- YLDAnnualReport
Get involved in the Young Lawyers Division!
Young Lawyers Division Activities
Upcoming Events |
| Bar Bulletin Issue | Member Interviewed |
YLD Member Conducting Interview |
| June 13, 2012 | Charles Peifer | Greg Gambill |
| July 25, 2012 | Jan Gilman-Tepper | Jennifer Rodriguez Rodgers |
| August 25, 2012 | Hon. David Thuma | Spencer Edelman |
| September 19, 2012 | Timothy Cornish | Matt Page |
| October 24, 2012 | Felix Briones, Jr. | Tyson Gobble |
| January 23, 2013 | Hon. Henry A. Alaniz | Damian Lara |
| February 13, 2013 | Hannah Best | Aja Brooks |
| March 13, 2013 | Marte Lightstone | Jennifer Anderson |
Junior Judges (ongoing)
Interactive community service program designed to teach 3rd, 4th and 5th graders to judge for themselves what the right thing to do is in tough situations. Topics include bullying, cheating, gangs and weapons, drugs and alcohol, and teasing. Video and teaching curriculum available to assist volunteer attorneys with class presentations/ discussions. For more information or to volunteer, please contact:
Matt Page
P.O. Box 706
Estancia, NM 87106-0706
(505) 384-2800
Law Day Essay Contest
This year’s assignment is entitled Passwords, please, which deals with one’s constitutional rights in regard to employment hiring practices and social media.
Sponsored by the Modrall Law Firm
For information and questions, contact Dorma Seago, dseago@nmbar.org, 505-797-6030.
To see information on past award recipients, visit the following link:
http://www.nmbar.org/Public/HSEssay.html
Project Salute
Project Salute: Young Lawyers Serving Veterans – This is an initiative adopted by the SBNM YLD from the ABA YLD, in concert with the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Law. The purpose of the clinic is to consult with military veterans about benefits available from the Veterans Benefits Administration for service-connected disabilities. Consultations involve reviewing a veteran’s records, researching available VA benefits, and supplying information to a veteran as to potential benefits before he or she decides to file for a benefit from the VBA. The SBNM YLD held two Project Salute clinics in 2012.
The YLD is currently planning how to improve the quality of legal services the bar provides to our Nation’s veterans. In order to build a foundation for the clinic’s long-term success, the YLD has been coordinating its efforts to enhance Project Salute with Jennifer Broomfield, a lawyer and Veterans Justice Outreach Specialist at the New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care System (NMVAHCS), who has been tasked recently with developing a Veterans’ Civil Justice Legal Services Project at the VA in New Mexico. The project would offer veterans a broad range of legal services, including those offered by the YLD in the past.’
First and foremost, this effort will require educating our volunteer attorneys about how to connect with and consult military veterans who may also be suffering from mental health and other psychosocial issues. The YLD has learned that one of the primary obstacles to recovery for our military veterans is a lack of justice attendant to unaddressed legal issues. To that end, the YLD has engaged the services and expertise of Margaret Middleton, Executive Director and founder of the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center to help educate the State Bar of New Mexico about how to deliver legal services in concert with psychosocial rehabilitation experts. Ms. Broomfield and Ms. Middleton will be instrumental in the educational component of the YLD’s undertaking, including presenting at the annual Bench and Bar Conference in Santa Fe on Saturday, June 29. For more details, contact Keya Koul (kkoul@cmsls.com) or Greg Gambill (glg@nmcounsel.com).
Regional Brownbag Luncheons
Local judges inform and discuss with new attorneys matters related to practicing law in the courts. For more information, contact Samantha Barncastle or Ken Stalter.
Serving Our Seniors
The national launch of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division's public service project "Serving Our Seniors" was in 2010. This project provides low-income seniors with pro bono legal services in the form of simple wills, powers of attorney, and advanced healthcare directives.
Statewide: Spencer Edelman, Greg Gambill or Joachim Marjon.
Other Regions: To be determined
Summer Fellowship Program
The Young Lawyers Division is currently accepting applications for its 2013 Summer Fellowships. The YLD is offering two fellowships for the summer of 2013 to law students who are interested in working in public interest law or the government sector. The fellowship awards are intended to provide the opportunity for law students to work for public interest entities or in the government sector in an unpaid position. The fellowship awards, depending on the circumstances of the position, could be up to $3,000 for the summer.
