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Volunteer Lawyers from Lathrop Gage Lead Educational Initiative for Sumner Academy

9/16/2009

Lathrop Gage attorneys Jessica Rosell, Kate O'Hara Gasper, Crystanna Cox, Jehan Kamil, Peter Chung, and Jennifer McAdam, along with Amanda Basri of Legal Aid of Western Missouri, have formed a team of lawyers who are volunteering as part of the "Lawyers in the Classroom" program at Sumner Academy High School in Kansas City, Kan. The educational initiative is a joint collaboration between DEBATE-KC, a local nonprofit for urban schools, and the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association Young Lawyers Section.

"This effort was spearheaded by the KCMBA Young Lawyers Section Public Service Committee," explained Ms. McAdam, who is vice chair of the committee. "Members of our committee volunteered to judge a city-wide debate tournament earlier in the year and afterwards, we all decided that we wanted to get more involved in mentoring the students as they prepared for tournaments."

Five teams comprised of 30 volunteer attorneys in total from the Kansas City area will go to the Kansas City inner-city schools of University Academy Charter, Don Bosco Charter High School, Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, and Central, in addition to Sumner Academy.

DEBATE-Kansas City has enjoyed the participation of over 3,500 middle and senior high school students in policy debate and student congress competition. Since 2001 over 95% of DEBATE-Kansas City participants have graduated from high school.

About Lathrop Gage:
A leading Midwest full-service law firm, Lathrop Gage LLP has approximately 300 attorneys in 11 offices nationwide – from Los Angeles to New York, New York. In 2009, Chambers USA ranked Lathrop Gage’s corporate, environmental, intellectual property, litigation, real estate and labor and employment teams among the best in the Midwest. For more information, visit www.lathropgage.com.