The Student Bar Association Senate created four new law student organizations and discussed the future creation of additional student groups during a meeting Tuesday.
SBA senators unanimously approved the Native American Law Student Association, First-Gen Professionals, Nonprofit Law Association and Music Law Association. Speakers for the organizations said the new groups will address underrepresented communities’ needs in the law school because no preexisting organizations align with each respective founder’s goals.
SBA senators ratified the Music Law Association, which will focus on helping students interact with figures in the music industry. Arjumand Syed and Shalom Samuels, who proposed the group, said it will help represent music law among the school’s student organizations, a subject which frequently hides in the shadows of entertainment and sports law.
Syed said the organization plans on hosting speakers from law firms in the District and New York City, as well as Taylor Swift’s attorney, Donald Passman.
“We also want to have Donald Passman, who is one of the biggest music lawyers in the country and has written the book which is referred to as the Bible of music law,” Syed said.
SBA senators approved the Native American Law Student Association, which will encourage dialogue around federal Native American law. Morgan Gray, a member of the Chickasaw Nation, said she proposed the organization because the topic has been “overlooked for far too long” in the law school.
Gray said the group will work to create a community for students who identify as Native American and Indigenous, as well as those with an interest in Native American law.
“It’s also to provide a community for individuals who are interested in the practice of federal Indian law, and are interested in discussing this discourse of federal Indian law,” Gray said.
SBA senators ratified the First-Gen Professionals, an organization intending to build a community for first-generation law students. Raisa Shah, a first-generation law student, said the group will organize networking events with local organizations.
SBA senators also approved the Nonprofit Law Association, which aims to facilitate relationships between law students and both government and nonprofit officials. Jess Johnson, one of the organization’s representatives, said she wanted to institute the group after she realized there was no preexisting organization working toward a similar goal.
During the ratification of the organizations, SBA senators said they were concerned with the rising number of student organizations despite the unchanging SBA budget, which could potentially lead to student organizations receiving less money — a worry SBA President Shallum Atkinson raised in November. Senators discussed possible solutions, including auditing student organizations to see if they are appropriately using their funds and implementing a de-chartering process for inactive groups.
SBA Senator Charlie Schmidt, the chair of the Student Org & Charter Committee, said the committee, alongside the SBA Finance Committee, could check to see if organizations are following their charter and how they are spending their money during the budgeting season in early fall when student organizations meet with the Finance Committee to request funding for the year ahead.
“That can be a good opportunity to audit them, not only in terms of how you spend your money, have you used it well, but are you doing what you say to do,” Schmidt said.
SBA Senators unanimously voted to allocate $967.33 to Luisa Lamprea Barragan to fund her team’s attendance to the John H. Jackson Moot Court Competition, where they will travel to Bogota, Colombia, to participate in the first round and later to Geneva, Switzerland, if they advance to the final round.
Senators rejected Lamprea Barragan’s request in November because of disagreements over whether administrators had signaled that Lamprea Barragan and her team could request funds from the SBA despite the University typically not funding international events.
Atkinson said during his presidential report that the SBA will hold their annual Barrister’s Ball on Friday, March 1 at the International Spy Museum. He added that the SBA is planning a “wellness week” for this semester and has been organizing one of the first-ever Black History Month keynote speakers.
“I don’t have specific information yet, but as far as I’m concerned our first-ever Black History Month keynote will be brought to us by a special guest,” Atkinson said.
Spencer Sandusky, the vice president of finance, said there has been a “lack of transparency” surrounding the Student Association’s funding of the SBA, but there are “provisions” that require the SBA to receive its funding from the SA. He said he is “putting pressure” on the SA’s finance office to be more clear so the SBA can better plan their budget.
“We’re really putting pressure on the finance office to give us some transparency as to what’s going on in there and exactly how much the SBA can expect each year and have that consistent formula,” Sandusky said.
The SBA Senate will next convene Feb. 6, 2024 at 9:15 p.m. in the Law Learning Center.
