The 10th Annual Spring Auction is set for:

The donations have already begun pouring in, so this year's Auction promises to be a great one! Remember, this is our primary source of funding for our Summer Fellowships. Therefore, the more successful the Auction, the more fellowships we can give out. 

KJF needs as much help as we can get from our members in making this a success. For more information about how you can help with the Auction, please contact Auction Chair, Dorislee Jackson (djackson). 

THEY'RE BACK!!! At long last, we will have LARGE and X-LARGE Chicago-Kent t-shirts.  The shirts cost $12 each or two for $20. We'll be selling shirts in the SPAK in the coming weeks as well as at the Auction.

The annual Student Leadership Retreat is designed to train and energize public interest law students who are helping to build their public interest organization.  It is an intimate retreat where students have continuous interaction with similarly committed law school students, learn from one another, and receive training from professional media consultants and fundraisers, NAPIL staff, and successful student fundraisers.  Travel assistance is STILL available through NAPIL, but you must act quickly!  Pre-register and get logistical information sent to you.  Please see the NAPIL website for more details: www.napil.org.

If anyone is interested in being a 1L Rep, please email KJF.

              KJF is committed to increasing the awareness of students, faculty, alumni and administrators to the rewards, challenges, and opportunities in public interest law projects through financial support, educational programs, community outreach, and other ongoing efforts necessary to fulfill its goals.  KJF is dedicated to the principle that law students should be encouraged to work in the public interest and that no student who wants to work at a summer public interest law job should be unable to do so for economic reasons. 
        Because many public interest law jobs are volunteer positions, KJF offers summer fellowships to students working at public interest law jobs during the summer.  The Summer Fellowship Program enables students to spend the summer working at a public interest law organization of their choice.  By providing funding to the students, KJF bridges the gap between the needs of the public interest law organizations and the students in search of paying summer jobs.  Recent recipients of the KJF Fellowships worked for a broad range of organizations, such as Cook County Public Guardian, Cook County State's Attorney's Office, U.S. Attorney's Office, the Citizen Advocacy Center, Centro Romero, AIDS Legal Council, Children's Legal Clinic, Homeless Advocacy Project, the Environmental Protection Agency, LifeSpan and the Legal Assistance Foundation.
       KJF is a member of the National Association for Public Interest Law (NAPIL), a national coalition of law student organizations that offer grants and other forms of assistance to students and recent graduates engaged in public interest employment. Law students formed NAPIL in 1986 to educate and prepare future lawyers to recognize the inequities that exist in our legal system and to dedicate their professional lives to the development of a more just society. As a public education and training center, NAPIL works with the member organizations to create public interest legal employment and training opportunities, remove the economic barriers that confront future public interest lawyers, and provide informational and inspirational resources for public service work.  For more information about NAPIL, please go to their website at www.napil.org.
      The Kent Justice Foundation is administered by a student committee in association with a board of directors that includes faculty, administration, alumnae, student organization leaders and students.  Students apply fo rthe fellowship in the Spring semester for a position that following summer.  The criteria for obtaining a fellowship include the student's financial need, the organization's need for a summer fellow, and the student's participation in KJF fundraising events. 
      For more information about KJF, please contact KJF President Melanie Maron (MMARON@kentlaw.edu).

      Throughout the year, KJF sponsors major fundraising events. We have bake sales, t-shirt sales, and our big finale, the annual Spring Auction.  KJF's Spring Auction is one of the largest and most popular events at Chicago-Kent. Auction packages include dinners with professors and local legal celebrities, get-aways to Florida and Las Vegas, vacations to Puerto Vallarta and Hawaii, sporting events tickets, concert and theater tickets and much more.  The Auction raises between $15,000 and $20,000 each year!!  All of the proceeds go towards our Summer Fellowship Program. 
        In addition to fund-raising events, KJF sponsors various volunteer opportunities for Chicago-Kent students.  Last year, KJF helped to build a playground for the children at Maryville Academy, donated proceeds from a Halloween costume party to Sarah's Inn, and organized a small Christmas party for the children at Maryville-St. Margaret.

   The office of Serving Our Society was created to help connect students interested in volunteer or public interest work with groups in need of volunteers.  Through SOS, the law school and its students will commit added time and support to organizations, agencies and individuals dedicated to serving the needs of our community.  Chicago-Kent and SOS hope to build and nurture an ethic of involvement and service among our students that they will carry into their professional lives. 
         SOS is supervised by Professor Vivien Gross and is administered through the Law Offices at Chicago-Kent.  SOS acts as a clearinghouse of public service projects that need a short-term or finite commitment of hours. After a student accepts placement in a volunteer opportunity, SOS will give the student time sheets for recording volunteered hours.  Students are encouraged to put in as much time as is comfortable for them.  Upon verification that the student has completed at least 50 hours of volunteered time, Chicago-Kent issues a certificate to that student.  The 50 hour requirement is based on ABA recommendations and similar law school programs. 
        The SOS office is located in Room 654, and a student counselor will be available to assist interested students in selecting among available volunteer opportunities.   In addition, check The Record for weekly volunteer opportunities.

If you cannot reach us during office hours, please call the SOS office at 6-5089  or email Melanie or Patrick to arrange an appointment at a time convenient for you. 

      So what is the difference between KJF and SOS, you ask? KJF's mission is to raise money for our Summer Fellowships and to foster an interest in public interest law. SOS seeks to foster that same interest, but also realizes that lots of people cannot fully commit themselves to a career in public interest.  Lots of students seek volunteer work, either legal or non-legal, for both continual commitments and one-time volunteer opportunities. That's where SOS can help.  If you know you want to do volunteer work with battered women, we can help put you in touch with organizations that work with domestic violence victims.  If you want to participate in a walk-a-thon, we can help get you the information you need.  The amount of time you put in is entirely up to you.  You can do one day a month, one day a year or one day a week--it's entirely up to you and your schedule.

       If you have any questions about either KJF or SOS, please email Melanie Maron (MMARON@kentlaw.edu) for more information.