VSB NEWS < Noteworthy Bar Associations Receive Five 2019 Awards of Merit The Virginia State Bar’s Conference of Local and Specialty Bar Associations (CLSBA) has recognized bars across the Commonwealth for special projects that have assisted Virginians with access to justice or enhanced the profession and quality of legal services in Virginia. This year’s winners are: Virginia Women Attorneys Association (VWAA) Loudoun Chapter – The Legal Aid Clinics The group partnered with Legal Services of Northern Virginia (LSNV) to provide evening clinics on topics suggested by LSNV. The fi rst clinic covered uncon-tested divorces while the second focused on offers in compromise (debt relief). Volunteers worked with LSNV to pro-vide assistance in the areas of greatest need. Hill Tucker Bar Association (HTBA) – Educating and Empowering: Pathway to the Next Level The HTBA, one of the oldest historically African American bar associations in the Commonwealth and one of the most diverse, created a multi-prong program to encourage diversity and awareness of the legal profession in academia, the federal court system, the judicia-ry, and in public service. The HTBA created a series of panels lead by legal luminaries who shared information, mentoring, experiences, and insights with attendees on how to navigate the pathway of their choosing. Moderators and panelists included the Honorable David Eugene Cheek, Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, Veronica Brown-Moseley of the Boleman Firm, VSB Immediate Past President Doris Henderson Causey, and Cynthia Hudson, chief deputy attorney general of Virginia. Metropolitan Richmond Women’s Bar Association (MRWBA) and Hill Tucker Bar Association – Balancing the Scales: Women in the Law www.vsb.org The MRWBA and HTBA jointly organized and hosted an evening that focused on gender disparities in the le-gal profession and discussions of how to improve them. On October 18, 2018, the MRWBA and HTBA hosted a screening of Balancing the Scales: Women in the Law, an award-winning fi lm by Sharon Rowen that spans 20 years of inter-views with women lawyers, including the Hon. Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Hon. Carol Hunstein, Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, and women lawyers from across the country. Filmmaker Sharon Rowen moderated the discus-sion at the University of Richmond Law School, with panelists Doris Henderson Causey of Central Virginia Legal Aid Society and Jennifer McLain McLemore of Williams Mullen. The Prince William County Bar Association, Inc. (PWCBA) – So You’re 18 Video The PWCBA created a training video that compiled some of the best presen-tations given by lawyers to high school students throughout the county and in Manassas and Manassas Park on the many legal issues and obligations sur-rounding reaching the age of majority. The PWCBA puts on almost 100 pre-sentations each year, and this 12-minute video aims to help future presenters, as well as teachers and students, with understanding and absorbing some of the content-heavy information included in the robust So You’re 18 program. The fi lm was fi lmed at Manassas park High School and edited by Little Film Studio. Roanoke Bar Association – Barrister Book Buddies/Barrister Book Buddies 2.0 For 19 years, the lawyers of the Roanoke Bar Association have teamed up with Roanoke City Public Schools to help improve reading in all grades. In September 2018, the Roanoke Bar expanded the program to include Books & Breakfast, in which two under-served Above, top: Film maker Sharon Rowen (center) with Jennifer McLain McLemore of Williams Mullen (left) and VSB Immediate Past President Doris Henderson Causey (right) at the Balancing the Scales: Women in the Law event at the University of Richmond. A Roanoke lawyer and Book Buddy reads Don’t Bump the Glump to local elementary school students. elementary schools are open for a free breakfast, book reading, and the option to select a free book to bring home. The Books & Breakfast program is a joint program with Turn the Page and Roanoke City Schools. These book pro-grams now include 32 lawyer buddies reading to over 500 students a month in four schools in disadvantaged areas. In the last year, 2,000 books have been dis-tributed to the children who participate in the program The conference makes information on winning projects available to other groups that want to consider similar programs. For information, contact Paulette J. Davidson at Davidson@vsb .org or (804) 775-0521. Vol. 68 | June 2019 | VIRGINIA LAWYER 43