by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
After Mayor John Peyton’s proclamation at City Hall last Monday, Law Week is officially underway and won’t conclude until the annual luncheon at the Hyatt Regency on May 5.
Judge Joseph W. Hatchett, former chief judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, will be the guest speaker for this year’s luncheon.
The Jacksonville Bar Association has planned a plethora of events for Law Week this year related to the theme “The American Jury: We the People in Action.”
Each year, the Law Week theme is set up by the American Bar Association. Then the state and local bar associations voluntarily follow suit by preparing their own events regarding the celebration.
“Law week is important for a number of reasons,” said Matt Roach, chair of JBA’s Law Week planning committee, “but it is mainly an important way to recognize and foster appreciation for our American system of justice.”
The JBA’s list of events this year includes poster contests, seminars and luncheons, some of which started in early March. The poster contest, organized by Marks Gray attorney Giselle Carson, has been the longest running event of the celebration.
This year the contest was held among third, fourth and fifth graders at Annie Morgan Elementary in the Westside. Since March, the students have been learning about the American jury system and creating posters that will be displayed and judged at both the Federal courthouse and the Duval County Courthouse from April 25 until May 6. An awards ceremony for the winners will take place at the county courthouse May 11.
This year’s events will also include a naturalization ceremony. On April 28, U.S. District Court Judge Harvey Schlesinger will preside over a service at the federal courthouse that will grant U.S. citizenship to more than 30 immigrants. This year’s ceremony will feature a color guard, singers and guest speaker Belgian-born Henri Landwirth, founder of Give Kids the World and a WWII Nazi concentration camp survivor who is now a U.S. citizen.
Several local judges have been visiting different high schools in Duval County to speak with students about the legal system as part of Law Week. Roach said the judges usually hold a question and answer session after their presentations to give students the rare opportunity to speak candidly with a judge. Judges will continue to visit the schools through May.
For people not in the school system, the JBA has provided three “Law School for the Layperson” sessions at local libraries. Each one of these workshops have been taught by attorneys who discussed different aspects of three specific areas of law - elder and probate law, tax law and family law.
According to the ABA’s Web site, the celebration of Law Week actually dates back to a single “law day.” In 1961, by a joint resolution of congress, May 1 was designated as a special day to focus on and celebrate America’s “heritage of liberty under law.” Since then the celebration has been expanded to week-long and month-long celebrations by local bar associations around the country.