Fall YLD Happenings
The YLD has had a busy fall and a great start to the bar year. Leadership, committee chairs, and committee members have hit the ground running planning events for the year and connecting with one another through social events. Here’s a recap of everything we’ve been up to.
We kicked off our year with our first YLD quarterly meeting on August 26 at the Bar Center. We had about 50 people attend either virtually or in person and about 40 people attend the post-meeting social. There were so many attendees that we actually took over the parking lot and had to find a place for overflow parking. During our time together, we discussed our goals for the year, and we have already held a number of events in August, September and October.
YLD Chair Lisa Williford addresses incoming Campbell Law School students during orientation.
Law Students
Our law students have shown up big in our first quarter! Our leadership team made the rounds and attended almost every 1L law school orientation. During our presentations to 1Ls, we talked about the benefits of joining the NCBA for law students, and, as a result, we had a number of law students sign up to be members and take advantage of our events. Law students attended our post-quarterly meeting social on August 26 and over 30 law students attended our law student networking event at Tobacco Road on September 17.
More than 30 law students attended the YLD networking event on September 17.
Our grab a coffee (GaC) program is also off to a record-breaking start. The program, which is run by YLD’s Law Student Outreach Committee (chaired by Matt Meinel and Alex Gwynn), pairs law students and practicing attorneys by subject matter and geographic region to meet for 30 minutes to an hour over coffee. We had 212 matches – law students AND attorneys – who signed up for the program! We are also sharing a success story from GaC on our blog during the month of October, which details how Lauren Jones (Elon NCBA Student Rep) found a summer internship as a result of her participation in GaC.
Our “Put it into Practice” series has also started, which engages law students in practical career development learning. Frank Ramos led a “Networking Demystified” event on September 14. And we hosted a joint YLD/UNC Law event on October 18 via Zoom called “Finding that First Job and Setting Yourself Up for Success.”
Disaster Legal Services (DLS)
Hurricane season is almost over, and are grateful that we haven’t had a need for DLS to spring into action this fall, but we were ready if needed! Our DLS Committee (chaired by Taylor Dewberry and Brad Piland) worked hard in for our disaster response. The committee met several times with members of the NCBA Foundation and Legal Aid of North Carolina. We also are proud to have several YLDers as members of the DLS Committee: Jonathan Bogues, Brooks Savage and Samantha Gordon. The committee is currently focusing on building our volunteer base and providing information about DLS. We even shot a video explaining the importance of DLS, so check our blog for updates.
NCBA representatives and law students gather at the UNC School of Law orientation program.
Building Community
Our Communications Committee (chaired by Janelle Cline and Sarah Wesley Wheaton) is in the process of recruiting content for our blog and revamping our e-blast so that YLD members can get to know each other better. Our new e-blast will feature a “Sidebar” section, where members can read about each other’s interests, pets, vacations, and career successes. We are also continuing to run our popular “Out of the Office” series, which is a more in-depth look of what our members do outside of the office.
The YLD partnered with the Appellate Practice Section for a mixer event on October 18 at the Jiddi Space in Raleigh spotlighting our appellate clerks. We would love to work with other NCBA sections and divisions on events in the future!
Our Diversity and Inclusion Committee (chaired by Shameka Rolla and Brooks Savage) is working on some exciting initiatives to bring more awareness and visibility to our blog, including recognizing diverse members and causes.
Our Legal LINK Committee (chaired by Jasmine Gregory and Cherell Harris) has partnered with Lawyers for Literacy to increase our volunteer presence at East Garner Elementary School. We are also hoping to expand our volunteerism to new schools in the future!
Our Wellness Committee (chaired by Kadija Locklear and Bryan Sumner) is currently in the process of partnering with NCBA’s Professional Vitality Committee to plan a joint event around wellness. Stay tuned!
This article is just a summary of all of the great things the YLD is up to. Our leadership team, committee chairs, and committee members deserve all of the credit for the great work that they are doing. Please continue to follow along and join us for an event soon!
Lisa Williford is 2022-23 chair of the North Carolina Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.