On Tuesday, November 29, 2016, Attorney Mary Ellen Flynn organized and chaired a “Civics and Law Academy” at Springbrook HS in Silver Spring, Maryland. Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera was the keynote speaker and 15 other judges and lawyers volunteered to teach and discuss issues of civics, constitutional principles and other areas of the law with the students. The topics included Law and Justice, Law in a Cyber Age, Power and Empowerment, Free Speech and Rights and Responsibilities.
As Chair of the State Bar’s Civics and Law Committee, Mary Ellen Flynn along with the help of many others has brought the “Civics and Law Academy” to high schools all around the State for several years. As Mary Ellen has said, “it is inspiring to hear high school students debate constitutional issues and learn about their rights.” Plans are now underway for a “Civics and Law Academy” to be held in Hagerstown in December and another one on the Eastern Shore of Maryland sometime in the Spring thanks to MSBA’s Committee on Civics and Law. All of the Civics and Law Academies are sponsored and created through the collaboration of MSBA’s Civics and Law Committee, chaired by Mary Ellen Flynn and attorney Alicia Wilson, the Citizenship Law Related Education Program (CLREP), and the Maryland Judiciary.
