Minority Mentoring Picnic
THOUSANDS ATTENDED The Annual Minority Mentoring Picnic at Amelia Earhart Park in Hialeah.
Minority Mentoring Picnic
‘Diversity Doesn’t Have to Be Scary’
With a pair of 150-pound freshly slaughtered pigs loaded in the back of his vehicle, Coral Gables attorney Ken Schurr picked up his good friend, Ramón Abadin, president of The Florida Bar, and they headed to Amelia Earhart Park in Hialeah.
It was 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 31, and with the sun yet to rise over what would become the largest Annual Minority Mentoring Picnic yet in its dozen years.
More than 20 law students showed up before dawn to help place the pigs on grates and keep the coals burning.
Schurr put on a pot of coffee, cowboy style, on the cooker, and made baby-back rib sliders.
For the next six hours, the pigs slowly sizzled to perfection, under Abadin’s watchful eye and recipe that includes mojo marinade and fresh fruit, and conversation between law students and seasoned lawyers flowed.
“It’s a bonding thing,” Schurr said, as he passed out his contact information and invited law students to call him if they ever need advice.
“You get to see a lot of lawyers who work on cases with you and against you. You get to see judges in a relaxed setting, and at least get to know them a little bit better.”
The picnic is a special project for John Kozyak, who was honored with the 2015 Tobias Simon Pro Bono Award for his mentoring passion, and Detra Shaw-Wilder, managing partner at Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton in Miami and managing director of the Kozyak Minority Mentoring Foundation that organizes the picnic.
In its dozen years, the picnic has taken off, with an estimated 5,000 people in attendance this year at the event billed as the “ultimate networking event.”
“I was extremely impressed with the energy and level of engagement by the students from law schools around the state at this year’s picnic,” Shaw-Wilder said. “The students were clearly prepared to take advantage of the opportunity to connect with and learn from lawyers and judges in the community.
“It was great to see the picnic’s purpose — connecting law students with mentors — in action. The great food, music, and activities were an added bonus.”
A $100 gift card raffle drew students to the Mentoring and Networking Tent, where they stayed to hear “Best Practices and Tips for Applying for Florida Bar Admission” from the Florida Board of Bar Examiners. Next was a presentation from judges and former clerks about “The Pathway to Judicial Clerkship,” followed by an opportunity to hear “A View From the Top” from managing partners.
“I thought this year’s picnic was the best ever, in terms of everything running smoothly and student participation,” said Kozyak.
Why does Abadin faithfully arrive six hours early to roast his pigs? “John Kozyak is a mentor to me and has become a dear friend over the last 15 or so years,” Abadin said.
“I do it as a labor of love for my friend John and everybody else. There is no more important time, when things are changing and there is uncertainty and instability in our profession, to go meet someone and make connections.”
