Taking Law to the Classroom

by

"Things become easier once you’re in the classroom, and all of our attorneys walked away from their classes having had great experiences and feeling a sense of accomplishment."

October 1, 2005 | Washington, DC

If you’re like most in-house counsel, you’re probably not actively seeking ways to make your workday busier. So the prospect of adding “high-school law teacher” to your ever-expanding task list might seem like a nice idea—for someone else.

Before you dismiss the thought, however, consider that those high-school students include the next generation of legal professionals—the ones who will be taking over your job as you move up the ranks. And all attorneys should be interested in ensuring not only that those future lawyers are bright and dedicated, but also that they are diverse, for let’s face it: The legal profession still has a long way to go toward building minority representation that reflects the society in which we live.

It may sound like a tall order for busy in-house counsel to be responsible for cultivating this group of future attorneys, but thanks to the Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline Program, it’s easier than you might think. A collaborative effort between the Association of Corporate Counsel and Street Law, Inc., a leading nonprofit organization in the field of law-related education, the program seeks to increase diversity in the legal profession by reaching out to promising minority students while they’re still in high school. In order to accomplish this, the program pairs in-house counsel with law and civics classes in diverse, local high schools. Attorneys act as instructors, role models, and mentors to students, encouraging them to explore the range of options available in the legal field and to consider law as a career.

In the Classroom

The program typically begins with attorneys making a series of classroom visits to a diverse, local high school, a partnership that Street Law, Inc. helps establish through its network of participating schools.

Choice Hotels’ legal department, for example, teamed up with Patricia Anderson’s law classes at Montgomery Blair High School—the most diverse public high school in the Greater Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Attorneys from the department began by deciding which topics to teach in the classroom, based on their favorite subjects and strengths. These subject areas included contracts, advertising and trademarks, and torts. The attor neys then divided into teams, with each team being responsible for preparing lessons on their respective subjects. Over the course of a semester, the legal teams collectively taught two classes of students two times a week over a period of eight weeks.

Although most are born teachers, even attorneys can experience some anxiety going into the classroom for the first time. “The students are mature and ask hard questions, and teenagers in general can be critical,” says Choice Hotels attorney Leah Turner, who coordinated the program. Turner, like most of her colleagues, had no previous experience teaching teenagers. “But things become easier once you’re in the classroom, and all of our attorneys walked away from their classes having had great experiences and feeling a sense of accomplishment.” Novice instructors need not worry— Street Law, Inc. provides a training session for program participants before the classroom visits begin. Classes also tend to take on their own personali ties, and one can’t predict how students will respond day to day. “A couple of classes stared at us for the first 20 minutes, at which point students’ eyes would start to light up and hands would go up, while other classes would jump right in,” notes Turner. “I would say that with the quieter classes, you have to hang in there—sometimes they’re the ones that get more out of it in the end.”

During two semesters of classroom visits, Turner and her colleagues learned several lessons regarding how to be effective teachers:

• First, lecturing is a no-no. Taking ten minutes to present topics and ideas is fine, but interactive, hands-on exercises that keep students moving and small-group work are much more effective teaching tactics.
• Second, as tempting as it may be, don’t try to talk on the students’ level. Sarcasm and teasing don’t go over well, and teenagers can be very sensitive.
• Third, don’t be surprised or offended if the students nod off during what you’ve decided is the most important part of your lesson. Some students have after-school jobs or just stay up late, and especially during early morning classes, the occasional snore is par for the course.
• Fourth, remember that it takes time for students to get to know you and trust you, and allowing that relationship to develop is a key part of the program. If you’re already daunted by the prospect of a vast time commitment, know that it might be less than you think. Turner calculated that each attorney at Choice Hotels spent approximately two hours preparing for every 90-minute class during the first semester. During the second semester, attorneys were able to recycle lesson plans, which significantly cut down on the preparation time. Street Law now also offers sample lesson plans, which can give attorneys a jump start on the planning process.

One-Day Conference 

The second main component of the Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline Program is a one-day conference, which entails bringing students to the corporate headquarters for in-depth sessions, career workshops, mock trials, and other events, usually toward the end of the semester.

PPG Industries’ legal department, which worked with three schools in the Pittsburgh area, brought students to its corporate headquarters for a day of workshops, lunch, and a career fair. At the conference, students from the three schools were randomly assigned to a morning and afternoon workshop, which focused on two of the four subjects that had been presented during classroom visits earlier in the semester: dispute resolution, intellectual property, employment discrimination, and warranties. During the workshops, each student had the opportunity to play the role of corporate lawyer. For example, in the workshop on employment discrimination, which focused on an investigation into a workplace complaint about sexual harassment, students played the roles of witnesses, involved parties, lawyers, and arbitrators. During lunch, students were invited to sit at a career table to learn about various career options in the legal field—an event PPG would organize a bit differently next time, since students are more inclined to sit with friends and talk about other matters.

Despite the disorganization at lunch, senior counsel Gretchen Roos, pipeline program coordinator for PPG, says, “The conference went better than I could have hoped. Teachers reported that they heard students contributing who had not spoken up in class all semester.”

Turner, who organized Choice Hotels’ conferences around a mock mediation and who also considered the conferences highly successful, has one piece of advice: “Start planning early—about two months ahead.”

Adaptations

While classroom visits and a one-day conference tend to be common program components, one

start to light up and hands would go up, while other classes would jump right in,” notes Turner. “I would say that with the quieter classes, you have to hang in there—sometimes they’re the ones that get more out of it in the end.”

During two semesters of classroom visits, Turner and her colleagues learned several lessons regarding how to be effective teachers:

• First, lecturing is a no-no. Taking ten minutes to present topics and ideas is fine, but interactive, hands-on exercises that keep students moving and small-group work are much more effective teaching tactics.
• Second, as tempting as it may be, don’t try to talk on the students’ level. Sarcasm and teasing don’t go over well, and teenagers can be very sensitive.
• Third, don’t be surprised or offended if the students nod off during what you’ve decided is the most important part of your lesson. Some students have after-school jobs or just stay up late, and especially during early morning classes, the occasional snore is par for the course.
• Fourth, remember that it takes time for students to get to know you and trust you, and allowing that relationship to develop is a key part of the program. If you’re already daunted by the prospect of a

vast time commitment, know that it might be less than you think. Turner calculated that each attorney at Choice Hotels spent approximately two hours preparing for every 90-minute class during the first semester. During the second semester, attorneys were able to recycle lesson plans, which significantly cut down on the preparation time. Street Law now also offers sample lesson plans, which can give attorneys a jump start on the planning process.

One-Day Conference

Adaptations

Making Your Program Effective

Getting Started