Voices blog

Charlotte Doer is a lawyer at McDermot Will & Emery. The firm joined the Lawyers in Schools programme for the first time this year and is working with London Nautical School in Lambeth.

As a lawyer, you get used to sitting in rooms and talking and negotiating with adults, so I was not sure how my skills would translate to a group of 14-15 year old secondary school students. Also, I was not completely able to rid myself of thoughts of the “youth stereotype” and I wondered how responsive a group of school students would be to learning and discussing the law. As it turns out, I was instantly impressed.

Our first activity was to discuss the minimum age for certain activities and I was astounded when one of the boys launched into an explanation of why he thought the minimum age for voting in local elections should be 16 as he thought that it would give students of that age a chance to begin to get involved in politics and ready themselves for national elections, and it would also reflect the fact that a lot of local government programmes and schemes impact directly on students of his age. I was struck by the student’s thoughtful consideration of the subject, and immediately felt excited about what was to come. I was not disappointed. The 50 minutes or so was taken up with each of the students contributing whole heartedly to the discussion. Even those students that had appeared a little apprehensive to begin with spoke out when an issue important to them was raised.

Although the students were lively they were also respectful of each other and I did not have to reprimand any student for talking over another. I was particularly impressed by students applying what we had been discussing to real world situations. I had started the session with some trepidation but I ended it with a sense of excitement about what the remaining sessions would hold. I’m grateful for programmes like Lawyers in Schools which recognise how crucial it is for today’s students to understand and engage with fundamental civic and legal issues.

Over the past few months, I have been interning with the legal team at the Citizenship Foundation. In November, I attended a Lawyers in Schools training session at Slaughter and May.

Here, the lawyers were given instructions on how to teach the students about the law and how to run the various activities that would help the students think more deeply about the topics. The lawyers who attended the training session all wished to devote their time to their partner school that they would be working with for the next few months.

Aside from learning about how to run the programme in the schools, the lawyers participated in one of the activities that the students would be doing in the Human Rights session. The lawyers were really involved with the activity and there was much debate over some of the issues and questions posed. The lawyers were enthusiastic and excited about the programme and were eager to volunteer their time in the schools.

I also had the opportunity to observe a Lawyers in Schools session at both The Urswick School in Hackney and Central Foundation Girls’ School in Tower Hamlets. The students were very excited to have the lawyers in their classroom and were engaged with the topics discussed. In fact, the students and the lawyers were so engaged with one particular issue that they spent the entire allotted time on one activity.

The students seemed to have learned a lot about what was being covered and were thrilled to share their beliefs on the topic. I remember one of the students at the Urswick School talked about how one should be responsible regarding the driving age. Listening in, I overheard one of the students list some of differences between the laws in the U.K. compared to the laws in the U.S.

Each of the volunteers who participated in these sessions appeared to have enjoyed their time working in the classroom. The lawyers were excited for the subsequent Lawyers in Schools sessions and getting to know their students better.

It was entertaining to watch these sessions because I liked to hear what the student’s opinions were. I also liked watching the lawyers interact with them as well. The lawyers and the students seemed as if they had learned a lot from each other and were looking forward to spending the next few months working together.

Erin is studying Business Management at Siena College in New York and has been helping us out while studying in London on a placement scheme. She has been interning at the Citizenship Foundation, helping out on the Lawyers in Schools programme, Magistrates Court Mock Trial Competition and Bar National Mock Trial Competition.

As I come to the end of a busy training period I have been reflecting on the value of employee volunteering and specifically the willingness of the lawyers that sign up for our Lawyers in Schools programme.

Over 230 volunteers have been trained so far since September 2011 on how to engage young people in discussions about the law. The training also covers how to manage potentially challenging behaviour, child protection and many other aspects of the programme.

Before I visit each firm or in-house legal team, I can’t help but wonder if the lawyers that I am about to train are participating because they want to or if they have been coerced/bribed/threatened with expulsion off the ‘good corporate citizen’ island.

Needless to say I have been delighted, enthused and inspired by the volunteers that I have trained to take part in Lawyers in Schools. They have been positively animated and earnest about going into their partner schools. A Slaughter and May volunteer commented:

‘When I was at state school I received absolutely no legal teaching whatsoever and, with hindsight I feel that this was a serious shortcoming of my education. I believe that all young people should be given the opportunity to learn about the law.’

I am really looking forward to what I know will be another successful year of Lawyers in Schools - safe in the knowledge that there are over 400 fantastic people out there doing the legal profession proud volunteering in local schools to raise young people’s awareness of the law.

