For Immediate Release

	April 14, 2004 NBA PRESIDENT CLYDE BAILEY ADDRESSES UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE BLACK LAW STUDENT ASSOCIATION BANQUET ON APRIL 10, 2004 President Clyde Bailey was keynote speaker at the Julian Blackshear Scholarship Gala sponsored by the Black Law Students Association of UT. UT BLSA is the 2004 recipient of the Southern Region BLSA award for best Chapter. Julian Blackshear, a graduate of Morehouse College, was the third African American to graduate from UT Law School. The annual Banquet honoring Blacks hear is a fundraiser to raise monies to support minority students pursuing their law degree at UT. The Saturday evening BLSA affair was attended by about 125 people including UT faculty, high school award recipients and parents. Greeted by Dean Thomas Galligan and BLSA president Winston Williams, President Bailey presented a brief overview of National Bar Association accomplishments and then remarked on the Banquet theme “Beyond the Gavel,” growing responsibilities of African Americans within and outside the legal community. Among the growing responsibilities facing African Americans cited by President Bailey include the need to provide service to our communities and to join and participate in the programs and activities of the National Bar Association. The National Bar Association, founded in 1925, is the nation's oldest and largest association of attorneys of color, representing a professional network of over 20,000 lawyers, judges, educators and law students.