How will you celebrate Law Day?

Hopefully, all your gifts are wrapped, all your cards are sent, and all your decorations hung. But, whether you're ready or not, next Wednesday, May 1, is Law Day.

If you haven't yet finalized your holiday plans, several local bar associations have suggestions for you.

For example, the Young Lawyers Section of the Chicago Bar Association will host a Law Day Celebration at Daley Plaza and a virtual presentation on voters’ rights and election protections during Law Week 2024.

The Law Day Celebration will take place Wednesday, May 1st at noon at the Daley Center Plaza. The event will feature speakers including Cook County Circuit Court Judge Nichole Patton, CBA President Ray J. Koenig III, YLS Chair Martin Gould and Chicago Bar Foundation Young Professionals Board President Paul Bateman will share reflections on the American Bar Association Law Week theme, "Voices of Democracy."

The CBA Barristers Big Band will provide lively entertainment and the 2024 Liberty Bell award, recognizing a non-lawyer who works to promote the ideals of justice, liberty, and community responsibility, will be presented.

Unable to come downtown? Or is merely attending a holiday celebration at the Daley Center Plaza too passive for your tastes? The Public Interest Law Initiative is offering an interactive -- and online -- Law Day event:

As you'll note, the flyer indicates that PILI is sponsoring this event with a number of other bar groups, including the Illinois State Bar Association. (I heard about it from the Advocates Society, and they're not even on the flyer.)

Participanting attorneys will receive a half-hour of training on how to answer questions from people seeking advice through the secure Illinois Free Legal Answers website. One half-hour of CLE credit has been applied for in connection with this training.

Thereafter, volunteers will have the opportunity to translate their training into immediate action, participating in a Drop-In Clinic, helping to answer questions posed on the Illinois Free Legal Answers platform with the assistance of more seasoned volunteers.

To register for this event, click on this page of the PILI website.

However you choose to celebrate, Law Day will be over all too soon.

But you can hold onto that Law Day feeling a litte longer, thanks to a Law Day-themed CLE presentation on Friday, May 3.

The CBA will offer an online seminar, "Voices of Democracy – Voters Rights and Election Protections," at noon on that date. Attorneys Clifford Helm, of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, and Meredith Zinanni, of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, will discuss the history of voting rights, the current state of the law in Illinois and Indiana and what challenges and opportunities can be expected in the upcoming election. One hour of CLE credit is available. To register for this session, visit this page of the CBA website.