“Evening With the Chief” -- a fundraising event and more

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson will be the keynote speaker at a reception and dinner Jan. 25 in Pollman Hall at Yavneh Academy of Dallas, 12324 Merit Drive. Dallas solo Chad Baruch, assistant principal of the school, says the genesis for the “Evening With the Chief” program began after he attended the Texas Access to Justice Foundation (TAJF) Gala in May 2009 and started talking to students about the need for legal services to the poor. Baruch says members of Uniting Students of Dallas, a student group at Yavneh Academy, decided to host a similar fundraising event to benefit the TAJF. But Baruch says the program has a two-fold purpose. Raising money for the TAJF is one goal, Baruch says. His other goal is to create lifelong access-to-justice people. “A lot of these kids are going to be lawyers,” he says. Baruch, a member of the State Bar of Texas board of directors, says the State Bar staff has assisted in the preparations for the event. State Bar president Roland Johnson, a shareholder in Fort Worth’s Harris, Finley & Bogle, and Texas Young Lawyers Association president Cori Harbour, an El Paso solo, also will speak at the event. Baruch says the student group already has exceeded its goal to raise $10,000 for the TAJF.  “Right now today we’re close to $12,000,” he says.
-- Mary Alice Robbins