About 500 members of the Chicago-area legal community will absent themselves from work on May 19, but not for sudden illnesses or just because it's a Friday.

They will be among the volunteers who are participating in the seventh annual Women Everywhere: Partners in Service Project. This year's theme is “Celebrating the Past, Strengthening the Future.”

The project's Community Service Day will involve both men and women who devote a few hours at each of some 30 not-for-profit agencies that provide services to women in need and their children.

Activities include painting and cleanup work, legal assistance, tutoring, domestic violence discussions and seminars on law-related topics.

The ISBA Committee on Minority and Women Participation and the Committee on Women and the Law are among the sponsors of Women Everywhere.

Others are the Women's Bar Association of Illinois, the Black Women Lawyers of Greater Chicago, the Chicago Bar Alliance for Women, the Hispanic Lawyers La–tina Lawyers Committee, the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers, and the Hadassah Attorneys Council.

The Women's Bar also collects women's maternity, business and social clothing, baby clothes, blankets and strollers for New Moms Inc. to assist young women faced with pregnancy, unemployment, family and career decisions.

Women Everywhere coordinators presented an Outstanding Partner Award to Judge Jacqueline P. Cox of U.S. Bankruptcy Court during a kickoff reception March 8 (see photo). She was honored for dedication to the project since its inception.