Month: October 2020

• The NEW MAX by AccessLex® app is now available for download in the iOS and Android app stores. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!
• The first MAX scholarship drawing of the academic year is right around the corner on November 1.   A digital scholarship poster is attached for you to share with your students.
• We’d like to give a big MAHALO (thank you) to University of Hawaii at Manoa William S. Richardson School of Law’s Professor and Director of the Ulu Lehua Scholars Program, Troy Andrade, and Director of Law Student Financial Assistance, Heather Smith-Lee, who recently brought MAX into the Ulu Lehua Scholars Program 1L classroom with the webinar, Managing Your Money During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Ulu Lehua Scholars Program offers financial, academic, and moral support to underrepresented law students throughout their law school careers.

Attention All Akron Law Students! SBA will be hosting the Fall General Student Body Meeting on Monday, October 19 at 5:00-6:00pm via Webex. Topics to be discussed include: Midterms (Examsoft and Brightspace procedures), in-person and online classes, updates on the Spring semester schedule, the Bar Exam and Character and Fitness applications, and the impact of COVID-19 on the school. Student reps from the working group will be in attendance to discuss the potential CSU/Akron partnership and want to hear your thoughts! Use the link below to join the meeting:

Session number: 120 658 1925 
Session password: SBUA 
Go to: https://uakron.webex.com/uakron/k2/j.php?MTID=tcd0e825ef846055aa78e21bdaecdfb75

Hope to see you all there!

– SBA Executive Board

October 13: Ohio Supreme Court Judicial Candidates Forum

This one-hour virtual forum will be recorded live-to-tape on Friday, October 9, and made available for viewing and broadcast across the state beginning Tuesday, October 13 at 10:00am. Karen Kasler and Curtis Jackson are the moderators and all four candidates will be participating. Please check our website at ohiodebatecommission.org later this week or early next week when we will publish a “where to watch and listen” guide for how to view the forum. In addition, it will be available on our website for viewing beginning on October 13.

While Ohio Supreme Court races are not as high profile as the gubernatorial or U.S. Senate races, we recognize the Court plays an important role in evaluating constitutional questions and issues of significant public interest here in Ohio. In a poll we commissioned earlier this year with Baldwin Wallace, nearly three-quarters of Ohio voters surveyed indicated they thought it would be useful to listen to or watch a program with the state Supreme Court candidates. We hope you will consider making this information about the forum available to your membership so that they can view it during this election cycle.

In case you are not familiar with the Ohio Debate Commission, it was established in 2018 to organize and facilitate statewide debates and forums.  In 2018, the ODC hosted a gubernatorial debate and a U.S. Senate debate. At our website, you can read more about our work, see past programs, who supports us, and who is on our board.

October 19: The City Club of Cleveland Forum, Balance of Play: The Future of the Supreme Court of Ohio  (program listed here)

Normally, judicial races do not receive much attention from the media or the public. However, the high-profile confirmation hearings of U.S. Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanagh – and the impending nomination of a justice to replace the recently deceased Ruth Bader Ginsberg – have highlighted the critical role judges and the courts play in our democracy. The Ohio Supreme Court race is considered by many to be a crucial statewide race on the Ohio ballot. How will the election affect Ohioans and the outcome of the cases facing the Court next year, including the redrawing of legislative maps? What did we learn from the ODC event about the candidates and how they might decide cases?

Join us as three distinguished retired judges who served as an advisory panel to the Ohio Debate Commission – Justice Yvette McGee Brown, Justice Judith Lanzinger and Judge Ronald Adrine – analyze the ODC Ohio Supreme Court Judicial Candidates Forum and discuss the future of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

The livestream will be available beginning at 12:30 p.m. Have questions? Tweet them at @TheCityClub or send a text to 330.541.5794.

Please join the Law Association for Women for a Discussion on the 19^th Amendment on Monday, October 19^th from 12:15-1:15 PM.

Professor Tracy Thomas will discuss the Amendment’s relevance and examine the women’s suffrage movement on the Amendment’s 100^th anniversary.

This event is open to all students, staff, and faculty!

To join please follow these instructions:

1. Go to https://uakron.webex.com/uakron/k2/j.php?MTID=td9f58e1b32d06ef6ed38e34e12795eb0 
2. Enter your name and email address (or registration ID). 
3. Enter the session password: ULAW 
4. Click “Join Now”. 
5. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen. 
To view in other time zones or languages, please click the link 
https://uakron.webex.com/uakron/k2/j.php?MTID=t1130c74f97968985c70703c2b5044a75 

If you have any questions please contact Morgan Foster at mmf57@zips.uakron.edu.

National Parks Conservancy Make a Difference Day

Thank you to the amazing volunteers that planted trees with us for National Public Lands Day! Missed out on the fun? Join us for more tree planting October 19-24 in celebration of Make A Difference Day. Advanced registration is required.

VOLUNTEER ⟩⟩

Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank seeks volunteers as National Guard leaves

The Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank is seeking volunteers for its grocery distributions as Ohio National Guard members who have been working there begin to leave and return to their civilian lives.

To help local families deal with lost or decreased wages caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the foodbank increased the frequency of its Neighborhood Distribution, which is held at its warehouse on Opportunity Parkway in downtown Akron and serves between 700 to 1,000 families.

The food bank has been working since March to develop safe food distribution procedures. The Neighborhood Distribution is a drive-thru-style distribution that requires guests to remain in their vehicles while volunteers and staff load their trunks with boxes of produce, dairy, frozen meat and non-perishable food items. Volunteers assist in greeting and registering guests, loading vehicles with groceries, and assisting with traffic control.

Those interested in volunteering at the Neighborhood Distribution should email volunteer@acrfb.org or call 330-535-6900. Volunteers should have the ability to lift about 30 pounds and be comfortable in inclement weather, as the distribution takes place outside, rain or shine.

Volunteers are needed from 1:30-4:30 p.m. on Oct. 22, Dec. 3 and Dec. 22.