HomeNewsroomStreet Law in the NewsStudents make one legal ‘Discovery’ after another

Students make one legal ‘Discovery’ after another

Partnership brings professionals to county classrooms for lessons on corporate law

by Danny Jacobs

March 7, 2007 | Silver Spring, MD

Acting as Discovery Communications’ legal reviewers for television advertisements, the Springbrook High School students viewed their first commercial, an actual spot for a travel company featuring a collage of images evoking Las Vegas.

The 15 students said the ad was filled with ‘‘distasteful” sexual content, like a billboard that read ‘‘topless” and handcuffs on a woman’s leg. The commercial ended with a tiger attacking a man, an allusion to a 2003 attack that injured Roy Horn, one-half of the magical act Siegfried and Roy.

The class voted overwhelmingly to reject the ad slated for 8 p.m. on the Discovery Channel, the timeslot the advertiser requested. The decision drew nods of agreement from their instructors — who were in fact Discovery Communications legal reviewers.

‘‘It would’ve worked on someone else’s network, just not ours,” said Julie Fisher, director of legal affairs for the Silver Spring-based Discovery.

Fisher, along with executive legal assistant Katie Frieder, taught a seminar Friday on advertising and deceptive marketing, the third of four led by Discovery’s in-house legal team in a new partnership with teacher Gary Frace’s law class.

The seminars are part of the Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline, a joint effort between Silver Spring-based Street Law Inc., which produces educational programs about law, and the Association of Corporate Counsel.

The five-year-old program has connected corporate legal departments with nearby schools nationwide, with an emphasis on attracting students of color to the legal profession. The program is used by more than a dozen corporations in eight cities, said Deborah Foster, senior program director for Street Law.

In Maryland, Silver Spring-based Choice Hotels International has partnered with Montgomery Blair High School since 2004, Foster said, and Bethesda-based Marriott International Inc. has worked with Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill high schools since 2005.

‘‘It [isn’t] to turn children into lawyers, but to turn their interest to law,” Foster said. With the ‘‘varying backgrounds” in law of the seminar’s instructors, she added, ‘‘hopefully the students can recognize themselves.”

The partnership between Springbrook and Discovery was a more natural fit than most. Foster had previously worked with Frace, and his law class, like others in the county, uses Street Law’s textbook. Discovery’s headquarters, meanwhile, is located across the street from Street Law in downtown Silver Spring.

When Discovery was approached by Street Law about the Diversity Pipeline project, the company was enthusiastic, said Sumeet Seam, vice president for legal affairs at Discovery.

‘‘We have a diverse legal department and do work in what we feel is pretty interesting subject matter,” he said. ‘‘We wanted to let students know of the different options they have in the legal profession.”

In the first class, taught in part by Seam and featuring contracts and negotiations, students worked in small groups on negotiation scenarios, Frace said. In the second class, dealing with copyrights and copyright infringements, the students heard two similar-sounding songs and had to determine if a copyright had been broken, he said.

Fisher and Frieder began their class with a 15-second advertisement for an energy drink that showed a biker in a bar patting an attractive woman on the butt as she walked by. ‘‘Hey, baby, gimme a shot!” the man yelled, at which point the woman punched him out.

With some students saying the commercial should not run and most unsure, Fisher and Frieder handed out information on ‘‘red flag ads” and described their jobs reviewing controversial commercials that advertisers want to run on Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet and the Travel Channel, all Discovery Communications channels.

Fisher and Frieder went through Discovery’s screening process for products claiming to benefit the users, including vitamins, energy drinks and supplements. In those cases, Discovery asks the advertiser for evidence of any medical studies cited in the commercial, as well as sworn affidavits from customers talking about the product and a resume of any doctor that appears in the ad.

The company also checks for disclaimers, such as ‘‘results may vary,” and ensures they appear in the commercial long enough for the average person to read. ‘‘It’s all about full disclosure to the customer,” Fisher said.

Armed with the background information, the students watched two more commercials, one for an energy supplement and another for a laxative. In both cases, they pointed out potential problems, from unsubstantiated claims to a lack of disclaimers to the graphic nature of the ads.

‘‘It was an interesting class,” Shaun Rosa, a 17-year-old senior, said afterward. ‘‘I learned how commercials work.”

‘‘It was better than reading from a textbook,” added Evan Phifer, also a 17-year-old senior. Both said they would now watch commercials more closely and critically.

Following the final in-class seminar on publicity and privacy rights later this month, all of Frace’s law students will travel to Discovery’s headquarters March 22 for a networking opportunity with the legal team as well as a culminating activity that incorporates what they learned, Seam said.

http://www.gazette.net/stories/030707/silvnew201458_32340.shtml

Source: Gazette.net (Reproduced with permission)

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Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline Program

Topic: Diversity