History

1972

Georgetown University law students teach the first Street Law lessons to students at Woodrow Wilson and Eastern High Schools in the District of Columbia.

Today, this program model—law students visiting secondary schools to teach young people about everyday legal concepts—is active at more than 150 law schools worldwide. 

1975

The first national edition of the Street Law textbook is published.

Street Law: A Course in Practical Law is currently in its ninth edition.

1978

Street Law expands into justice system settings as a court diversion program that teaches court involved-youth about the law. 

This early court-based program evolved into the Legal Life Skills Program, which today empowers vulnerable populations by teaching them practical legal knowledge and civic skills.

1986

Street Law’s first program outside of the United States is established in South Africa. Despite operating during Apartheid, the Street Law program was almost universally accepted in South Africa.

Since then, Street Law has implemented a range of global projects throughout 45 countries in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Our work abroad takes a grassroots approach to change, empowering program participants with essential civic skills and knowledge, building their practical ability to advocate for themselves and others, and enhancing the rule of law. 

Street Law South Africa continues its work today as a separate NGO.  

1986

Street Law’s first program aimed at training police officers to teach young people about the law is established.

Today, our Police & Teens Program prepares and equips law enforcement officers to teach young people about the law. Its collaborative, dialogue-based approach helps build awareness, respect, empathy, and understanding between police officers and youth.

1994

Between 1994-1996, Street Law publishes Democracy for All and Human Rights for All, both of which have since been adapted and translated for use in many countries.

1995

First Supreme Court Summer Institute for Teachers.

The Supreme Court Summer Institute continues today. It is one part of Street Law’s Teacher Professional Development Programs, which help high school civics, government, history, and law teachers improve their subject-area knowledge and use effective teaching strategies.

1996

Street Law is incorporated as Street Law, Inc., a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with a governing board of directors. From its founding until 1996, Street Law had been a branch of the Consortium of Universities of Metropolitan Washington.

1997

Between 1997-2001, Street Law’s international programs undergo their largest expansion yet, as funding from the Open Society Institute brings the Street Law experience to 17 new countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

2001

Street Law's Legal Diversity Pipeline Program launches; the first program site is with the McDonald’s law department.

Today, more than 70 law firms, corporate legal departments, and Association of Corporate Counsel chapters participate in this effort.

Through classroom visits and a field trip to the law firm or legal department, volunteers teach lessons and lead activities designed to teach diverse young people about the law and legal careers. 

2002

LandmarkCases.org debuts, providing an unrivaled resource for educators to teach about historic U.S. Supreme Court cases.

Today, in addition to LandmarkCases.org, Street Law offers a substantial resource library of classroom-ready case summaries, teaching activities, and texts to help educators teach about the Supreme Court of the United States, legal concepts, government, and rule of law.     

2004

Street Law and its Middle Eastern partners adapt the Democracy for All text to illustrate how Islam and democracy are compatible. The resulting text, Islam and Democracy: Toward Effective Citizenship, published in Arabic, has been used successfully in Middle Eastern countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, and Egypt.   

2004

From 2004-2010, Street Law participates in Deliberating in a Democracy, a six-year program that partnered over 5,000 students at secondary schools in the U.S. with peer institutions across the globe. This was the first of several projects which used the deliberations methodology.

Deliberations teach people how to discuss controversial issues by carefully considering multiple perspectives and searching for consensus.

2014

A period of growth begins for Street Law’s public legal education programs abroad. In these programs, Street Law trains law students to enter school settings to teach practical and applicable legal matters to high school students.   

2015

Street Law plays a lead role in co-authoring a new and improved edition of the McGraw-Hill Education high school government text—United States Government: Our Democracy.   

2018

Street Law establishes its New Perspectives Deliberation Training Program. This program responds to a polarized political atmosphere in the U.S. by preparing secondary teachers from across content areas to master the use of deliberative discussion in their classrooms. As a result, students are able to build positive relationships across differences.