Law WeekCommittee Law Week 2023 Recap

Each year the American Bar Association (ABA) announces a theme for Law Day, which is celebrated annually on May 1st to celebrate the role of law in our society and to cultivate a deeper understanding of the legal profession. What the ABA calls “Law Day,” the OCBA calls “Law Week,” but our programming actually runs for about three months every spring. Each of our Law Week events are intended to introduce students to legal concepts, the legal profession, and civic education, with the goal of reaching students of all ages in our community. The 2023 Law Day theme was “Cornerstones of Democracy: Civics, Civility, and Collaboration.”

For the first time, the OCBA Law Week Committee partnered with the Justice Teaching Center for Civic Learning to host the Florida High School Mock Trial Competition, which returned to an in-person format for the first time since 2019. In February, judges and attorneys volunteered to serve as Presiding Judges and Scoring Judges for the Ninth Circuit Mock Trial Competition at the Orange County Courthouse. The Law Week Committee returned in early March for the State Competition and provided over 50 volunteer Scoring Judges for three days and five rounds of competition between 15 high school mock trial teams from all over the State of Florida. Judge Steve Jewett, who has been a long-time supporter of the Florida High School Mock Trial Competition, enlisted help from the judiciary, and many Ninth Circuit Judges volunteered as Presiding Judges.

The Law Week Committee presented the Big Bad Wolf Mock Trials at three local elementary schools, Audubon Park School, Baldwin Park Elementary, and Rock Lake Elementary. Students were very engaged as “jurors” who got to watch the trial and decide whether Big Bad Wolf was entitled to recover civil damages from Curly Pig.

The Law Week Committee also hosted a Job Shadowing/Day in the Life of a Judge event. The Orange County Courthouse hosted over 80 high school students who had the opportunity to spend a day job shadowing a judge and then attend lunch and a Q & A with a panel of six judges.

The Law Week Committee partnered with the Boy Scouts of America and the OCBA Foundation to present the Law Merit Badge Day, which was held in person for the first time in several years. The scouts heard from judges, attorneys, and a police officer regarding criminal law, civil law, and legal history, and they also participated in a mock trial. 35 scouts earned their Scouting’s Law Merit Badge.

This year the Law Week Committee was also able to bring back our in-person Naturalization Ceremony at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Office. We were joined by Girls Scouts from ten local troops, who got to take a tour of the Orlando Field Office and meet with immigration officers to learn about the immigration process. The Girl Scouts and family members then watched 25 individuals from 22 different countries become American citizens. Scouts from two troops led the Pledge of Allegiance, the Citrus Council Singers performed the national anthem and America the Beautiful, and one of the Girl Scouts gave a keynote speech about the importance of civility and civic engagement. The ceremony ended with the Girl Scouts lining the halls to cheer for each of the new citizens as they left.

The Law Week Committee’s final event of the year was a TeachIn event with middle schoolers at Boys & Girls Club, who heard about becoming a lawyer and various jobs within the legal profession.

We also partnered with Orange County Public Schools for our annual Poster & Speech Contest. The Poster Contest was open to students in grades 2 through 12, and the Speech Contest was open to students in grades 6 through 12. The Poster Contest participants created artwork that represented their interpretation of the Law Day theme, and Speech Contest participants wrote speeches regarding Cornerstones of Democracy: Civics, Civility, and Collaboration. The winners of the Poster Contest are:

2nd Grade & 3rd Grade: 1st Place – Maria Paula Gonzalez Mena (Bay Lake Elementary), 2nd Place – Avery Simon (Baldwin Park Elementary), 3rd Place – Aya Warid (Bay Lake Elementary).

4th Grade – 8th Grade: 1st Place – Evie Meier (Blankner School), 2nd Place – Ty Fote (Blankner School), 3rd Place – Ana Innes (Blankner School).

9th Grade – 12th Grade: 1st Place – Sarah Chung (University High School), 2nd Place – Jessica Portela-Lopez (Colonial High School), 3rd Place – Yerimiah Evans (Boone High School)

The winners of the Speech Contest are:

1st Place – Sophia Ferrara (11th Grade, Timber Creek High School)

2nd Place – Ana Freitas Ferreira (9th Grade, Timber Creek High School)

3rd Place – Jack McLaughlin (9th Grade, Timber Creek High School)

The top 3 Speech Contest winners were invited to give their speech at the Law Week Luncheon. Winners of the Poster & Speech Contests receive gift cards, and the teachers of the 1st place winners receive gift cards as well.

