Leila de Leon, president of Future Lawyers of America (FLA) and junior

What is FLA, and what is the club’s main purpose?

I created the club to create an environment where people who are interested in law can come together and learn about it. That has always been the main goal, but it’s sort of evolved into more interactive and hands-on activities. 

Why did you create this club?

I created this club when I was in seventh grade, and honestly, it was because I knew I was interested in law, but I wasn’t necessarily very cognizant of everything that went into it. Still, I’m not totally sure about what area of law I want to get into, and so I thought that creating this club could bring some people together who are also interested in law, and we could just learn together.

What type of events or meetings do you hold?

In the most recent years, we’ve definitely focused on having guest speakers come in. They’ll share their experiences with the members (of the club), and then at the end, our members will have the time to ask questions. But this year, we’ve got a lot of events surrounding supporting legal nonprofits. The main goal for this year is just to get our members truly involved within the law and all the communities adjacent to that. 

How can new students get involved?

The biggest thing for members this year is to just come to meetings, come to as many meetings as you can, and ask questions when we have guest speakers. You can talk to me, ask me questions, because I’m always here to help, and really just know that we’re all in this together.

What are some challenges your club has faced?

I would definitely say that this club is solely interest-based, and you get what you put into it, the most successful members that I’ve had are truly just very determined to stay involved and come to meetings as best they can throughout the year. That has been a pretty big thing, just committed to membership. But what I love about this club is that the members who do come consistently and who are involved and committed are some of the greatest people you’ll ever meet.

How do you hope your club impacts the school community?

I hope that this club is a comforting environment, and it’s fun, because the entire point is just to learn about law. It can be a very scary thing, because a lot of people don’t really know what they want to do, and some people don’t know what areas of law they want to get into, I just want this to be a time where we can just learn freely and learn all that we can.

Is there anything else you want to add?

We’re going to have more community-based events and get more involved with the local community. The first official meeting is going to be Sept. 25. We’re going to be making bracelets to sell at our Homecoming booth, and all the proceeds will contribute to UMEED-HOPE, which is a nonprofit that speaks out against injustice and supports Southeast Asian communities in Indianapolis. We’re also having a panel event, so we’re partnering with A5, which is an Asian Alliance Club, and I’m going to be bringing a guest speaker there too, that’s going to be a pretty big event coming up this year.

Darryle Swartzlander, Future Lawyers of America (FLA) sponsor

How long have you been a sponsor for FLA and why did you decide to sponsor this club?

This is the second year I’ve been a sponsor of the club, and the president of the club was one of my first-year students. She asked if I would be the sponsor, and I figured I’d just help out and do that for her.

What is your favorite part of FLA?

It gives the kids who are interested in criminal justice more on the law side. It gives them a real-world experience that we can’t always give in class. We do try to have guest speakers and stuff like that in class, but having multiple different types of lawyers come in gives them that real-world perspective of what actually is going on.

What do you hope students are able to gain from participating in this club?

The real-world perspective. There are so many shows out there, like “Law & Order”, and there’s a lot of dramatic effect that is put into those. Actually hearing from a real-world lawyer about everything that goes into it, not just the glitz and glamour of arguing in the courtroom, but everything that happens behind the scenes with helping out police, getting affidavits and warrants lets the kids understand and know that there is a lot of work that goes into it.

How has the club grown since you have sponsored this club?

I would say the first meeting we had, there were probably around 15 kids. And then in the call-out meeting earlier this year, I got 30 seats in my class, there were a few kids who didn’t even have seats, it’s grown and doubled in size.

Do you have anything else to add?

If you’re interested in law, come check it out. We’ve had a few lawyers from all aspects because people tend to think that if you’re a lawyer, you cover everything, but actually lawyers can specialize in different fields, just like a doctor would specialize in a certain part of the body. One of the best speakers we had last year was a lawyer for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), so they would help with the Name, Image. Likeness (NIL) stuff, getting funds for schools, and if there’s any type of rule violations from different schools, they’d handle that. So again, it definitely opens up your eyes to what’s really going on in the world of law. So if anybody’s interested in that, I would say definitely come check it out.