Norman Amaker 1935-2000

The Norman Amaker Public Interest Retreat was organized by SALT, Indiana University School of Law, Indianapolis, and for the first two years with funding from the Minnesota Justice Foundation, and is held annually at the Bradford Woods Retreat Center, Indiana.  Click here to go to the Amaker website.

2008 Update: Despite the nasty weather, SALT’s annual Amaker Retreat organized by University of Indiana School of Law—Indianapolis student leaders Caroline Richardson, Tiffany Murray, and Monica Christy, members of Equal Justice Works, under the supervision of SALT secretary and board member Robert Lancaster, convened at the Bradford Woods Retreat, 2,500 acres outside of Indianapolis. 

The agenda was full and pressing.  Professor Neil Gregory Williams, University of Loyola Chicago School of Law, reminded students, faculty, and practitioners about the role that Norman Amaker, a former SALT board member, played in the Civil Rights movement.  

In addition to panels on Disability Law, Election Law, International Careers in Public Interest, and Creating a Culture of Advocacy, the Retreat ended with a speech by Emily Benfer, a University of Indiana School of law—Indianapolis alum.  Her work in the Peace Corps and currently with the Washington Legal Center for the Homeless has afforded Ms. Benfer the opportunity to meet some special heroes, whose stories she shared. 

Click here for a copy of Emily's inspiring talk: THE REDEFINED HERO: DISCOVERING CHAMPIONS OF SOCIAL CHANGE. 

Click here for a copy of MESSAGES FROM MENTORS AND COLLEAGUES IN THE LAW, on why a career in the public interest is desirable.

Named in honor of Norman Amaker, a beloved Indiana law professor who dedicated his life to civil rights and racial justice, the inaugural Amaker Retreat, held in March 2002, was organized around the theme “Ground Zero is Everywhere There is Poverty: Ensuring Rights, Liberties & Opportunities In the Current Anti-Terrorist Climate.”

The Amaker Retreat offers students, faculty, and practitioners from the Midwest an opportunity to gather together to examine public interest issues.

Like the Cover Retreat, the purpose of the Amaker Retreat is to offer public-interest minded law school students an opportunity to break the isolation by meeting and networking with other students from around the country. Not only does this provide students with a network while in school, it provides the foundation for a professional network to support their public interest ambitions later.

Students also get to interact with lawyers, legal academics, and other professionals who can offer guidance and act as role models for the variety of ways in which one can serve the public interest. By putting together students, faculty, and practitioners, the Retreat offers a chance to examine legal education to assure that what occurs in the classroom prepares students for a career in public interest law.

Lastly, the Retreat can spawn creative ways to approach using law as an instrument for social change.

The themes of past Amaker Retreats include:

• 2003 “Building Community: Finding Support and Resources for Social Change”
• 2004 “Access to Justice”
• 2005 “Human Rights in the 21st Century.”
• 2006 “Injustice and the Impoverished”
• 2007 “Holistic Justice”
• 2008 "Recommitment to Social Change: Where You Were, Where You Are, Where You are Going"