History of Bullyproof

Bullyproof was the idea and creation of former YLD Chair Mario Sullivan, who at the ABA 2013 Annual Conference in San Francisco, launched Bullyproof as his featured 2013-14 ABA YLD Public Service Project. At the same Conference, the YLD Assembly unanimously approved and adopted YLD Resolution 6YL, which highlighted the history of the ABA’s efforts to address the growing bullying epidemic in the U.S.  What’s more, the Resolution recommended that federal, state, territorial, and local officials and administrators specifically address bullying and make available programs like mentoring and counseling for students, teachers, administrators and families involved in bullying incidents.  

In the YLD, there were three primary pillars to Bullyproof, which together and apart, sought to edu- cate and empower the bar, schools, and communities in an effort to end the bullying epidemic:

1. Education for Lawyers: CLE, teleconferences, and pro- gramming to educate young lawyers on the legal rights and responsibilities in rep- resenting school systems, insurance carriers, students, parents, and teachers/edu- cators who are faced with charges and cases involving allegations of bullying;

2. Educating School Administrators, Teachers, Parents and Students: Young lawyers implementing Bullyproof in schools to discuss identifying bullying as its happening, the effects of bullying on victims, their parents, and those around the victim and the accused, and resources for combatting bullying and,

3. Legislation: Bullyproof collected a plethora of materials and best practices for young lawyers to lobby and seek laws and policies that sufficiently address bullying and how to end it in our school and communities. 

In support of Bullyproof, the YLD also created a diverse website containing the Bullyproof project video, materials, resources, links, and a toolkit for implementation of the project.

In fact, Bullyproof was welcomed and implemented in schools and youth programs across the country including, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Illinois, and Massachusetts, amongst others. Additionally, numerous jurisdictions across the country also adopted Bullyproof as their own public service project, including the Kansas Bar Association Young Lawyers Section, the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association Young Lawyers Section, the Wisconsin State Bar Young Lawyers Division, the Kentucky Bar Association Young Lawyers Division in conjunction with the Kentucky Bar Foundation, and the Oregon Bar Association. Furthermore, Bullyproof won the 2014 SOC Outstanding Collaboration Award.

CR&SJ BULLYPROOF COMMITTEE
At its Fall Meeting in Nov. 2014, the Section of CR&SJ voted to adopt Bullyproof as a full-fledged committee in the Section. In connection with Bullyproof’s continued development, it has created three sub-committees:

1. Programming, focusing on creating relevant and essential content regarding issues and the law surrounding bullying in the U.S.;

2. Implementation, carrying forward Bullyproof’s history of on the ground presenta- tions with children and adults regarding the bully- ing epidemic and what can be done to help; and,

3. Publications and Social Media, writing and sharing information about bullying.

If you are interested in joining the CR&SJ and / or Bullyproof, please visit the link: Bulllyproof, Lawyers Educating and Empowering to End Bullying, where you can sign up and join one of Bullyproof sub-committees.  

For more information and for questions or comments, please contact Mario Sullivan or Courtenay R. Dunn. 

COURTENAY DUNN
Counsel, MERSCORP Holdings, Inc.

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