11 teachers. The first thing that was done to generate school involvement and support for our efforts was sending a letter to all of the Porter County High School Principals. That letter, sent out on February 7th, explained that local lawyers were volunteering to come into their schools on May 1st to discuss a variety of legal issues relating to the topic of Protecting the Best Interests of Our Children. The Principals were asked to forward this information to the appropriate teacher at their school. Follow-up calls were also made. In an effort to generate more school responses this year a News Release was sent to all county newspapers, describing the activities that were going to take place on Law Day and listing a telephone contact number. Three newspapers ran the release. These newspapers have combined circulation of over 100,000 people, representing nearly two-thirds of all Porter County residents. As a direct result of the News Release four additional classes were added to our schedule, representing 240 additional students and 3 teachers. Lawyers who volunteered to speak were advised that this year’s Law Day theme was Protecting the Best Interests of Our Children. They were instructed to give a presentation to the students on a legal area of personal interest but to make sure the subject discussed was related to the overall topic. Since 21 lawyers participated and the size of classes ranged from 12 to 90 students, many different areas of law were discussed. Five of the most unique presentations dealt with the following topics: 1. Dealing with the best interest of children in 4 types of civil cases - CHINS (Child Protective Services), adoption, paternity and dissolution - Speaker Elizabeth Gingrich 2. Four types of “wars” going on in our society and how those wars affect all citizens - economic wars of insurance companies v. little people; war on crime - street stops, how to act if you are stopped by the police, and your rights in criminal cases; people v. people wars - everyone is suing everyone else; military wars, past and present - people die to protect our rights so we should know those rights - Speaker Charles Nightingale 3. Showed 5 movie clips of famous courtroom scenes and discussed how those scenes do not necessarily depict real life court; then played The Weakest Link so students could test their knowledge of the court system - Speaker David Chidester 4. Discussion of the death penalty. The attorney who did this is currently a Public Defender, has previously been an elected Prosecutor, and has represented 3 individuals who received the death penalty - Speaker Gary German 5. A pre-test was give followed by an overview of the legal system. The overview addressed the pre-test questions, the history of Law Day, the theme of Law Day 2001, traffic court, the criminal system, the civil system, the Constitution in general, and going to law school - Speaker Brian Hurley. Lawyers participating in Law Day presentations represented a wide variety of practices. Speakers included one judge, one law school professor, several current of ex-prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, civil (business, bankruptcy, etc.) attorneys, and domestic law practitioners. Their legal experience ranged from 6 months to 30+ years and 13 participated in 2001 for the first time. In an effort to ensure that the spirit of Law Day continued past May 1st members of each high school class received “take-home” items. Water bottles and mouse pads were purchased from the American Bar Association for the students, plus the “Original American Dream Celebrity Posters” with lesson plans for the teachers. We also obtained copies of the “legal stuff” pamphlet for the students and additional posters for the teachers from the Indiana State Bar Association. These items were left with the students and teachers for future use. One attorney also made plans to return to a high school where she spoke for Law Day, to give a follow-up presentation to additional students. Each speaker advised he/she received positive feedback from teachers and students. Additionally, two teachers made follow-up contact with us either by a telephone message or note, expressing their gratitude for our efforts. Sample Programs Home | By Audience | By Location | By Sponsoring Organization