Have you ever wondered what the San Antonio Bar Foundation does?

As the membership drive for the San Antonio Bar Foundation gets underway, you may wonder what SABF does. The following is a brief explanation of the San Antonio Bar Foundation (SABF) and its service to the legal community.

SABF supports the Pro Bono Wills Clinic, whose coordinator and costs are provided by the Foundation, along with financial assistance from the Bexar County Women’s Bar Foundation. Low-income clients are served by this monthly clinic at St. Mary’s Center for Legal and Social Justice. When a client leaves the Wills Clinic, they not only have a will but also ancillary papers, which are notarized and completed the evening of the clinic. The Wills Clinic is manned by volunteers from the legal community, including attorneys, notaries and paralegals from San Antonio Legal Secretaries Association and law students from St. Mary’s School of Law.

Amigos in Mediation (AIM) is another Foundation beneficiary. AIM, the groundbreaking Peer Mediation Program, is administered by the Bexar County Dispute Resolution Center in collaboration with SABF. Since 1999, AIM has helped schools establish self-sustaining peer mediation programs, enabling students trained as peer mediators to resolve campus conflicts between students without school staff intervention. AIM offers peer mediation training and consultation services to elementary, middle and high schools within all 15 school districts in Bexar County. Students trained as peer mediators come from a broad cross-section of the student population, assuring that vast ethnic and economic sectors are represented. As of September 2006, 122 Bexar County schools have active peer mediation programs and 10,723 students have been trained as peer mediators. Student peer mediators have conducted 7,967 mediations, with 96 pecent of those mediations resulting in agreements between disputing students. Of those students using mediation to resolve disputes, 87 pecent stated mediation has prevented them from engaging in inappropriate actions and 94 pecent of them stated they would use mediation again for any future disputes. In 2003, SABF received the Outstanding Partnership Program Award for the AIM Program by the State Bar of Texas.

The Police Athletic League (PAL) enjoys the support of the San Antonio Bar Foundation. Through the annual fun-filled Courthouse Walk/Run, PAL receives funding for its work with at-risk youth sports program. PAL is the largest organization of law-enforcement agencies formed to prevent juvenile crime and violence, utilizing a recreation-oriented juvenile crime prevention program that relies heavily on athletics, recreational activities and education to help children “..go right and stay right.” Through their crime prevention programs, PAL’s mission is simply stated, “Filling Playgrounds, Not Prisons.”

People’s Law School is an annual event of the Bar Foundation that provides legal and consumer education to the general public at no cost. There are a number of selections from which the attendees can choose. Captioning is provided for the hearing-impaired. The sections on Social Security and Elder Law continue to be very well attended. The feedback received indicates that this public service is very much appreciated.

The Foundation donates to the Campus Ministry Fund at St. Mary’s University School of Law under the able supervision of Sister Grace Walle. This fund provides honorariums for outstanding leadership in its programs, including the Legal Clinic at St. Jude’s Catholic Church, providing legal aid facilities for the indigent.

At the recent Peacemaker Gala on March 31, 2007, the Foundation presented a $15,000 check to the US Army Fisher Houses, which were the recipient of the 2007 Peacemaker Community Service Award. The Foundation also presented a check for $15,000 to the Community Justice Program, whose founders Justice Phylis Speedlin and Judge Karen Pozza were honored with the 2007 Pioneer Peacemaker Awards. Abigail Kampmann also was honored with the 2007 Pioneer Peacemaker award for her efforts to establish the monthly Pro Bono Wills Clinic.

The programs supported by the San Antonio Bar Foundation are related to the legal community and afford a chance for attorneys to make a difference. We hope you will join us in our endeavors. If you have any questions, please contact our Membership Chair, Nissa Dunn, at nissadunn@dunnlawpc.com.