What is Law Day?
by Kimberly M. Cahill

Law Day is May 1. This holiday was created during the Cold War to showcase the United States’ system of rule of law in direct juxtaposition to the military might and hardware displayed throughout Soviet Bloc countries at their annual May Day parades. Black’s Law Dictionary says that the holiday was created “in honor and respect of our legal system”.

Why then do we still celebrate Law Day? After all, the former Soviet Union is gone – its member-states and its allies split apart like shards of broken glass. Its military hardware has long been mothballed or sold off to finance other economic ventures (some of them astonishingly capitalistic), or dismantled for scavenger value. It seems like the Western rule of law (or the free-market economic system that goes with it) has won out. More importantly, does anyone other than those who work in the justice system know what “Law Day” is and why we celebrate it?

The MCBA, headed by our Law Day Committee, holds an annual contest for students from kindergarten through 8th grade. The committee chooses a topic, and the students make posters (kindergarten through 3rd grade) or write essays (4th through 8th grade) on the chosen topic. This year’s topic was “Independent Courts Protect Our Constitutional Rights”. Our committee members read the submissions (yes, all 600 or so entries per year), and select the top three essays or posters in each grade. Winners and their families are invited to our Law Day Ceremony, where essays and posters are displayed, they are awarded their prizes (US Savings Bonds donated by MCBA members), and the winning submissions are also published in the Macomb Daily – not insignificant rewards, as student contests go! A teacher is given an award each year for the quality and quantity of his or her students’ participation in the contest. Finally, the Young Lawyers Section used Law Day as an occasion to present the Liberty Bell Award to a nonlawyer whose contributions have most helped the legal community.

Clearly, all those folks know about our local contest and customs, but what do they really understand about the rule of law? All we as a profession can hope for is that small seeds planted now will grow, and put down tenacious roots in some of the people we reach.

If it’s after May 1, our annual ceremony is over, too – so why am I still yammering on to you about this obscure holiday? (After all, you can’t come to the ceremony, and I can’t tap you for a prize donation.) The holiday itself was created at a time when we as a county were most interested in one-upping a system and a country that no longer exist. Is Law Day still relevant today?

I know honoring and respecting the legal system is worth doing, and I’d like to think that it’s worth doing more than just once a year. I think that what lawyers do on a daily basis is going to help teach everyone we come in contact with about the rule of law, and help foster and nurture that system’s positive influence. Every time you show up on time, prepared for Court, you’re teaching your client to respect the legal system. Every time you treat opposing counsel with civility and respect, no matter what they really deserve, you are upholding the rule of law, and making your own life easier to boot.

I hope that every MCBA member would celebrate Law Day each and every day – not in any mushy, flag-waving way, but by honoring yourself, your profession, and the legal system in a simple, respectful way. Be yourself, do your job, show your pride in your profession to those around you, and you will be celebrating Law Day. Speak out when you see injustice, and support those around you who do the same. Encourage young people to question and explore the limits of the legal system. Don’t shy away from the hard questions that lay people ask about our system – no one thinks that everything about it is perfect. Isn’t our legal system and the rule of law worth defending and strengthening? I think it is.