Giving many their first feel of the legal system, students on the law track of Reginald F. Lewis High School recently held the grand opening of their very own in-house courtroom.
The new arena is complete with a jury box, a judge’s seat, plaintiff and defendant sections, a witness stand and all the trimmings that make the room look and feel genuine.
Prior to the completion of the courtroom, students engaging in mock trials were forced to either travel to nearby universities with adequate facilities, or use rooms in federal and district courts in the area.
“We can practice law right in our own building,” said the principal, Dr. Barney J. Wilson. “It’s better looking than most court rooms and it doesn’t feel like you’re pretending because it’s so real.”
The program gives students the opportunity to complete curricula similar to entry level law classes, and thus a major head start in their careers. The law track also serves as a deterrent to students tempted to fall into a life of crime, as they learn and practice the ins and outs of how they can and will be prosecuted if they decide to break the law.
Learning how to read a court docket, mete out sentences to guilty parties, and everything in between, students don’t merely take part in mock trials, they actually research problems affecting their neighborhoods and go before city councils with an advocacy project to make change in their communities.
“It’s bringing everything they learned in class to life and it shows them reality and how it works in a real world context,” said Danielle Rembert, assistant principal of Reginald F. Lewis High School, which located in northeast Baltimore. A lawyer herself with degrees from Columbia University and University of Pennsylvania, Rembert now focuses on gathering resources for next year’s truancy court, which will be authentic right down to the sentences handed out.
“The students are being exposed to different aspects of the legal profession- how to become a lawyer, a judge, or a paralegal,” said Dr. Wilson. “People don’t get what our students get until they are in graduate school. Our students are given a competitive edge.”
Going through courses concentrating on the U.S. Constitution and community justice in their first two years, in the junior and senior years of the law program, students complete clinicals where they get hands-on experience with their studies. They collaborate with law firms and justice organizations in the area and are also given the opportunity to complete internships throughout the school year as well as over the summer to exercise what they have learned.
Aside from the full scale courtroom, Reginald F. Lewis High School also has a full-size bank that will be student run and offer workshops on financial responsibility, how to preserve credit, and open and maintain a savings account. These classes are not only offered to students but to their families as well.
A premier African-American entrepreneur, lawyer, and philanthropist, Reginald F. Lewis left behind a legacy that few can conceive. A Baltimore native, Lewis was born and raised in Charm City and made it his life’s work to leave not only the black community, but the entire community a better place through his fight for justice and equality. Becoming the first person to ever be admitted to Harvard Law without applying, Lewis was also the first African American to ever own and operate a law firm on Wall Street.
The law and business programs at Reginald F. Lewis High School have the theme of “Finish What You Start” for the 2011-2012 school year, and in the near future hope to move their special curriculum to the middle school level.
