In Law Day activities, citizens serve and learn while leaders remember Magna Carta
Throughout the country, lawyers, judges, bar associations and others celebrated Law Day with a wide variety of activities.
In Cumberland County, North Carolina, the day was an opportunity for members of the bar to talk to schoolchildren or volunteer to help fix up homes and other buildings for needy residents and nonprofits, according to the Fayette Observer.
“It was too nice a day to stay indoors,” civilian liaison Marie Joiner-Avon of the Judge Advocate General Corps at Fort Bragg told the newspaper, “We’ve got 18 members out here today, having a great time.”
In Jefferson County, Ohio, the bar arranged for high school students to participate in a mock trial at the Jefferson County Courthouse, WTOV reports.
And with its 800th anniversary looming, the Magna Carta was also a popular theme during events throughout the week.
The Magna Carta is the focus of a number of American Bar Association programs this year, including Law Day, noted ABA President William C. Hubbard.
“Magna Carta has become a universal symbol of due process, the rule of law and restraint on powers of the state. It outlines basic rights with the principle that no one is above the law, including the king. The Great Charter has been instrumental in the development of some of our key legal values, including habeas corpus, trial by a jury of one’s peers, the right to a speedy and fair trial, and protection against excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishment,” Hubbard wrote for the May issue of the ABA Journal.
At the University of Oklahoma, law professor Rick Tepker got an early start on the Law Day celebration with a lecture Tuesday night on how the historic British document laid the foundation for the due process in the American legal system, the Norman Transcript reports.
President Barack Obama’s Law Day proclamation (PDF) also touched on the Magna Carta. “The ideals of the Magna Carta inspired America’s forefathers to define and protect many of the rights expressed in our founding documents, which we continue to cherish today.”
The American Bar Association Division for Public Education’s annual Leon Jaworski Public Program commemorating Law Day focused on the Magna Carta, and a video of the event, which took place at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., is available here.
An ABA Web page provides more information about Law Day activities and events throughout the country.
You can read Law Day tweets at #ABALawDay.
Related coverage:
Belleville News-Democrat: “Annual Law Day Run will help poor and elderly get legal assistance”
Fresno Bee: “Third annual Yosemite Law Day Celebration to be held at national park”
KDAL: “Duluth ‘Open Courthouse’ on Friday for Law Day”
