Community Service Opportunities

BAMSL allows for easily accessible and organized opportunities for attorneys to get involved in their communities. Professionals appreciate these outlets to get involved in their own and other communities across the metropolitan area.

For more information about any of these programs, please contact us at 314/421-4134.

Motion for Kids (formerly Project Angel Tree)
Motion for Kids is an annual holiday party held at the Edward Jones Dome and sponsored by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and the St. Louis Rams for more than 3,000 local children. The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis held its first Motion for Kids holiday party in 1992, to benefit area children with a parent in the Missouri prison system. Since its inception, Motion for Kids has grown each year and now includes children in the foster care system. For more information, contact  Delores Willis at dwillis@bamsl.org.
Check out the Motion for Kids video below to see last December's Holiday Party.

BAMSL Speaker’s Bureau

BAMSL's Speaker Bureau Program consists of volunteer members who agree to participate in BAMSL’s community outreach to schools, businesses, media, and other civic organizations requesting legal expertise.  Attorneys volunteer to attend a classroom, meeting, or event and discuss your specified topic.  All attorneys volunteer their time, therefore, the program is free of charge. Please contact Stephen Campbell at scampbell@bamsl.org for more information or to get an attorney to speak to your group.

Teens Speak Out!
Teens Speak Out! is a program that gives St. Louis area high school students an opportunity to present proposals for community change based on the issues students feel most strongly effect them as teenagers and high school students. A panel of distinguished community leaders then critique the presentations and the students' proposals for change. Participating schools are provided with a volunteer attorney coach (VAC). The VAC meets regularly with students at a designated facility (usually the school) to help with research, organization and presentation in the weeks before the forum. During the forum, each team gives a 15-minute presentation before other student participants and community leaders. After each presentation, panelists ask questions, testing the students' knowledge of the issues and the likelihood of positive change. Students then have a final opportunity to defend their position. Contact Stephen Campbell at scampbell@bamsl.org.

Call-A-Lawyer
On the third Tuesday of each month from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m., volunteer attorneys staff the telephones at KTVI-TV Fox 2 to answer a wide variety of legal questions from television viewers. This program brings a positive image to BAMSL and the legal profession, as it provides advice to callers or puts them in touch with the resource and program already in place to assist them with their legal problems.

Read Across America
Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on or around Dr. Seuss's birthday. Lawyers and judges visit grade school classrooms in the St. Louis Metropolitan area and read their favorite Dr. Seuss book. For more information, contact Stephen Campbell at scampbell@bamsl.org.

Missouri Truancy Court
The St. Louis County Truancy Court Program began in 2000 with the partnering of St. Louis County Family Courts, The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, and several school districts within St. Louis County. This is an intervention program that works with the school districts involved to try to steer at risk students back on track so as to avoid referring them to social services.  Together with the school districts the program forms a list of criterion that is used to determine which students are considered at risk.  Volunteer judges and attorneys (serving as judges) work with chronic truants and their families in weekly court sessions.  Each student meets individually each week with the judge and the school counselor to identify the issues that are preventing him or her from attending school regularly and punctually or causing disciplinary or academic problems.  The student’s progress is tracked through attendance, academic and disciplinary records, and progress reports from teachers.  The judge discusses with the student and his or her parents how they can improve the student’s performance.  Sometimes the issue can be resolved by something as simple as purchasing the student a pair of shoes or an alarm clock or getting the parents to help out with homework. The program has been a huge success so far. It has been shown to improve two-thirds of the truant students that participate in some or all of their problem areas. To participate or volunteer in the program, contact Stephen Campbell at scampbell@bamsl.org.

Mathews-Dickey After School Tutor Program
Lawyers and judges team up with Mathews-Dickey to provide one-on-one reading, math, and/or language arts assistance for young people, and serve as mentor/confidant for youths. Volunteers are required to provide a minimum one-hour weekly commitment to regularly assigned session and a willingness to share knowledge/experiences and provide homework assistance to youth. Hours are Monday though Thursdays, 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM and 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM. Read more information here.

Missouri High School Mock Trial
The Missouri High School Mock Trial Competition is the largest and most established program coordinated by BAMSL's Law-Related Education Resource Center.  BAMSL's only statewide LRE program, it serves more than 600 students from more than 65 schools throughout Missouri. During the summer, volunteer attorneys develop and write the mock trial case or problem for the regional and state competitions. After the case is completed, a manual is developed to help the students prepare for their mock trial by giving them an overview of the law, trial procedure and trial preparation. In December, an optional Mock Trial Training Seminar is held in St. Louis for all schools participating in the competition. For more information, contact Stephen Campbell at scampbell@bamsl.org.