The Houston Bar Association (HBA) is one of three organizations nationwide that will be honored by the American Bar Association (ABA) for Outstanding Law Day Activities in 2013. Through its extensive programming on the Law Day theme, “Realizing the Dream: Equality for All,” the HBA impacted over 53,000 people in the Houston area. The award will be presented on February 7, 2014, at the ABA’s Mid-year Meeting in Chicago.
A new HBA Law Day event was a “Day at the Courthouse,” where 45 special needs students from middle and high schools saw a re-enactment of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS case and learned about the importance of the ruling from Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman. The students also had the opportunity to tour the historic 1910 Courthouse and to use gavels, scales of justice, law books and the courtroom itself to create images for a Law Day Photo Contest for special needs students. Fourteenth Court of Appeals Chief Justice Kem Thompson Frost organized the event.
The HBA also conducted its annual Law Day Poster, Essay and Photography Contests open to all Houston-area elementary, middle and high schools; conducted dialogues on freedom between attorney-judge teams and high school seniors; held poster workshops for children in three low-income areas of the city; created Law Day education and legal resource packets for every Harris County district and county court; fielded questions from nearly 300 callers during a Law Day LegalLine program; and scheduled members to read a law-themed book to elementary students in over 100 schools.
Law Day, May 1, was established by Congress in 1961 as an opportunity to reflect on the role of law in the foundation of the country and to recognize its importance for society. The ABA also will recognize the Atlanta, Georgia Law Day Dream Team and the Connecticut Judicial Branch.