We are very close to raising enough money to make the very exciting convention detailed below a success! We need to raise about $1,000 in the next few days to pull all of these events together. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!
Of course, all are invited to the convention!
The National Democratic Law Students Council is excited to announce our Third Annual National Convention! The Convention will be held on the campus of The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law, in Columbus, Ohio, from February 22nd - 24th. All (not just law students) are invited! We are expecting to welcome roughly 200 Democratic law students and guests from more than 40 different law schools. Our goal is to spread awareness of voting rights issues, provide tools for interest Democratic law students to become involved in voter protection and campaign work, and to energize our guests to get involved in the 2008 election - and to take back OHIO!
The NDLSC is also very excited (read: thrilled) to announce that House Judiciary Committee Chairman and Michigan Democratic Representaitve John Conyers will be the Convention's keynote speaker! In keeping with the purpose of the NDLSC, Chairman Conyers is expected to speak about his efforts and those of the Judiciary Committee to investigate voting irregularities and safeguard the vote for all citizens.
In addition to Chairman Conyers, we have put together an amazing schedule of speakers and panelists, including a pre-convention event with Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a video welcome by DNC Chairman Howard Dean, Congressional Candidate Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH15), Ohio Attorney General Mark Dann, Ohio Treasurer Rich Cordray, Political Commentator and blogger Cliff Schecter, NAACP National Voter Fund Executive Director Greg Moore, DNC General Counsel Joe Sandler, and a special event with the College Democrats featuring Jerry Springer.
Panels include: 2008 Elections: An Overview, Voting Rights: The Problems, Voting Rights: The Solutions, Campaign Skills Workshop: New Media in Politics, and Campaign Skills Workshop: Campaign Finance and Fundraising.
Also, in the spirit of underpromising and overdelivering, I will allude to the fact that we are working hard to bring other exciting speakers to the Convention, the Ohio primary is March 4 - just eight days after the close of the Convention with no intervening primaries, and we have been in contact with the campaigns to at least confirm exciting surrogate speakers.
We would love for everyone who reads this to come to the Convention (all are invited, law student or not) - click here to register and reserve your spot!
Although we would love to see you on the 22nd, we recognize that Columbus may be a trek that weekend. If you can't make it, but would like to help out, please click here to support the Convention. As a relatively young organization (details below), attempting to actually raise money for the first time in the vacuum created by the 2008 Presidential Election, you can imagine the challenge it has been to raise enough to make this convention a success! We currently need to raise about $1,000 in the next 3-5 days - any little bit you can help will be greatly appreciated! I am confident we can meet our goal with your help!
The National Democratic Law Students Council promotes the work of law students to fight for voting rights and a Democratic America. We are a national political action committee comprised of law school chapters, interested individuals, and affiliated progressive groups. We work to facilitate more involvement in political activism and voting rights initiatives among Democratic law students nationwide.
Our mission is to foster relationships between Democratic law students, attorneys, party leaders, and elected officials, and to ensure that the political process remains open, fair, and accessible for all Americans.
Our objectives are:
To facilitate voter protection training and defend the right to vote;
To promote involvement with campaigns and administrations;
To strengthen partnerships with the state parties and the National Lawyers Council;
To build a coalition with like-minded law student organizations;
To support campus organizations & activities;
To provide a foundation for civic-minded legal careers.
Thank you in advance for any help you can give us in making the Convention possible and we hope to see you in Columbus on February 22nd!