Your Foundation at Work

By Aaron Bulloff

In my first column, I discussed what the Foundation of the Federal Bar Association is. In this column, I discuss part of what the Foundation does. Simply put, the Foundation does three things: It attracts funds to add to its corpus, it invests those funds, and it disseminates some of its funds in support of its mission. I shall write about the first two aspects in future columns; this column focuses on the third.

to Barbara Bowens, an AUSA in the South Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Aaron Bulloff is a long-tenured FBA and National Council Member who has held numerous Chapter and National positions. He is a Charter Life Member of the Foundation’s Fellows and in 2015 received the Earl Kintner Award.

Before the start of each fiscal year, the Foundation board votes upon a budget for the upcoming 12 months. For the last few years, that budget reflected a prudent amount for mission support from a foundation sized at approximately $900,000-$1,000,000. In the last two years, sizable contributions from the Federal Bar Building Corp. substantially increased the financial picture of the Foundation. Like everyone else, however, the Foundation incurred investment losses in 2022—it presently hovers in the $1.6 million to $1.75 million range, depending upon market fluctuations. At that quantum level, the Foundation was able to make a significant impact in the last year.

The Known Past Continued Support

The Foundation continued to fund and present four annual public service awards at the FBA’s National Convention. They are the Ilene and Michael Shaw Public Service Award, the Ilene and Michael Shaw Younger Lawyer Public Service Grant, the Elaine R. “Boots” Fisher Award, and the Peter J. Mazza Outstanding Federal Lawyer Award. The recipients are selected by committee review of nominations.

• The Shaw Public Service Award, in the amount of $10,000, was awarded to the South Carolina Chapter for its “Civics Day” program.

• The Shaw Younger Lawyer Grant, in the amount of $10,000, was awarded to the Massachusetts Chapter for its “Annual Bill of Rights Student Essay Contest.”

• The “Boots” Fisher Award, in the amount of $1,000 donated to a charity of the recipient’s choice, was awarded to Betty Stevens, an FBA member in Northern Virginia.

• The Mazza Award, in the amount of $500 donated to a charity of the recipient’s choice, was awarded

The Foundation continued to support the annual Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Competition held each spring, and co-sponsored—with the Federal Judges Association—the Civics Essay and Video Contest for high school students. This year’s contest asked “In light of the First Amendment, what type of social media posts should schools be allowed to punish as cyberbullying?” The Foundation hosted the trips of essay winner Evan Hsiang from Corpus Christi, Texas, and video winner Paola Perez from Palmetto Bay, Florida, to the awards ceremony held at the Federal Judges Association Quadrennial Conference in Washington, where the students met Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Stephen Breyer.

Grants

Two Foundation committees review applications for Chapter Community Outreach Grants and Diversity Grants. Each committee has an annual budget in determining what grant applications to recommend semi-annually to the Foundation Board of Directors for a vote to accept or decline. The Foundation board funded six Chapter Community Outreach Grants and 15 Diversity Grants.

Outreach Grants went to:

• Eastern District of Michigan Chapter: “Chapter Mission Fulfillment through Youth Outreach”

• Kansas and Western District of Missouri Chapter: “FBA Civics and Diversity Summer Reading Contest” (a second grant for the creation of its civics and outreach videos)

• San Diego Chapter: “Pathways to a Federal Career: Mentoring the Next Generation”

• San Joaquin Valley Chapter: “Law Day Yosemite 2022”

• South Florida Chapter: “Civil Discourse and Difficult Decisions Program”

Diversity Grants went to:

• Broward County Chapter: “DEI Summit & Reception”

• Civil Rights Section: “Civil Rights FBA Diversity

Membership Campaign”

• Lisa Eschleman (FBA member): “Law & Leadership Institute, LLC”

• Kansas and Western District of Missouri Chapter: “Prelaw Fellowship”

• Northern District of Ohio Chapter: “Distinguished Author Speaker Program”

• Oklahoma City Chapter: “History of Legal Racism Against AAPI Citizens”

• South Carolina Chapter: “2022 Charleston Forum Programming”

