At the 2000 Annual Meeting in Washington DC, January 5-9, the AALS Pro Bono Project made its debut. The Pro Bono Booth was located on the main level of the hotel and offered a variety of literature regarding the Pro Bono Project and the Meeting's service project in the area of law-related education to youth; Street Law. The service project was sponsored by the AALS Section on Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities.

The Project allowed meeting attendees to participate in an organized Street Law session at area high schools. Participants signed up at the booth for a scheduled time, convenient for them, to attend a session. Street Law coordinators met with the participants and provided transportation to the local schools.

What is Street Law? Street Law is the name describing many of the "law for laypersons" or "everyday law" programs conducted by some 35 law schools and law student groups across the country as credit-bearing courses or as pro bono/public interest activities. Law students use interactive and participatory methods to teach lay persons in school and community settings about the law affecting their daily lives and about fundamental legal and constitutional concepts.

The law students develop a greater mastery of legal content and learn the art of teaching while the lay persons expand their knowledge of the law and develop problem-solving and communication skills. Young people learn law-related careers and the importance of a good education.

The 2000 Annual Meeting served as the introduction to the "Street Law" concept as the first AALS Service Project. Three Street Law programs were represented by three of the local law schools; Georgetown Law, American University's Washington College of Law and Howard University Law School.

The DC Street Law Clinic at Georgetown links law school students with the DC Public High Schools, where the law students, in cooperation with the DC public school teachers, teach a year-long course in Street Law. The course is designed to introduce high school students to a legal system that touches their lives on a daily basis and concentrates on providing high schoolers with the skills to become problem-solvers through their knowledge of legal principles in the areas of criminal, tort, family and individual rights law. For more information, please contact Rick Roe at Georgetown, 202.662.9615 or roe@law.georgetown.edu.

The Marshall Brennan Constitutional Law Literacy Program has a program called "We the Students". It is a constitutional curriculum developed at American University's Washington College of Law and team-taught by law students in area high schools. The program has its own casebook which focuses on constitutional rights and responsibilities of high schoolers such as flag salutes, locker searches, censorship of student newspapers and yearbooks and school desegregation. Kenneth W. Starr is the program's most well-known volunteer. For more information, please contact Jamin Raskin at American University, 202.274.4011 or raskin@wcl.american.edu.

The "Save Our Streets" program targets young people who have been charged with weapons offenses. Howard University law students participate in this program held at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The curriculum is designed to allow youths to examine public policy issues concerning handguns and safety in neighborhoods and to explore ways to become part of the solution. Lessons teach practical legal knowledge as well as conflict resolution skills. For more information, contact Nkechi Taifa at Howard University, 202.806.8119 or ntaifa@law.howard.edu.