Young Lawyers Section Report
by Vicki S. Vasser
March Madness Tip-Off with YLS’ Starting Five Each spring, March Madness is a phenomenon that grips the national sports psyche from mid-March through the first of April. The tournament determines the national champions of college basketball. Teams that survive the mayhem of March and make it to the Final Four battle it out for the crown of college basketball. A team that reaches the Final Four and ultimately the national championship game is blessed with talent and dedication. From a more elementary perspective, for any basketball team to be successful, a team must possess at least five players, each bringing unique skills. As a former high school point guard, I experienced firsthand the importance of each player bringing his or her own unique talents to the team, so collectively, great things could be achieved. March Madness presents an opportunity for the Young Lawyers Section (YLS) to showcase its “starting line-up” or five critical areas in which YLS is working to improve our profession, the Bar, and our community: 1) Serving the Public & Communities In an effort to provide valuable legal resources to the public, the Citizenship Education Committee has been creating a new handbook and revising outdated handbooks. Stephanie Linam is leading the charge to create a domestic violence victims handbook, which will address topics such as emergency resources for victims and orders of protection. The goal is to have a final product introduced at the June 2013 Annual Meeting. Efforts are also underway to update the Senior Citizens handbook and the Consumer Law handbook. Serving the public spans across all demographics, so not only do we attempt to serve the adult population, but we help educate young adults with our ongoing distribution of “18 & Life to Go: A Legal Handbook for Young Arkansans” in both print and through
iPhone application and Kindle. Efforts are underway to disseminate these handbooks to all juvenile court offices across the state. To better serve a growing population in our state, YLS is working to secure funding through American Bar Association (ABA) grants and/ or partnerships with interested organizations to help translate the book into Spanish. This year, members have continued to place a priority upon making an impact in our local communities, whether it is by helping in a community garden in Northwest Arkansas, working at Arkansas Rice Depot in Little Rock, or visiting Ronald McDonald House while in Memphis at Mid-Year meeting. YLS never stops looking for new ways to serve the public and communities across the state in an attempt to “make our days count.” 2) Mentoring New Lawyers Last year, YLS launched the Lawyer-2Lawyer mentor program. In an attempt to expand this program, Matt Fryar has led efforts to develop additional tools to aid new attorneys in transitioning from law school to practice—the New Admittee Survival Guide and the Mentor Minute videos. Once completed, both resources will be accessible to members from the YLS web portal. 3) Encouraging Others to Become Involved No organization is successful without an eye towards the future. For this reason, Jennie Clark and Jessica Yarborough have continued to think of new ways in which YLS members can socialize and encourage more involvement from attorneys. I hope many of you were able to join us for the holiday social or socialized with us in Memphis at the MidYear meeting. Please mark your calendars to attend the 2013 Annual Meeting on June 12-15, 2013, where YLS will be providing Friday evening entertainment.
4) Including Everyone In spring 2012, YLS was awarded an ABA grant for our efforts in promoting diversity in the legal profession. This grant affords us an opportunity to expand our existing “College Road Tour” program to college campuses not yet visited and to revisit campuses, such as UAPB and Philander Smith. 5) Connecting Members It is often said that communication is the key to fostering strong relationships. YLS wants its members to have a strong connection to the Association and the Section. To better connect with members, YLS and the Association Staff continue to provide information about the Association and the Section through various communication channels— the YLS quarterly publication “InBrief,” the YLS portal on the Arkansas Bar Association website http://www.arkbar.com/pages/yls. aspx, the YLS Facebook (please “like” us!) and through Twitter at @Arkbar. YLS wants all of its members to be better connected to the Bar, the profession, and the ongoing activities and projects. *** After reviewing YLS’ “starting line-up” and as we embark upon March Madness, I leave you with a quote from Coach Mike Krzyzewski, Head Coach for the Duke University Men’s Basketball Team: “To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless.” The true beauty of YLS is that by combining talents and skills, serving in these capacities, whether by serving the profession and the public, by mentoring attorneys, by encouraging others to join our efforts, by connecting our members, or by including everyone interested to consider law as a profession, we are all better and our profession is stronger. n
Vol. 48 No. 1/Winter 2013 The Arkansas Lawyer
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