Read about one volunteer’s experience of our training.

Victoria Honan is an in-house lawyer at Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto and Baker McKenzie have come on board the Lawyers in Schools scheme this year joining forces to deliver sessions at Sion Manning Roman Catholic School.

Earlier this month Victoria underwent a training session for the programme and kindly wrote the following about her experience:

The training was very informative and interesting. It covered what the Citizenship Foundation is about, what Lawyers in Schools is trying to achieve and how the sessions would run. The presenter made it very interactive so we were asking questions all the time and you never felt like you were asking a silly question.

Probably the most useful section was how to deal with certain behaviours in the classroom as this is the most daunting prospect. The presenter gave us loads of helpful hints and guidance for dealing with different behaviours and I think it put all our minds at ease.

The training was extremely useful as it addressed all the key concerns I had around the content of the course and how to approach the topics and the students.

I am now excited about getting started as this has been in the pipeline for a quite a number of months. Visiting the school and meeting the teacher has enhanced that excitement as it makes it very real what we are trying to achieve and the impact we will have.

My response when asked why I wanted to get involved in the scheme was and still is that whilst I was in private practice I participated in the Lawyers in Schools programme and I found it very rewarding, although utterly exhausting (one hour with a group of 15 year olds is much more tiring that one hour with a client). I was keen to get involved in a community project and this is so worthwhile as it makes a real impact on the students. If we manage to inspire just one student (even a small amount), to go to college and work hard to achieve their goals, that would be amazing.

It’s a few weeks now since schools returned from the summer break, when fresh interest in the law was sparked by the UK riots and the legal consequences that followed.

I am particularly interested in how schools tackle the issues we witnessed on the television, as we have been providing educational projects and publications for young people for over two decades. I believe this recent showing demonstrates the need for young people to understand not only their legal rights and responsibilities, but also the context and reasoning behind such rules.

During the last academic year we celebrated our 20th anniversary of running the Bar National Mock Trial Competition, culminating in a fantastic national final at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast in March 2011. The November and December regional heats (and those that were moved to January because of the snow!) saw 3,000 students from all over the UK meeting Kris Simpson and examining the prosecution’s case against them for the theft of a Vauxhall Astra.

Our Magistrates’ Court Mock Trial Competition enjoyed its seventeenth year with a record number of applications: 6000 young people from over 425 schools were supported by around 800 magistrate volunteers this year. Case one this year saw the students defending Kelly Daniels in a case of alleged domestic violence against her sibling.

In total, nearly 10,000 young people were involved in this year’s mock trial competitions, engaging with the legal system and legal personnel in a positive, interactive and memorable way. Writing this shortly after the summer’s riots, it’s all too easy for the media and the public to forget the huge number of young people passionate about the society they live in and eager to learn, debate and experience the role that the law and legal system plays in everyday life. The unprecedented demand from students and teachers for this year’s competitions and the recent focus on young people and the law in the news show the competitions are as important and relevant today as they have ever been.

(Entry to this year’s Magistrates’ Court Mock Trial Competition closes on 21 October.)

May 2011 saw our Lawyers in Schools celebration event, recognising the achievements of the many students and volunteer lawyers that have been involved in this year’s scheme. Volunteers from 25 law firms and legal teams ran 196 interactive sessions in schools across the country on subjects ranging from consumer law, human rights, the youth justice system, downloading music and the powers of the police. This year’s evaluation report highlighted the project’s success in developing students’ knowledge and understanding of the law (including a 30% increase in students’ confidence in dealing with their own legal problems in the future) while building on their speaking and employability skills.

The event saw all of the guests, adults and young people alike, piloting a new resource written in response to the spring protests in the UK and abroad. The activities had students looking at the role of the police in maintaining order and the legal issues that can arise when a peaceful protest becomes antisocial or criminal damage is involved. The parallels between the activity and what subsequently happened in August are clear. The level of debate the activity generated highlighted how interesting and engaging legal discussions can be, and how passionately and articulately young people can express their views on the law.

The law is all around us everyday and regardless of age and background everyone has an opinion on the law, the criminal justice system and what they consider to be ‘fair’. Adults are talking about the law and so are young people and it’s important to create opportunities to inform people about such issues and allow them to be assessed critically.

It’s an interesting time for the legal profession and an interesting time to work in legal education and we look forward to launching next year’s projects to continue offering means for people to learn, debate and experience the legal system and interact with the professionals that work in that field.