Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, US Army Southern European Task Force (Airborne), Italy Contact: MAJ Marian Amrein Deputy Staff Judge Advocate United States Army Southern European Task Force (Airborne), Office of the Staff Judge Advocate Unite 31401, Box 7 APO, AE 09630 E-mail: marian.amrein@setaf.army.mil Law Day 2002 Activity Summary: For Law Day 2002, the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate (SJA), United States Army Southern European Task Force (Airborne) in Vicenza, Italy joined the American Bar Association in conducting programs that highlighted the theme of "Celebrate Your Freedom—Assuring Equal Justice For All" to our local community and schools. Activity Narrative: Office Fun The SJA staff began Law Day with an early morning run to the Basilica Palladiana at the Piazza dei Signori in downtown Vicenza, where we stopped for a cappuccino. Later, we enjoyed an office brunch attended by military and civilian employees and family members. Community Awareness The Law Day festivities included a display outside the Post Exchange and Food Court on 1st May, where the public could learn about this year's theme and the services provided by the SJA Office. Our display included office-made brochures that provided information to the community on what legal services their SJA office can provide for them; the ABA legal careers brochures; Law Day flyers; and bookmarks, pencils and balloons. We passed out stickers and invited people to learn more about Law Day High School Program There were two class presentations in the senior Government (Street Law) class. On May 1st, a 45-minute class focused on things lawyers do and life as a lawyer in the form of a lecture/discussion. On May 2nd, we returned to the class for a 90-minute class presentation. We taught the basic law involved and divided the class into groups to argue different sides of a Supreme Court case. The class understood both the problem and the law. They developed and presented their own arguments, in addition to the ones used in the case. The class was a great success. We initiated an essay contest on group profiling. We found the topic in the Law Day catalog. Because of the complexity of the topic, we limited the participants to tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades only. The local Warrant Officer's Association provided $100 for prize money. To promote Law Day, we hung up the Law Day posters and the Bill of Rights series posters in the school. We passed out stickers, pencils, and the legal career brochures to the students. We gave four copies of A Life in the Law booklets to the career counselor at the high school. Elementary School Program The SJA staff put on a mock trial of Three Bears v. Gold E. Locks for the students. Bear actors donned bear ears and Gold E. Locks wore his favorite pink dress and a blonde wig! We exchanged Mama Bear's porridge for the famous pasta of our region. The poster contest was open to all elementary grades, having two categories (kindergarten through third grade and fourth through sixth grade). The winners were invited to be jurors at the mock trial. We presented the Law Day medals and certificates to the participants. We hung the posters in our offices. Promotion of Law Day Activities: We advertised Law Day to the elementary school students by sending home flyers with them. We mailed information abut the contests and the activities scheduled to students who did not attend the local American schools (home and host nation schooled students), inviting them to participate. We also put up flyers throughout the community, including the SJA Office, Red Cross, the fitness center (where the local high schoolers hang out), the Army Community Service center, and the area where all in-processing soldiers and their families report. The local radio station advertised the Law Day essay contest on the radio during live shows numerous times during the 2-week period preceding Law Day. The news aired a report on the mock trial on television. Our local newspaper, Outlook, published information about Law Day as well. Conclusion: All in all, it was a great week of various activities "celebrating our freedom" serving here with the U.S. Army in Italy. Sample Programs Home | By Audience | By Location | By Sponsoring Organization