Law Offices of Philip DeBerard Contact: Philip DeBerard, Attorney Law Offices of Philip DeBerard P.O. Box 3326, Stuart, FL 34995 E-mail: deberard@flainjurylawyer.com This program was a winner of the 1999 Law Day Activity Awards. Activity Summary: Law Day 1999 was a celebration of freedom in St. Lucie County, Florida, and the celebrants were students, their parents and teachers. Attorney Philip DeBerard brought together school, court, and newspaper officials, planning four activities that reached thousands of students: (1) a mock trial of the lion from the Disney movie The Lion King in a real courtroom, with 100 elementary students participating, (2) “Subpoenaing” student participation in an essay contest about the law, (3) Educational classroom talks on legal freedoms, and (4) Nine special, fun, informative newspaper inserts on the law, distributed to more than 5,000 students. Activity Narrative: Law Day 1999 was more than a day in St. Lucie County, Florida; it lasted five weeks and had significant public impact by involving thousands of students, teachers, parents and school administrators as well as lawyers, prosecutors and public defenders. Attorney Philip DeBerard worked in partnership with school, court and newspaper officials, bringing together these different groups to plan a series of activities for Law Day, highlighting the theme Celebrate Your Freedom. The key activity was a Mock Trial in an actual courtroom in which 100 fourth- and fifth-grade students participated in the case of Florida v. Scar. Scar - a lion and the villain of the Disney animated movie The Lion King - was charged with the death of his brother, King Mufasa. Attorney DeBerard presided as judge, and assistant state’s attorneys and public defenders assisted the student prosecutors and defense attorneys with their arguments. Students prepared for weeks for their day in court, playing the roles of lawyers, court reporters, jurors, court clerks, bailiffs and observers. The day of the trial, student witnesses - complete with Disney character masks that they had hand-made - testified. After deliberating about 15 minutes, the jury told the judge they were deadlocked and could not reach a verdict. However, “Judge” DeBerard sent the jury back to the jury room, and they finally came up with a verdict. They reduced the murder charge, finding Scar guilty of manslaughter instead. The mock trial was designed to teach students about freedom and security, to show them that people have rights, that there are laws to protect them. The youngsters learned that, before anything bad happens to people in the judicial system, they get a fair trial, and both sides get to have their say. The success of this activity was clear from the positive response of everyone involved. Students, teachers and school principals also were “subpoenaed” to participate in an essay contest in celebration of Law Day 1999. With this clever approach, more than 650 students were enticed to participate. Students read local newspapers, looking for examples of laws that were enforced, and they wrote 150-200 word essays explaining what they thought was fair or unfair about the outcome. Essay winners - students and their teachers - were selected in two grade divisions (1) 4th and 5th grades and (2) 6th through 8th grades. The winners were recognized in the local newspaper on Law Day with a full page devoted to winning essays. In addition, DeBerard presented awards to the winning students at a School Board meeting. Attorney DeBerard also gave educational talks in classrooms to help students understand their legal freedoms. This brought Law Day to students who did not participate in the Mock Trial or essay contest. Finally, DeBerard, as a Newspaper in Education sponsor, arranged for the local newspaper to take the Law Day message to every student in the county. He convinced the newspaper to print - and helped produce - an informative and fun special edition newspaper insert entitled, The Law. This was distributed to 5,000 fourth through eighth grade students. Teachers throughout the county used this insert as a learning tool for classroom discussions about the law. Students were required to take it home and discuss it with their parents. In addition, each Monday and Wednesday in April the newspaper devoted a whole page to a Law Day activity sheet highlighting different aspects of the justice system. These newspaper activities reinforced how the judicial system works, discussed the rights and responsibilities of citizens, and provided ways for the entire family to explore legal topics and character education. With all of these Law Day 1999 festivities, Treasure Coast students, parents and teachers got a remarkable opportunity to Celebrate Their Freedom by expanding their awareness of their American heritage, laws, and justice system, while also building citizenship and shared concept of justice. The general public also learned about Law Day through the extensive media coverage of these student activities. Yet, the 1999 Law Day activities were accomplished on a very slim budget ($800), showing how much coordination, cooperation and commitment can accomplish. The only items not donated were: bus transportation from schools to the courthouse, savings bond prizes, teacher gift award gift certificates, Law Day baseball caps for mock trial participants and essay winners. These Law Day activities were so successful that the School Board and the local newspaper have agreed to make them an annual event. Plans are already underway to expand and improve on the events for next year. 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