Chicago-based non-profit Buckets Over Bullying has partnered with Disparti Law Group Accident & Injury Lawyers to expand its work to combat youth bullying and cyberbullying. The partnership offers pro bono legal support to families impacted by cyberbullying who may not have the resources to seek help to protect their children from these attacks.
“Bullying and cyberbullying has become a deadly epidemic for our nation’s children and sadly too many families don’t know where to turn for help or just don’t realize what their options are. I am hoping together with the Bronstein family we can change that,” said Larry Disparti, whose law firm recently co-sponsored a Buckets Over Bullying youth cyberbullying awareness event during “Full Court March” at Resorts World Las Vegas.
The Buckets Over Bullying/Disparti Law Group Accident & Injury Lawyers offers pro bono legal support when:
- parents/guardians of bullies and cyberbullies fail to stop their children from bullying and cyberbullying after they have been informed
- schools, principals and school system administrators turn a blind eye to bullying and cyberbullying that is occurring and ignore the cries for help from impacted children and their parents
Buckets over Bullying co-founders Rose and Rob Bronstein have been personally impacted by the devastating outcomes of cyberbullying. They lost their son Nate Bronstein, age 15, to suicide in January 2022. Nate was relentlessly cyberbullied over a group text message and Snapchat by students at the Latin School of Chicago. He also received a Snapchat message that read “Go kill yourself.” Latin School administrators failed in their duty to notify the Bronsteins that their son had reported the cyberbullying to the Dean of Students.
“Since we have shared our tragedy with the public, we have become Illinois’ bullying hotline. Parents in crisis, across the state, have tracked us down desperately looking for advice on how to protect their children who are being victimized within their school communities. These desperate parents share with us that they have reached out to their school administrators and /or parents of the bullies and can’t get the bullying to stop,” said Rose Bronstein.
“The strongest advice we can give right now until this crisis gets under control is to get legal counsel. This then becomes a huge barrier for parents in crisis because of the high costs associated with hiring a lawyer. We want to help them with that unnecessary burden — and there’s no one better to help guide them than attorney Larry Disparti and his team,” said Rob Bronstein.
The new partnership is also offered, in part, because Illinois lawmakers are moving too slowly to enact legislation that protects children from bullying and cyberbullying. There are Illinois school agencies, educational stakeholders and leaders in Illinois resistant to implementing state-wide standardized protocols and processes to protect all victims from bullying and cyberbullying.
The Buckets Over Bullying/Disparti Law Group Accident & Injury Lawyers pro bono legal services program is being modeled after Texas-based Don’t Bully Me (DBM) Project created by David’s Legacy Foundation and its co-founder, Maurine Molak, who lost her 16-year-old son David to suicide after he was relentlessly cyberbullied.
“We are more than grateful to see that our efforts in creating The DBM Project are showing tremendous results, and that the framework can be modeled and used in other states to help even more children that are suffering from this kind of abuse,” said Maurine Molak, David’s Legacy Foundation co-founder.
- If you feel your child is at risk of self-harm, please contact a mental health professional, such as your local children’s hospital or mental health officer with local law enforcement, as soon as you can, and if you feel that the risk of self-harm is imminent, call 911 immediately.
- If you are in crisis or know someone who is, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Lifeline provides confidential support to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Support is also available via live chat. Para ayuda en español, llame al 988.
- If you feel a crime has been committed, or is likely to occur, please contact your local law enforcement to file and pursue a complaint.
- Contact Disparti Law Group Accident & Injury Lawyers at 312-600-6000 or stopmybully.com for more information about pro bono legal support.
About Buckets Over Bullying
Buckets Over Bullying is a non-profit initiative of The Bronstein Family Foundation whose mission is to eliminate cyberbullying of children and teens. The sports-centric initiative is a call to action following the tragic passing of Nate Bronstein, a 15-year-old Chicago student lost to suicide on January 13, 2022. He was viciously cyberbullied by classmates and teammates at the Latin School of Chicago through text messages and Snapchat, which included a Snapchat message that read: “Go kill yourself.” Through education, lawmaking and legal action, Buckets Over Bullying seeks to prevent what happened to 15-year-old Nate and countless others, encourage upstanding digital citizenship, and advocate for the accountability of cyberbullies and those who enable them. For more information, visit www.bucketsoverbullying.org.
About Disparti Law Group Accident & Injury Lawyers
Larry Disparti and the attorneys at the Disparti Law Group Accident & Injury Lawyers know how to win! With more than one billion in recoveries, our team of more than 30 attorneys and 120 employees has recovered over a billion dollars for his clients and is among the best-reviewed law firms in the greater Chicago area. Known for our outstanding customer service and unbeatable results, the Disparti Law Group Accident & Injury Lawyers has been named One of the Most Influential Law Firms in America. At Disparti Law Group Accident & Injury Lawyers, our team of seasoned attorneys understands that every case is different. That’s why we focus on providing advice and effective legal solutions – specific for each case – for each client we serve.
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