Local Affiliate

DAYL Leadership Class: A Legacy of Leadership

In 1997, Dallas Association of Young Lawyers President Joyce-Marie Garay had a vision: to model a program for Dallas young lawyers that would provide a pathway to leadership. Although she couldn’t anticipate what the program would become, it was easy to see after the first year that this program would be instrumental in guiding young lawyers in Dallas through paths of leadership and involvement in both the bar and the community.

In 2016, the DAYL selected its 20th class: a group of 37 young lawyers eager to learn more about the city around them and get more involved so they could make a difference. Each year, DAYL Leadership Class members are exposed to a unique opportunity to meet many distinguished local city and community leaders who share their visions for the future and encourage involvement. The monthly luncheons often include discussions on education, nonprofit involvement, the arts, city government and infrastructure, and race relations. In addition, the Leadership Class has a Scavenger Hunt each year that takes class members on a journey throughout the city with the help of Dallas’s mass transit system. This provides many class members with an opportunity to visit and learn about parts of Dallas they have never seen.

Each class since 1999 has selected a class project that would benefit the community in some way. There have been fundraisers and community service projects, with some events lasting a year and some more than a year, such as The Freedom Run, which is in its 16th year as of 2016. Over $600,000 has been raised by leadership class projects, including those which have sustained past their original class. In addition, the past DAYL Leadership Class community service projects have enabled playgrounds, butterfly gardens, and Habitat homes to be built, kids to receive tutoring and preparation for higher education, and teachers to receive much-needed school supplies.

The DAYL Leadership Class alumni include an impressive list of lawyers who have gone on to serve as judges, city council members, state representatives, nonprofit leaders, general counsel, and other positions of distinction. In addition, many alumni have become presidents and board members of local, statewide, and even national bar organizations. The DAYL Leadership Class has been modeled by young lawyer organizations across the state and other bar associations including the State Bar of Texas and the Dallas Women Lawyers Association.

The DAYL Leadership Class provides young lawyers with a positive and meaningful way to impart change in the community.  For more information about the DAYL Leadership Class, please contact Cherie Harris.