Feature TYLA Affiliate

Feature TYLA Affiliate

Teen Talk
By: Leif Olson

The Houston Young Lawyers Association taught nearly 400 students about legal issues affecting teenagers in two film festivals presented through its Teen Talk committee.

Teen Talk volunteers presented four TYLA programs to the students and led discussions about those programs to increase the students’ understanding of the materials. Each session of Teen Talk featured TYLA’s video programs “R U Safe?” on Internet safety and privacy; “They Had a Dream Too,” on the young leaders of the civil-rights movement; “Vote America,” on voting rights and responsibilities; and “American Juror,” on the importance of juror service.

HYLA hosted the April session of Teen Talk at the University of Houston Law Center for 72 sophomores, juniors, and seniors from Houston’s High School for Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice. The May session at South Texas College of Law brought 312 eighth-, ninth-, and tenth-grade students from YES Prep Academy–Southwest.

Teen Talk hosts two programs in addition to the Film Festival. An annual, four-day Teen Law Summer Program, co-hosted with the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, brings local students to the Harris County courthouses every July. Teen Talk also hosts a series of roundtable lunches for local high-school students throughout the school year on topical legal issues. These programs are funded in part by a grant from the ABA Young Lawyers Division.

HYLA is one of the state’s oldest bar associations. It has approximately 1,300 members and more than 50 annual service projects that benefit the Harris County community and bar.