Federal Bar Association to Present

Sixth Annual Law Day Yosemite

 

The Sixth Annual Law Day Yosemite will be held May 4, 2018, beginning at 10:00 a.m., in Yosemite Valley. Law Day is held nationally each year to commemorate and celebrate our national ideals of liberty, justice and equality, and is a day on which we rededicate ourselves to these principles and promote public education on the importance of the rule of law.

What better place to reflect on the foundations of our legal system than the jewel of the National Park Service - and our own glorious backyard - Yosemite National Park. Yosemite also houses its own Federal courthouse, and this year’s Law Day offers the opportunity to welcome the incoming Yosemite Magistrate Judge, Jeremy Peterson.

The ceremony will feature Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson as our keynote speaker. Professor Levenson is a frequent lecturer across the country and a well-known legal commentator for the major TV and radio networks. Also included in the program will be the National Park Service Mounted Ranger Horse Patrol presentation of the colors; Lauren Boone’s solo National Anthem; the award-winning Clovis West High School Jazz Band; as well as numerous Federal and State judicial officers and other dignitaries.

As in years past, we will have as many as 300 eighth grade students in attendance being bused in from nine schools in the Yosemite area, including Mariposa, El Portal, Lake Don Pedro, and more. Many of these students are also participating in the Law Day essay contest, and the top three prize-winning essays will be announced at the ceremony. The Law Day theme this year, which will be reflected in the essays as well as the keynote talk, concerns the Separation of Powers set forth in the U.S. Constitution. As James Madison explained, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition” - the three equal branches of the federal government must act as checks on each other to guard against abuses of power.

Law Day Yosemite is sponsored by the San Joaquin Chapter of the Federal Bar Association in conjunction with the park concessionaire, Yosemite Hospitality LLC, as well as the National Park Service. The public is invited. For more information please contact Carol Moses, carol@yosemitelawyer.com, or call (559) 449-9069.