Law Day is an annual commemoration held on May 1st to celebrate the rule of law and cultivate a deeper understanding of the legal system. KCBA’s goal with Law Day has been to encourage courtrooms to participate in Law Day by hosting middle- and high-school students, with the mission of educating and generating excitement for the law and the legal profession. Our hope is that these efforts will plant seeds for future diversification of the bar and other law-related areas of our community. The American Bar Association selects a theme for each year’s Law Day. For 2024, the Law Day theme was “Voices of Democracy.”
KCBA has been planning for May since … LAST May! On May 11, 2023, we attended the Snohomish County Law Day event, which has been an institution in Lynnwood for 35 years. That event brings in hundreds of fifth graders to participate in a courthouse tour, mock trial, and presentations by law enforcement.
Inspired by Snohomish County, we partnered up with Judge Michelle Gehlsen of Redmond District Court. KCBA Member Services Coordinator DeAndre Williams, Education Coordinator Emily Lake, and Member Services Director Bridget Schuster (hereinafter “KCBA’s Law Day Team”) began attending the bimonthly meetings of the District & Municipal Court Judges’ Association (DMCJA) Law Day Subcommittee to share our ideas and offer our partnership.
Over the summer of 2023, KCBA’s Law Day Team drafted a “playbook” for judges and court administrators, to help them envision their own Law Day activities. This Law Day Resource Packet included options for various “pods” for the students to participate in (i.e., mock trial, career panel, session with lawmakers, etc.), how the timing might work depending on the size of the courthouse and the number of students, a sample invitation letter to send to schools, and other resources. We finalized our Resource Packet and provided it to the DMCJA in September 2023, with the hopes the packet would make its way state-wide.
By November of 2023, KCBA’s Team had solidified partnerships with four King County courts to provide onsite assistance with their Law Day activities. Planning commenced and culminated this past month in four successful “first annual” Law Day events for King County youth. Throughout the month of May 2024, KCBA helped put on four Law Day events:
- May 6 at SeaTac Municipal Court for approximately 200 7th graders;
- May 10 at Redmond District Court for approximately 15 high school seniors;
- May 17 at Maleng Regional Justice Center for approximately 30 high schoolers; and
- May 24 at Seattle Municipal Court for approximately 100 high schoolers.
KCBA provided giftbags to all participating students that contained KCBA-branded goodies; information about civic engagement opportunities for youth; items donated by Karr Tuttle Campbell, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, YMCA’s Youth & Government Program, and HomeStreet Bank; and pocket U.S. Constitutions funded by Keller Rohrback. Thanks to these generous sponsors, all participants left Law Day with mementos to remember the day.
The KCBA Law Day Team would also like to thank all of the dedicated KCBA members who volunteered their time to help make these events possible. Thank you to the courts, judges, administrators, and others who prioritized the mission of engaging students in civics and the law to bring Law Day 2024 to life. Special thanks to Judge Michelle Gehlsen (Redmond) and Judge Pauline Freund (SeaTac) who really pushed this initiative through, and to KCBA’s Immediate-Past President Tahmina Watson for being the fire under our feet to make this happen in the first place.
KCBA is committed to repeating — and building — this program in 2025; please join us!
Students from Chinook Middle School at SeaTac Municipal’s 2024 Law Day
