NLADA: Training and Education - Civil Training Opportunities

NLADA develops and encourages partnerships among national organizations to focus various learning resources on the needs of the legal services community of advocates. Through collaborations with partners such as the American Bar Association, AARP, Legal Services Corporation, Management Information Exchange, Practising Law Institute and others, NLADA seeks to assist local programs in meeting the learning needs of equal justice advocates throughout the country. A few of these partnerships are highlighted below:

American Bar Association (ABA)

Each year, the ABA financially supports NLADA's training agenda, partners with NLADA to design and host various training events, and presents workshops at NLADA's Annual Conference (link on the left). For the past three years, the ABA's Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Services and NLADA have co-sponsored the Equal Justice Conference (link above), an annual event which brings together legal services staff-based programs, pro bono coordinators, bar association leaders, private law firms committed to pro bono, the judiciary, corporate counsel, law schools, government attorneys and other legal, public interest and human services organizations. In addition, NLADA partners with the ABA's Litigation Assistance Partnership Project to provide support and assistance to litigation and advocacy directors of legal services programs. Among other things, NLADA and LAPP are working closely together in designing the upcoming Litigation and Advocacy Directors Conference (link above), which is scheduled for September 21-23, 2001 in Snowbird, Utah.

AARP

An established leader in training design and delivery, AARP donates resources and its creative talents to support NLADA training events. In the past year, AARP helped sponsor NLADA's Substantive Law Conference (link above), helped design a skills-based training program concerning building and maintaining strategic alliances for presentation at various NLADA events, and provided in-kind services to support NLADA's training efforts. AARP is a key partner in developing the Equal Justice Conference (link above) and is a co-sponsor of the upcoming Litigation and Advocacy Directors Conference (link above). In addition, AARP will present several workshops at NLADA's Annual Conference in Miami and is designing a special track for the conference, which will highlight how legal services providers can use cable access to disseminate information about their programs. NLADA is serving on the design committee for AARP's National Aging and Law Conference (NALC), which will take place October 10-13, 2001 in Arlington, Virginia. (For more information about the conference contact Ada Albright. The NALC is just one service offered to the equal justice community by AARP's National Training Project (NTP).

Legal Services Corporation (LSC)

Each year, LSC helps financially support the Equal Justice Conference (link above) and collaborates with NLADA and others to provide training to the legal services community on special topics. At the 2001 Equal Justice Conference, NLADA, LSC and MIE offered Making Mergers Work, a two-day training which examined the nuts and bolts of merger and consolidation, considered the ways that new configuration can provide better services for clients, prepared participants for the challenges of joining different program cultures, and allowed peers to discuss specific opportunities and problems they face.

Management Information Exchange (MIE)

At the Equal Justice Conference (link above) and NLADA's Annual Conference (link on the left), MIE traditionally offers workshops and pre-conference events, including MIE's New Executive Directors Training. Additionally NLADA, MIE and others collaborate on occasion to offer training on a variety of topics. In March, NLADA, MIE and LSC offered a two-day training, Making Mergers Work, at the Equal Justice Conference in San Diego. Last September, NLADA, MIE, Women & Philanthropy, the Center for Law and Social Policy, and the National Association of IOLTA Providers co-sponsored the Women, Poverty and the Law Conference in Chicago. This national conference for funders drew more than 80 funders and advocates who discussed ways to increase philanthropic support for legal and policy advocacy for low-income women and their families.

Practising Law Institute (PLI)

Through its partnership with PLI NLADA is able to offer a variety of services to the legal aid community. PLI offers NLADA members incredible savings on its Interactive Courtroom CD-ROM training series. This series of over a dozen CDs includes such topics as Direct Examination, Cross-Examination, Client Interviewing, Taking Effective Depositions, Mastering Motions, and Be Prepared For Your Deposition. For more information on this valuable offer, please click here.

In an effort to help build a national training infrastructure within the legal services community, PLI partners with NLADA to provide consultants for training events at no or low cost. For example, PLI offers a Train the Trainers course at NLADA's Annual Conference each year and, on occasion, has provided consultants to work with state-based and regional training groups to offer local Train the Trainers and trial-skills courses. Additionally, PLI contributes to NLADA's training events and is assisting NLADA with entering into the world of Web-based training. At the 2000 Substantive Law Conference (link above), NLADA taped a session entitled, "Bridging the Digital Divide" which can be viewed at PLI's Web site. View the session (Note: you will need to select the session entitled, "National Legal Aid & Defender Association.")

Other Partnerships

Each year several national support centers and allied organizations help NLADA design and present the Substantive Law Conference, the legal aid community's premiere national training event in poverty law. Organizations helping design substantive tracks for this year's conference include: AARP, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, Virginia Poverty Law Center, National Center on Poverty Law, Legal Aid Services of Oregon, National Consumer Law Center, National Housing Law Project, National Health Law Project, National Center for Youth Law, Center for Law and Social Policy, National Senior Citizens Law Center, Native American Rights Fund, National Employment Law Project and National Economic Development and Law Center.

NLADA is looking for other national partners. If your organization is interested in partnering with NLADA to provide high-quality training to the legal aid community and to help build a national training infrastructure, we want to hear from you! Please contact Camille Holmes.


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