Dartmouth Lawyers Association
The Group of the Year award is presented to an alumni group that has excelled in support of Dartmouth’s mission and in service to its constituents. This year’s recipient, the Dartmouth Lawyers Association (DLA), exemplifies the value of shared interest groups to the Dartmouth community through its impact not only on alumni, but also on students.
The DLA continues to build and strengthen the ties between Dartmouth lawyers and law students nationally. On the regional level, increased programming brings additional value to the DLA professional network while demonstrating the benefits of membership.
This year the DLA focused its annual Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and Ski Annual Meeting on the theme of “Implicit Bias and the Law.” The multi-day event, which focused on continuing legal education and attracted a diverse group of Dartmouth attorneys, engaged alumni in discussions around important issues in their profession. Judge Bernice Donald of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit presented on “Implicit Bias in Our Experience and in Our Practice,” challenging attendees to consider the effects of individual implicit bias, examine learned associations, and consider their consequences on the justice system as well as society as a whole.
Further, the DLA has offered new engagement opportunities that enhance the student experience in intentional and creative ways. It has excelled in cross-campus collaboration. Through a continued partnership with the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Dartmouth Legal Studies Faculty, the group featured speaker Nadine Strossen on Law Day while building stronger connections with Dartmouth student organizations—a process that will continue in the future.
For its commitment to increased engagement among both students and alumni, the Communities Executive Council (CEC) is honored to recognize the Dartmouth Lawyers Association as the 2019 Group of the Year.