Lawyers Club Fund for Justice History

The Lawyers Club Fund for Justice is our charitable foundation arm that serves to reach out to the San Diego Community, in particular to serve “at-risk” women and children.

Giving back to the community and promoting the interests of women and children have become important functions of the Lawyers Club. As professional women and men, our members come together to educate and promote the equality of the sexes and remove barriers to equality from our community.

Lawyers Club initially sought to increase the roles and prominence of women in our profession. As our organization matured and our numbers increased, members began to look beyond our profession to the community around us. In 1997, the Lawyers Club created a charitable fund at the San Diego Foundation to extend our reach into the San Diego community.

The Fund was initially named "The Lawyers Club’s Judith McConnell Foundation Fund." Subsequently, in recognition of judicial canons, then Superior Court Judge McConnell requested that the name of the fund be changed to the "Lawyers Club of San Diego Fund For Justice."

The Fund’s mission parallels that of Lawyers Club of San Diego and its members by addressing, through non-profit education, research, funding, and programming, various social issues present in San Diego County, consistent with our mission statement. In addition, the Fund is utilized, in appropriate charitable contexts, to facilitate volunteerism and community service by members of the Lawyers Club and to bring positive public attention to the efforts of members of the Club, and lawyers in general, in service to their communities.

The first grant made from the Fund was $1,000 to the Central School Literacy Garden in support of the Lawyers Club partnership with Central Elementary School. Later that year, the Fund’s Advisory Board began working with a counselor at Las Colinas Jail, and also with the supervising Drug Court judge, to find ways to facilitate more effective programs for women and girls in the criminal justice system.

In December 2001, the Fund began supporting the "Building Bridges with Books" program operated by the Family Literacy Foundation, a Solana Beach non-profit. Volunteers train incarcerated parents to read books aloud to their children on videotape. The training is interactive and teaches parents about effective methods of reading aloud, how to choose children’s books and ways to personalize the reading experience.

After the parent is videotaped reading the book aloud, the tape, along with the book, is sent home with the child. This improves reading skills and encourages parents to continue parenting and being involved with their child’s development despite incarceration.

The Fund recognized that the grant would yield direct benefits to both parent and child. The "Building Bridges with Books" program has been very successful and was subsequently expanded to the Vista Detention Center. One parent commented:

“I think the program is very good. Not only for my kids but for me too. ‘Cause when I get home I’m gonna’ look back on the tape also so I can also remember where I was and how I don’t wish to ever come back and be separated from my boys again.”

The Fund has continued its support of this program with grants of $1,000 in 2002 and 2003. The value of the Fund’s grant to the program has been profound for the parents and children who benefited from this family preserving tool. Today, the Fund has not only funded thousands of dollars of grants but also retains a corpus in excess of $40,000.00. While it remains a “young” fund with relatively limited granting ability, its potential is limitless with the support of the Lawyers Club membership. The Board awards grants twice a year to deserving charities whose programs meet the mission statement of the Lawyer’s Club. The Fund represents a powerful and direct action tool for Lawyers Club to effect social change within our immediate community for the collective good.  Recently, funds were awarded to the Women’s Resource Fair and San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program’s Domestic Violence Prevention Project.