Virginia Lawyers Weekly

ROANOKE—If the response of Roanoke-area lawyers is any indication, a program to help middle schoolers understand the importance of the rule of law is getting strong support from Virginia attorneys.

Sixty lawyers and judges volunteered for a pilot program for the Virginia Bar Association’s Rule of Law project on Feb. 18 in Roanoke Valley middle schools. They taught some 2,000 students in 122 classrooms.

The instructors on that day included Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th, Chief Circuit Judge Charles N. Dorsey, and Roanoke Mayor David Bowers.

The program is designed to teach the importance of the rule of law in American society and government. The project has been vigorously promoted by former VBA president G. Michael Pace Jr. of Roanoke.

Pace said the feedback has been strong. “The teachers felt like it was a positive educational experience for the students,” Pace said.

Dorsey said he enjoyed the experience, even if one of the students asked him if he was “a real judge.”

“It’s good to see lawyers educating and working for the betterment of the community. It puts a good face on the profession,” Dorsey said.

The program gives lawyers a lot of leeway in the lessons they impart. Classes began with an introduction by the teacher, followed by an eight-minute video that introduces the concept of the rule of law.

The video features comments from Virginia Chief Justice Leroy Rountree Hassell Jr., Senior Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy, and former Gov. Gerald L. Baliles.

After the video, the lawyer is encouraged to engage the students in discussion of the meaning of the rule of law, but there are no fixed points to cover. “They did not micromanage us at all,” said Mark Cathey, Roanoke Bar Association president. “It was a nice show of trust.”

Pace said every evaluation sheet that he received encouraged a repeat of the program. “Students got the message. They understand better what the rule of law is and how it affects their daily lives,” he said.

According to Bob Penn, a teacher with Andrew Lewis Middle School in Salem, having experts willing to volunteer their time to educate students is extremely beneficial. “On its surface, the rule of law may sound like common sense to most students, but there is more to it than that. Being able to hear about real life examples of how the law applies to daily life, from experts who deal directly with the law every day, is a great learning opportunity.”

The program, funded by $100,000 in grants from the Virginia Law Foundation, is set to go statewide in October, timed to correspond with teaching of the related subjects under the state standards of learning.

A Web site has been developed to support the program that includes lesson plans, materials and resources, which will be updated regularly and will eventually include the capability to allow teachers to exchange curriculum and feedback online.

With material from the Associated Press.

Close this Window Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Print RSS Feed Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments

Connotea del.icio.us Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com

Furl Google Hugg Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb

Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

More »