2017 Long Beach Branch NAACP Annual Law Day Program

Long Beach, CA

The Long Beach Branch NAACP announces the 2017 Annual Law Day Program in conjunction with Keesal, Young & Logan law firm which has sponsored the event since 2001.  Law Day was created in the late 1950s by the American Bar Association to draw attention to both the principles and practice of law and justice. The purpose of the Long Beach Branch NAACP Law Day Program is to introduce students of color and underserved students from local middle, high school, and colleges to law as a career.  Invited program participants are LB Branch NAACP Youth Council members, fostered youth, home-schooled and  students from the local school district, private schools and college students.`

The 2017 Law Day theme, The 14^th Amendment: Transforming American Democracy, provides the opportunity to explore the many ways that the Fourteenth Amendment has reshaped American law and society. Through its Citizenship, Due Process and Equal Protection clauses, this transformative amendment advanced the rights of all Americans. It also played a pivotal role in extending the reach of the Bill of Rights to the states. Ratified during Reconstruction a century and a half ago, the Fourteenth Amendment serves as the cornerstone of landmark civil rights legislation, the foundation for numerous federal court decisions protecting fundamental rights, and a source of inspiration for all those who advocate for equal justice under law.

The keynote speaker is attorney Julie Taylor, a shareholder of Keesal, Young & Logan located in its San Francisco office and is admitted to practice in California and Washington.  Ms. Taylor has been recognized by Law & Politics Magazine as one of Northern California’s “Super Lawyers” every year since 2006.  She was the former President of the California Bar Foundation.  Under Ms. Taylor’s leadership, the California Bar Foundation became California’s largest independent source of statewide law school diversity scholarships and pipeline program grants.