To be eligible, applicants must be a current law student in good standing with their school. Applications for the fellowship must include: (1) a letter of interest that details the student’s interest in public interest law or the government sector; (2) a résumé; and (3) a written offer of employment for an unpaid legal position in public interest law or the government sector for the summer of 2013. Students are not eligible for the fellowship if they are receiving class or school credit for the position. Applications containing offers of employment that are contingent upon the successful completion of a background check will not be considered unless verification of the successful completion of the background check is also provided.
Please submit applications to:
Samantha M. Hults
YLD Summer Fellowship Coordinator
Legal Department
PO Box 2248
Albuquerque, NM 87103-2248
Applications must be postmarked by March 29. Direct questions to Samantha M. Hults, YLD Fellowship Coordinator, samanthahults33@gmail.com.
UNM School of Law/YLD Joint Activities
Mock Interview Program
The Young Lawyers Division is seeking volunteer attorneys to serve as interviewers from 9–11 a.m., Jan. 26, for its annual Young Lawyers Division/UNM School of Law Mock Interview Program. The mock interviews and coordinated critiques of résumés and cover letters assist UNM law students with preparation for job interviews. Judges and attorneys from all practice areas, both public and private sectors, are needed. A brief training session will be held at 8:30 a.m. at the UNM School of Law preceding the interviews, and breakfast will be provided. To volunteer, contact YLD Board Member Spencer Edelman, sle@modrall.com, by Jan. 14.
UNM/YLD Law Student Mentor Program
Second and third-year students are paired for the course of the academic year with YLD members from practice area(s) of interest.
For more information, please contact a member of the YLD Board:
Speed Networking Event
The Speed Networking Event pairs attorneys with UNM law students for speed networking, i.e. people meeting each other one at a time for a short interval and then moving on to the next person in line. The goal is to create an environment other than a standard business event in which networking connections can be made. For more information or to participate, contact Keya Koul.
What Can the YLD Do for You?
What Can the YLD Do for You? - Developing Diverse Leaders on a Local, State, and National Level – This is a new leadership pipeline initiative on which the YLD is working with the voluntary bar associations around the state, the State Bar of New Mexico Board of Bar Commissioners, the ABA YLD, and the ABA Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity. The Center issued a sobering report in 2010 on the job that law firms, law schools, and bar associations are doing to promote inclusiveness and diversity in the legal profession. More information on the Next Steps Report and the recommendations made in the report are available by using the following link:
http://www.americanbar.org/advocacy/diversity_initiatives/presidential_diversity_initiative.html The YLD and the voluntary bar associations have decided to take action on the report’s recommendations.
The first meeting and strategy session took place at the State Bar Center on February 19, 2013. One of the recommendations that came out of a strategy session was coordination of a free event with the voluntary bar associations for YLD members on April 19, 2013 at Hotel Andaluz. Styled as a “Celebration of Diversity,” it is a member service event designed at getting a diverse group of young attorneys together under one roof for cross-promoting the bar associations’ work and identifying opportunities for leadership for the attendees at the national, state, and local level. So far, the YLD, Hispanic Bar Association, Black Lawyers Association, LGBT Bar Association, Indian Bar Association, Women’s Bar Association, and Albuquerque Bar Association are on board as co-hosts. Future events are in the works, and this initiative is the subject of an application for grant funds from the ABA YLD.
Wills for Heroes
The Young Lawyers Division participates in the Wills for Heroes Program, which provides essential legal documents free of charge to New Mexico’s first responders Services include wills, living wills, and powers of attorney. By planning now, first responders from local police and fire departments (including spouses and domestic partners) can ensure that their family's legal affairs are in order. Through the Wills for Heroes Program, attorneys are giving back to the community and "protecting those who protect us."
Albuquerque: Samantha Jarrett and Ben Sherman
Other Regions: To be determined
YLD...In Brief
Articles for new practitioners are written by YLD members and disseminated twice a year as a newsletter in the Bar Bulletin. Issues of the YLD..In Brief can be found at this link.
Young Lawyers
Division
Activities
Annual Report
Board/Officers
Bylaws
Election
Homeless Legal Clinic
Junior Judges
Meeting Minutes/Section Liaison Reports
Newsletter
Summer Fellowships
Wills for Heroes
YLD/UNM Law SchoolMentorship Program