• Bernadette Gargano (FBA member): “Discover Law Undergraduate Scholars Program at the University at Buffalo School of Law”

• Utah Chapter: “UCLI 2022 Utah Law Student Mentorship”

• Younger Lawyers Division: “Staying in the Game”

• FBA LGBTQ+ Law Section: “Law Student Fellowship”

• Northern/Eastern Oklahoma Chapter: “University of Tulsa School of Law Diversity Day”

• Sacramento Chapter: “Sacramento Region Diversity Career Fair”

• San Diego Chapter: “History of the Diversity of the Court in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California”

• Southern District of New York Chapter: “Bias Training: What Lawyers and Judges Need to Know and Why”

Scholarships

The Foundation doubled its annual scholarship awards, again made after committee recommendation and Board vote, giving two Law Student Scholarships, two Diversity Scholarships, and two Public Service Scholarships. These scholarships included:

A $5,000 Earl W. Kintner Public Service Scholarship, which assesses community service, academic excellence, and meaningful extracurricular activity, was awarded to both William Mitchell of Fairfax, Virginia, and Alexa Settel of Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Dr. J. Clay Smith Jr. Diversity in the Legal Profession Scholarship was awarded to Abigail Hall—a first-year law student at Harvard who is the daughter of a single-mother Jamaican immigrant, and to Kathleen Kivarkis—a first-year student at Loyola Chicago School of law who is the daughter of Middle Eastern immigrants. These scholarships, each in the amount of $15,000 disbursed over three years of law school enrollment, seek to promote diversity in the legal profession and to support minority students in their legal education. Recipients also receive a complimentary FBA law student associate membership.

The Robert A. McNew Law Student Scholarship supports law students who exhibit extraordinary character, professionalism, and public service activity. Scholarships in the amount of $5,000 were awarded to Janessa Doyle—a third-year law student at Arizona State University, and Megan Glassman—a second-year law student at the University of Utah.

As you can see, Foundation funds impact sections, divisions, chapters, and individuals throughout the United States from various walks of life. Hopefully, this recitation gives you ideas for future programming, whether solely through FBA auspices or in conjunction with other groups whose missions may mirror our own. Note also that the receipt of one grant does not prevent a second grant to the same recipient during the year. To obtain further details about the above-listed awards, I encourage you to contact me or Foundation Manager Cathy Barrie.

The Unknown Future

It is a substantial likelihood that, as a result of the sale of the business condominium owned by the Federal Bar Building Corp. and leased to the FBA, the Bar Association and the Foundation will each receive substantial disbursements as the FBBC’s purpose of holding real estate ends. The upshot is a further likelihood that the Foundation will be quantitatively different than it presently is; our corpus may be substantially larger, and our budget for programming and scholarships is likely to reflect the increase. The Foundation Board is engaging in strategic planning this year and is discussing how a potential distribution will be used.

So, in preparation for our strategic planning retreat, I ask our FBA readership to reflect upon various questions:

• Do you feel that the Foundation’s efforts match your ideas of how it should be spending its dollars?

• Do you have any concerns that any of its expenditures are outside the scope of its mission?

• Are there specific efforts that should be expanded? Contracted? If so, why and how?

• Are there projects of national import the Foundation should consider undertaking? For instance, the Foundation’s largest historical expenditure was the sponsoring of two “white papers” in 2001 and 2005 regarding judicial pay. Only one white paper— regarding Magistrate Judges in 2014—has since been issued. Should there be more white papers as important issues arise? As another example, the Foundation deferred on the idea of hosting an annual symposium on the state of American jurisprudence, in large part because of cost. Should such a program or others of similar ilk now be seriously considered?

• What examples of “outside the box” thinking do you think the Foundation should consider?

I re-posted a quote in my first column which suggested the way to a good idea is to have many ideas. Our strategic planning retreat is set for the end of January. The success of this process will be maximized by having as much input from FBA membership as possible beforehand to help shape the discussion. It’s your Foundation—our Foundation. I invite your thoughts on any or all our current and future efforts. My email is canoelaw@gmail.com, or please contact any Foundation Board member or Cathy Barrie at cbarrie@fedbar.org.

Cheers, Aaron