Executive Board Positions and Duties
President - has chief responsibility for running NALSWD, monitoring the work of the Executive Board, and calling meetings. They also write the monthly newsletter and serve as the point person for contact with other disability organizations and the American Bar Association. The President has a large say in the big-picture direction of NALSWD, but is also where the buck stops for both problems and projects. Being President takes a substantial time commitment and is a position best filled by someone with substantial contacts in the disability community and familiarity with NALSWD's mission. The President has a very active group of former NALSWD Presidents and other alumni to call on for advice and support at all times.
Executive Director of Advocacy - fills in for the President when needed and takes primary responsibility for NALSWD's advocacy projects. In the past, this has included writing student self-advocacy guides (LSAT accommodations, applying to law school, etc.), signing on to position papers and amicus briefs, and could include authoring op-eds or other public statements. The Director of Advocacy will also head the Advocacy Committee and will coordinate advocacy projects including lobbying, writing op-eds, and becoming involved in litigation. Ideal candidates have strong inter-personal skills and some specific ideas for projects and causes it makes sense for NALSWD to pursue this next year.
Chief Information Oficer - controls the face NALSWD presents to the world, through management of our website, blog, mailing list, and facebook account. It may make sense to have a set of Junior Officers who each take responsibility for a discrete area (someone with a more technical background as Website Manager, someone else as Editor for our blog to create more original content, etc.) and have the CIO coordinate those efforts. The CIO also takes minutes for all Executive Board meetings. Most important are editing ability and timely response to emails.
Chief Financial Officer - manages NALSWD's finances. This involves a lot of interaction with law firms and corporations to solicit donations, keeping track of funds, and potentially applying for grants to help NALSWD grow. Typically the CFO has a committee of volunteers to help on fundraising projects as well as being able to call on the board for manpower. Great candidates are comfortable communicating with law firms and can organize people. NALSWD's finances are currently in very good shape, but particularly for conferences, fundraising should happen early.
Membership Director - recruits new members for NALSWD. Because 1/3 of our members graduate every year, it is essential that we keep reaching out to students who can benefit from our organization. Past membership activities have focused on reaching students through facebook and online forums, as well as through law school administrators. There was a lot of excitement at the conference for the idea of organizing small regional student meetings throughout the year (potentially as simple as "any NALSWD in Chicago, meet at this bar/cafe at this time to socialize"). Strong social skills and ability to respond to email in a timely way are very important for this position, as answering member questions is a major component (you can also draw on alumni knowledge and contacts for this).
Conference Director - organizes the annual NALSWD Conference. This involves scouting a location, booking space and catering, arranging panels and speakers, deciding on swag, and publicizing the event. The Conference is NALSWD's flagship event and a fabulous opportunity for networking and community-building. This is a great position for Co-Directors, in order to lighten the load, and all board members contribute effort when needed. While the March date worked well for us, the geographic location of the conference can and should rotate in order to draw on different groups of speakers and make the event more accessible to students. Candidates should be very organized and event-planning experience can be helpful.
Advocacy Committee - approximately 5 people in a junior officer role who will take on discrete projects to further the advocacy goals of NALSWD. The committee will have discretion to focus on projects they care about and can include lobbying for more judges with disabilities, writing articles about laws/regulations, or drafting amicus briefs. The Director of Advocacy will organize the committee. The committee would not take part in the weekly/bi-weekly executive board calls, but may have their own calls as needed.
Executive Director of Advocacy - fills in for the President when needed and takes primary responsibility for NALSWD's advocacy projects. In the past, this has included writing student self-advocacy guides (LSAT accommodations, applying to law school, etc.), signing on to position papers and amicus briefs, and could include authoring op-eds or other public statements. The Director of Advocacy will also head the Advocacy Committee and will coordinate advocacy projects including lobbying, writing op-eds, and becoming involved in litigation. Ideal candidates have strong inter-personal skills and some specific ideas for projects and causes it makes sense for NALSWD to pursue this next year.
Chief Information Oficer - controls the face NALSWD presents to the world, through management of our website, blog, mailing list, and facebook account. It may make sense to have a set of Junior Officers who each take responsibility for a discrete area (someone with a more technical background as Website Manager, someone else as Editor for our blog to create more original content, etc.) and have the CIO coordinate those efforts. The CIO also takes minutes for all Executive Board meetings. Most important are editing ability and timely response to emails.
Chief Financial Officer - manages NALSWD's finances. This involves a lot of interaction with law firms and corporations to solicit donations, keeping track of funds, and potentially applying for grants to help NALSWD grow. Typically the CFO has a committee of volunteers to help on fundraising projects as well as being able to call on the board for manpower. Great candidates are comfortable communicating with law firms and can organize people. NALSWD's finances are currently in very good shape, but particularly for conferences, fundraising should happen early.
Membership Director - recruits new members for NALSWD. Because 1/3 of our members graduate every year, it is essential that we keep reaching out to students who can benefit from our organization. Past membership activities have focused on reaching students through facebook and online forums, as well as through law school administrators. There was a lot of excitement at the conference for the idea of organizing small regional student meetings throughout the year (potentially as simple as "any NALSWD in Chicago, meet at this bar/cafe at this time to socialize"). Strong social skills and ability to respond to email in a timely way are very important for this position, as answering member questions is a major component (you can also draw on alumni knowledge and contacts for this).
Conference Director - organizes the annual NALSWD Conference. This involves scouting a location, booking space and catering, arranging panels and speakers, deciding on swag, and publicizing the event. The Conference is NALSWD's flagship event and a fabulous opportunity for networking and community-building. This is a great position for Co-Directors, in order to lighten the load, and all board members contribute effort when needed. While the March date worked well for us, the geographic location of the conference can and should rotate in order to draw on different groups of speakers and make the event more accessible to students. Candidates should be very organized and event-planning experience can be helpful.
Advocacy Committee - approximately 5 people in a junior officer role who will take on discrete projects to further the advocacy goals of NALSWD. The committee will have discretion to focus on projects they care about and can include lobbying for more judges with disabilities, writing articles about laws/regulations, or drafting amicus briefs. The Director of Advocacy will organize the committee. The committee would not take part in the weekly/bi-weekly executive board calls, but may have their own calls as needed.