By Adeyinka Glover 3L
The weekend of January 12-13, I attended National Black Law Students Association’s Western Region Annual Convention hosted in Los Angeles, California. National Black Law Students Association (NBSLA) hosts regional conferences for its six regions throughout the months of January and February and hosts its National Convention in the month of March. It is an organization made up of over 200 chapters and several thousand members.
The Western Region of the National Black Law Students Association (WRBLSA) conference was a great opportunity to meet fellow law students from California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, and Arizona. The conference consisted of panel discussions, job fairs, workshops, and board meetings. The conference also hosted moot court and mock trial competitions where the top three teams will compete against top teams from the other five regions at the National Convention in March.
This year’s panels were highly informative. The two I enjoyed most were the Sister to Sister and the Intellectual Property Law Panel. On the Sister to Sister Panel were several prominent attorneys including Jackie Lacey, Los Angeles’ first African-American female District Attorney. The panelists spoke about their experiences of being women of color in the legal profession. The Intellectual Property Panel was hosted by Kirkland & Ellis—one of the top international commercial law firms. The attorneys on that panel discussed the growing field of intellectual property and shared anecdotes of cases they have handled over the years.
There were receptions and job fairs where I met attorneys from all over the Los Angeles area. It was a great opportunity to network and give my resume to attorneys in the fields of law that I am interested in.
I had the opportunity to watch the final round to determine the first place winners of the mock trial competition. The competitors, who were judged by actual judges, were poised and strong advocates for their fictional clients. And although I didn’t see the moot court finals, I was pleased to hear that law students from the University of San Diego advanced to Nationals.
Overall, I enjoyed being in the presence of such dynamic law students. We shared our interests and goals and made lasting contacts.
I'm excited for Nationals in Atlanta this year and I hope other Thomas Jefferson students will join me there!
If you are interested in more about the national convention, contact me at gloverae@gapps.tjsl.edu
