Wednesday Update

Hi APALSA family,

I hope everyone's first weeks of school has been going well! Here's your (first) weekly dose of news and updates:

1. Thanks to everyone who came to our first meeting! We thought it was a success. For those of you who couldn't make it, here are your 1L representatives:

Section A: Julia Ong and Tae Yeon Kim

Section B: Eileen Eib and Joanna Kong

Section C: Jia Leung and Hao Wang

Remember, even though you're not a 1L rep, you are totally welcome to send us any ideas you have for events or issues we can address and participate in APALSA events. In fact, we encourage it! As a reminder, you do not have to be Asian to be in APALSA.

2. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) will be having a poll monitoring training for the upcoming general election. The training will be held on October 20 in Room 532 at BU Law at 1pm. The actual general elections, for which you will be doing the poll monitoring, will be on November 3. If you're interested in participating, please complete the registration form at http://www.aaldef.net/ and bring the completed form to the training. If you have any questions, please e-mail Eric Lee.

Here is a brief description of AALDEF:

Asian Americans have faced a series of barriers in exercising their right to vote. For example, in recent elections, names were missing from lists of registered voters, ballots were not translated, interpreters provided improper instructions, and poll workers were rude or hostile.

In response, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) and other community groups have monitored elections for compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act and to document instances of anti-Asian voter disenfranchisement.

In July 2005, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the City of Boston for violations of the Voting Rights Act. A settlement that required the Boston to provide bilingual ballots and interpreters expired in 2008, but the City agreed to continue to provide bilingual ballots on a voluntarily basis.

Several groups are organizing volunteer attorneys to monitor the elections for any backsliding to this commitment. Volunteers will inspect poll sites, observe poll worker conduct, and interview voters.

Volunteer attorneys will be dispatched to poll sites across Boston. Volunteers will check for translated voting materials and interpreters, or survey voters, in one or more three-hour shift(s) on Election Day. Polls are open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Bilingual ability is not required. This is a non-partisan effort.

3. Thanks to everyone who came out to the Mentor/Mentee dinner last week at Dok Bua! If you still do not know who your mentor/mentee is, or if you would like a mentor/mentee, please email us at busl.apalsa@gmail.com

4. There's a really great and very unique moot court competition coming up on the First Amendment and media law. We highly encourage you to check it out. Here are the details:

The American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law is hosting its Second Annual First Amendment and Media Law Diversity Moot Court Competition this fall. The competition is co-sponsored by the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA), the National Latino/a Law Student Association (NLLSA), the National Native American Law Students Association (NNALSA), and the National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (NAPALSA).

The competition is designed primarily to expose minority law students to the Forum on Communications Law and the practice of media law and offers law students a unique opportunity to apply their writing and advocacy skills to issues relevant to the media bar. Competition participants will brief and argue a hypothetical appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Twelfth Circuit. The finalists of regional competitions in Boston, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Chicago will compete in Key Largo, Florida in the national semi-final and final rounds of the competition, which will take place during the Forum’s 15th Annual Conference. The Forum will cover the travel and lodging expenses for the four teams participating in the semi-final and final rounds, including to stay on for the rest of the conference, which is attended by First Amendment, media and communications lawyers from around the country.

The inaugural competition, which took place in February 2009 during the Forum’s 14th Annual Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, was a great success. The final oral argument – conducted before an audience of over 100 media lawyers –was heard by an esteemed panel: Justice Andrew D. Hurwitz of the Arizona Supreme Court; Judge Pierre N. Leval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and Judge Peter B. Swann of the Arizona Court of Appeals. Following oral argument, the judges offered feedback to the law student participants and then opened the floor to questions and discussion about effective appellate advocacy. The Forum is excited about the prospect of organizing an equally successful competition this fall and hopes that students from your organization will participate.

The regional competitions will be held on either Saturday, January 9, 2010 or Saturday, January 16, 2010. The national semi-final and final rounds in Key Largo will be held on Thursday, January 28, 2010.

Your school has been invited to field a team of two Juris Doctor candidates who are members of either BLSA, NLLSA, NNALSA or NAPALSA or a minority law student organization at the school. If a school’s moot court board declines to field a team, students at that school will have the opportunity to apply directly to the Forum to participate in the competition (in this case, if more than one team from a school applies to compete, the team representing the school will be selected at random). In either case, students must register by Friday, October 9, 2009.

We would appreciate your help in getting the word out about the competition. In addition, if any of your members are interested in competing, we encourage you to contact Jeanette Melendez Bead, the Competition Steering Committee Chair, at jbead@lskslaw.com or 202-508-1134.

Additional information about the competition, including this year’s Moot Court Problem and Official Rules, may be found at http://www.abanet.org/forums/communication/moot_competition.html.

Have a good week,

APALSA