Winners of the 2023 Liberty Awards were also recognized at the Law Week Luncheon. The Liberty Apple Award is presented to a teacher who demonstrates exemplary service to the education of students in our community. The 2023 Liberty Apple Award winner is Cathy Brown, an AP Language Arts teacher at Apopka High School and coach of the Apopka High School Speech and Debate Team. As an English teacher, Cathy promotes an interdisciplinary approach to language arts by incorporating civics and debate into the classroom to improve critical thinking and understanding of our government. She was one of the first teachers to work with and serve on the board for the Central Florida Debate Initiative, which turned into a statewide non-profit organization called the Florida Debate Initiative, which continues to provide free speech and debate tournaments to students in every Florida school district. In addition to her AP Language Arts classes, Cathy has expanded the reach of civics and debate education within Apopka High School by introducing new debate classes. Under Cathy’s leadership, the number of debate classes offered at Apopka more than doubled.

The Liberty Shield Award is presented to a first responder who demonstrates exemplary service to the health or safety of our community. The winner of the 2023 Liberty Shield Award is Tom Lin, Deputy First Class Sheriff, Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Lin has been a member of the law enforcement community since 1982. As a School Resource Officer and a certified Florida State Firearms Instructor, he maintains a team leader role within the Orange County Sheriff’s Office Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Liaison Group. He dedicated himself to building a stronger relationship between Law Enforcement and the Country’s growing AAPI community. His commitment to this mission is evidenced by his successful implementation of programs that allow for the collection of reporting from Asian crime victims, along with public access to a team of AAPI liaisons. Deputy Lin has earned multiple awards during his tenure, including saving a subject from drowning, Dive Unit citations, Meritorious Service and Medal of Merit, Investigator of The Year, and others.

The Liberty Bell Award is presented to a non-lawyer who has demonstrated commitment to promoting civil responsibili- ty among citizens. The 2023 Liberty Bell Award winner is Bill Cowles, Orange County Supervisor of Elections. Bill has served in the role of Orange County Supervisor of Elections for the last 27 years. Throughout the years he has had the difficult task of ensuring that all Orange County citizens who are eligible to vote get the opportunity to do so in a fair, efficient, and transparent manner. He also is the proud originator of the “adopt a precinct” project, which allows for civic groups to literally “adopt” a Precinct, thereby supplying poll workers so urgently needed for elections while allowing those civic organizations to work together to help promote their organizations and democracy at the same time. Bill’s efforts to reach out to the youngest citizens and encourage them to participate in democracy is evidenced by his involvement in Orange County Public Schools. Specifically, Bill Cowles has visited hundreds of schools, either to assist in the administration of their own student elections or, more often, to speak to civics classes about the importance of registering and voting. To that end, Bill has assisted thousands of Orange County students to “pre-register” so that they would be able to fully exercise their right to vote the moment they turned 18. Bill has served long and hard to preserve both the rule of law and the best interest of the citizens of Orange County in the administration of his electoral duties.

Congratulations to all Liberty Award winners!

The Law Week Committee would like to thank Orange County Public Schools, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of Citrus, and Boys & Girls Club for their partnership on our Law Week events and for connecting us with hundreds of amazing kids who hopefully have a greater understanding of the role of law in our society and the legal profession.

We would also like to thank the Orange County Courthouse staff and our Ninth Circuit judges who hosted and volunteered for many of our events. We are so fortunate to have a judiciary that is so engaged and willing to help, and they add so much value to our Law Week events.

We would also like to thank our subcommittee chairs, committee members, and everyone who volunteered for any of this year’s events. This year’s Law Week Committee included the following members: Onchantho Am, Michael Andriano, Euri Cerrud, Keshara Cowans (OCBA Executive Council Liaison), Teresa Finer, Charles Hawkins, John Hunt, Andrew Irvin, Leia Leitner, Courtney Richardson-Jones, Brandon Sapp, Patti Savitz, Tara Tedrow, Esther Whitehead, and Lori Wurtzel.

Jill Davis, Esq., is Chair of the Law Week Committee and is an in-house attorney at Orlando Health. She has been a member of the OCBA since 2008.

Brian Lawrence, Esq., is Chair of the Law Week Committee and is an in-house attorney at Walt Disney Parks & Resorts U.S., Inc. He has been a member of the OCBA since 2016.