The State Bar of Michigan is offering congratulations to the SBM Young Lawyers Section for winning First Place Awards of Achievement in two out of four categories from the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, as well as the Outstanding Public Service Award from the American Bar Endowment.
The awards were presented at the recent ABA Annual Meeting in Boston.
The SBM YLS won the Comprehensive Award of Achievement for new and expanded programs offered throughout the 2013-2014 bar year, including New Member Orientation, Sports & Entertainment Symposium, Annual Summit, public speaking workshop, immigration law workshop and back to school program.
The YLS won the Service to the Public Award of Achievement for a new program launched last March, “Cracking the Legal Field Pipeline Diversity Mock Trial Competition.”
The mock trial competition hosted approximately 80 metropolitan Detroit area students aged six to 18 at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. The day-long program taught students criminal courtroom procedures from attorney volunteers.
Elementary students served as bailiffs in their respective courtrooms, and older participants were split by age into teams of four. Half of the students served as prosecutors and the other half as defense attorneys, and each team prepared an opening statement, direct examination and closing statement.
Local judges presided over competition rounds, and attorney and law school volunteers served as witnesses and helped draft arguments and questions.
The YLS also received the American Bar Endowment Outstanding Public Service Award for its “Cracking the Legal Field Pipeline Diversity Mock Trial Competition.” The American Bar Endowment sponsors a special award for outstanding public service in recognition of an exceptional, unique and exemplary project of a young lawyer bar group.
According to a State Bar news release, the first place finishes in the ABA Young Lawyers Division Awards of Achievement contest were especially significant because this year, for the first time, the SBM Young Lawyers Section exceeded 8,000 members and the section competed for awards with the biggest state bar association young lawyer divisions in the country.
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