2017 National Lawyers Convention Volunteers

Registration Form

If you would like to volunteer for the National Lawyers Convention, please read the terms and FAQ below before filling out the registration form at the bottom of the page. 

To All Students:

The Federalist Society is seeking 100 volunteers (serious applicants only) to assist with
The National Lawyers Convention in Washington, DC
November 16-18, 2017.

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Details about the NLC can be found at: http://www.fedsoc.org/2017fsnlc.

If you area Chapter President, please forward this email along to your registered members. Some of them may not receive this email otherwise.

If you are a registered student member of the national Federalist Society and would like to volunteer for the 2017 National Lawyers Convention, please apply online at our 2017 NLC Volunteer Webpage. (The deadline to apply is October 20, 2017).   Please read all of the rules and regulations (especially the FAQ section at the bottom), as much of it has changed this year. Also, you must be available to work during your assigned timeslot if you are to be chosen as a volunteer.  Those who fail to show up for their volunteer times will be billed for the convention at the student rate. Last-minute cancellations and no-shows at the conference fill up the volunteer slots and prevent other serious volunteers from attending.

The convention is being held at the Mayflower Hotel and volunteers will be able to attend the convention free of charge in exchange for a few hours of volunteering. (NOTE that this does not include the November 16th Annual Dinner or the Barbara Olson Memorial Reception on November 17th). 

Since we have so many volunteer requests, the number of students per school is limited, and chapter officers will receive first preference. The deadline to apply is Friday, October 20, 2017. I will notify you if you are selected to volunteer within a week of your registration. The volume of volunteer requests will often prevent me from sending confirmation emails to each individual, so please don't be alarmed if you do not receive an immediate response. Everyone will be notified no later than Tuesday, October 24th.

In addition to the invaluable information and insight to be gained by attending the various sessions, volunteers will have the opportunity to meet nationally known and acclaimed judges, scholars and practitioners.

Please sign up on the volunteer page as soon as possible in order to secure your spot.

The Annual Dinner

If you would like to attend the Annual Dinner or the Olson Reception, you must register and pay via the website. You should do so immediately, since tickets tend to sell out very quickly. 

Please also note that there are exactly 25 free Annual Dinner tickets set aside for student volunteers (available only to the 100 volunteers). Students who wish to get the special volunteer tickets must indicate their availability by checking the appropriate box on the registration page. 

The students who receive these tickets will be chosen by lottery. If you receive an Annual Dinner volunteer ticket, the volunteer time you spend at the dinner will be in addition to the other volunteer shift that you are assigned. That means that you will have two (2) total shifts. 

PLEASE NOTE that in order to get one of the tickets, you MUST be available to arrive at 4:30 pm on Thursday and to help with the Dinner set-up and registration.

Tickets for the Annual Dinner volunteers will be given out just prior to departure for the Dinner. Anyone who is NOT exactly on time will have their ticket forfeited. We will not be able to hold your ticket until you arrive at the banquet hall, since that puts us at risk of being short a volunteer. You must obtain your ticket with everyone else. There will be no exceptions to this rule since it is necessary that all Dinner volunteers be at their stations when required. 

The Olson Reception

Similarly to the Annual Dinner, if you would like to attend the Olson Lecture, you must register and pay via the website. Still, we will need a handful of volunteers to assist us with the logistics involved with the Olson Lecture and Reception. If you are interested in being a part of this, please let us know by checking the box below. We will choose the Olson Reception volunteers by lottery and, if you are selected, we will notify you as the date of the Lawyers Convention nears. As with the Annual Dinner, volunteers are expected to arrive on time and to work for this event, but will be privileged to attend the Reception afterwards. 

FAQ

A number of you have asked questions about volunteering.  Here are the answers to the most common ones we have received:

Q: If I volunteer, will the Federalist Society help with my travel or hotel expenses?

A: No, unfortunately we cannot cover volunteer hotel and travel expenses, so please make sure that you can afford to assume the cost of the trip to D.C. Unlike the Student Leadership Conference this past July, we do not have a grant to cover student travel or hotel expenses for the Lawyers Convention. 

Q: Where is the convention located?

A: It will be located at the Mayflower Hotel on 1127 Connecticut Ave., NW in Washington, DC. The Mayflower is located on the same block as the Red Line and within walking-distance from Orange/Blue Lines on the Washington, DC Metro.

Q: What does volunteering entail?

A: We will need you to report to your assigned volunteer table or room on time in order to meet with the staff member who will be training you. Typical assignments include helping set up the rooms (e.g. check the sound equipment, arranging literature on the tables, etc.), directing lunch-time traffic, working the registration, CLE or merchandise tables. None of the assignments are difficult or time-consuming, but they are all necessary. Many of you may find that volunteering can be an enjoyable and even beneficial experience. For example, if you've turned the CLE table into a great networking opportunity, and want to work it the whole time, that's perfectly fine. Just let me know. We reserve the right to withdraw this offer and charge a volunteer for the conference at the student rate if he or she does not honor their commitment to volunteer the hours we assign. 

I will send out convention assignments three days before the National Lawyers Convention.

Q: What is considered "not honoring the commitment to volunteer"?

A: First and foremost, No-Showing your volunteer time slot. We've had too many problems with this in the past, which puts the entire Convention at risk. You will be asked to sign-in at each of your stations, so please be sure that you know which times you are responsible for.  You must be available for any and all shifts during the conference. No exceptions. Secondly, disregarding your volunteer duties while working a table or panel. Lastly, disappearing in the middle of your volunteer hours without express permission from the National Office Staff working alongside of you. If any of these becomes a problem, we will have to bill you the Student Rate of $50 per day, since free admission is for active volunteers only. 

Q: What's the benefit of volunteering at the convention?

A: In addition to the invaluable information and insight to be gained by attending the various sessions, volunteers will have the opportunity to meet nationally known and acclaimed legal scholars and practitioners. In other words, if you make the effort, you have a good chance at making some valuable contacts.

Q: What sessions may I attend in exchange for volunteering?

A: Volunteers will be able to attend the convention sessions and luncheons free of charge, when they are not working. (Again, please note that this does NOT include the November 16th Annual Dinner or the Olson Reception on November 17th. See above).

Q: What is the attire for the Dinner and the conference?

A. Dress at the Dinner is black-tie. Dress at the Conference is business attire.

Q: How much does it cost to attend if I choose not to volunteer?

A: It depends what you want to attend. Registration costs $400 if a non-volunteering student wants to attend the entire Conference, including the dinner. If you are only interested in attending the sessions, and not the dinner or reception, it costs $50 per day if you register online.

I hope that covers everything. Please note that any students interested in volunteering MUST register individually. Many of you have told us that people from your law school that would like to volunteer, and in some cases, have even provided names, but they have not received this message unless you provided us with their e-mail addresses. If that is the case, then you must pass this message along to any other of your officers that were also planning on volunteering and they must register using the link on the webpage on their own. 

I will send out convention volunteer assignments three days before the National Lawyers Convention. 

Thanks and hope to see you in November. 

Kate Beer Alcantara
Associate Student Division Director
The Federalist Society
1776 18th Street NW, Ste 300
Washington, DC 20006
(888) 489-8138 ext. 138
[email protected]