Director of Public Interest Programs Kala Mueller explains the work behind Justice Jam, an annual event where attorneys and students share why they fight for justice. Co-hosted by the Equal Justice Society, speakers have four minutes to speak about their career, formative experiences, or passion.
Q: What was the inspiration behind the Justice Jam?
A: All credit goes to Diane Amdor, ’13, who came up with the idea as a third-year law student. She was inspired by an event called the Conservation Jam, where Nebraska conservationists were given three minutes to discuss what could be done to save native plants and wildlife in the state. This was followed by an informal reception where attendees and speakers had an opportunity to connect with each other. For anyone who’s ever attended Justice Jam, that will all sound pretty familiar. The only difference, really, is that speakers here are given four minutes to share why they fight for justice, and we hit a gong if time runs out. We presented Diane with an award on the 10th anniversary of the inaugural Justice Jam, and she said at the time she was inspired by her need for “connection and inspiration.” I can’t think of two words that better sum up this event.
Q: What work goes into planning the event each year?
A: We typically have 7-8 attorneys, and it’s important to me that students hear from attorneys who are working in a variety of areas. The event is held in October, and for many of our first-year students, this may be the first time they’re hearing from public interest attorneys. I want them to leave feeling inspired, but I also want them to understand there are a lot of different ways attorneys work to advance justice. In 2020, we used a virtual platform for the program, and that was memorable because we were able to include alumni from across the country. I also asked fifteen or so students that year to record one-minute videos of themselves sharing why they fight for justice. We created two compilation videos to play during the program, and I still watch them occasionally. The realization that current students could be just as inspirational as practicing attorneys led me to begin incorporating them as speakers in 2021, so I also have the difficult task of choosing a handful of third-year students to speak each year.
Q: Do you have a favorite speaker/memory that stands out from past years?
A: There are so many. Danny Reynaga, ’17, who is the managing attorney for Legal Aid of Nebraska’s Agricultural Worker Rights Program, spoke in 2021 and told a beautiful story about the importance of “planting trees under which the shade you will never enjoy,” and that has always stuck with me. The remarks from the students can be especially moving, because as I’ve come to find (sometimes when they get up to talk at Justice Jam), their lived experience often plays a big role in their decision to go to law school and motivation to fight for justice. They are also talking about work and volunteer experiences that are accessible to the other students sitting in the audience, and that is really powerful.
Q: What has the feedback been from the community and students about this event?
A: I always joke that you know you’ve got a great event when even the 3Ls show up for it, and that was happening before I ever started asking them to speak. Justice Jam is held roughly 6-7 weeks into the first semester of law school for the first-year students, and it usually comes at a time when they are needing a reminder of why they’re here. Anna Reganis, ’24, who spoke last year as a third-year student, recalled sitting in the audience as a 1L and thinking, “This is exactly what I needed.” She said, “I was able to reconnect with people and the causes and reasons I came to law school.” She’s now working as a public defender in Salt Lake City. So, that is always my hope with this event. I want students who came here to do public interest work to know there is a community inside and outside of this building that cares about the things they care about and is invested in helping them continue down this path.
A week before this year’s event, I received an email from Shannon Seim, ’19, who heard Legal Aid of Nebraska attorney Andrew Schill, ’15, talk at Justice Jam when she was a 3L. Andrew spoke about how being a Legal Aid attorney can be overwhelming, but compared it to the story where thousands of starfish are dying on a beach and a boy is throwing as many as he can back into the water. A man comes along and says, “You’ll never save them all; it won’t make a difference.” And as the boy picks up another starfish and throws it into the ocean, he says, “It made a difference to that one.” She said she has thought about that more than anything else she learned in law school during her time with the Volunteer Lawyers Project. VLP works to support organizations like Legal Aid and improve the delivery of pro bono services, which she likened to building a “starfish catapult machine.”
Q: What do you most look forward to about the Justice Jam?
A: We provide speakers with a simple prompt: “I fight for justice because…” Beyond the four-minute time limit, there are no other parameters, and it’s always so fun to see how people use their time. Some talk about what motivated them to do the work initially or what motivates them to continue doing it. Some share stories, successes, or statistics. Some talk about certain clients or cases. We used to describe it as “a poetry slam about justice,” and someone did rap one year. A public interest advisor at Harvard Law reached out earlier this year, because she’d heard me talk about Justice Jam and wanted to replicate it there. While I was explaining how it all works, she said, “How do you know what they’re going to say,” and I said, “Oh, I don’t.” That is always a little bit scary, but it’s part of the fun. Even if some of the attorneys are the same from one year to the next, the material never feels recycled. I am blown away every year by the thoughtfulness, creativity, and vulnerability of the speakers.
