A University of Alabama Law Student prepares her brief as she serves as the social media app Instagram's counselor, in the Moot Court Case, Which is Better, Instagram or Youtube?
Photo courtesy of UA Law School's website: https://www.law.ua.edu/
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Court is now in session
Court is now in session
TMSM 8th graders get a taste of the University of Alabama's Law School
Veronica Robinson
Volume 1, Issue 2: November/December 2018
On Friday, November 16, 8th grade at TMSM had a field trip to the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law for their Middle School Open House event. On Friday morning along with other students 6-8 from Eastwood Middle School, walked into the UA’s School of Law and were greeted by a continental breakfast, drinks included. We then were led to Bedsole Moot Court Room and settled in for a day full of learning.
The day started out with a lesson on lawyers and the many different career paths that stem from getting your law degree, given by Brandi Russell, Assistant Director of Admissions at UA Law. The students learned that lawyers not only go to court, but they can also become politicians, patent attorneys, or even professors.
Next, the law students held a mock trial. The case was The Three Bears v. Gold E. Locks. Gold E. Locks was being tried for bad manners. Witnesses such as Mrs. Locks, Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear were called to the stand. After all of the evidence had been presented a student jury found Gold E. Locks guilty of bad manners and she was sentenced to one year in prison.
After the conclusion of the trial, an appellate court was held. We learned that an appellate court is a hearing after the trial-level. It only happens if the defendant or the plaintiff wasn’t happy with the ruling. In an appellate court, no evidence is presented as it already was in the trial. The case that was used as an example was YouTube v. Instagram; which is better? Everybody was given two sheets: one yellow and one pink. If you thought that Instagram was better you wrote your argument on the yellow sheet and if you thought YouTube was better you turned in the pink sheet. Law students then took the papers and constructed a case based on what the 8th graders had said and then argued their cases before the three judges. After the cases had been argued the judges decided that Instagram was the better social media platform. However, one judge dissented and stated that he believed YouTube was a better social media platform.
The last activity of the day was another mock trial that consisted completely of students. The case was Little Red Riding Hood v. B. B. Wolf. Emily Scroggins, a TMSM 8th grader got to participate in this trial as an attorney. When asked about her favorite part of the field trip she said, “My favorite part was the second trial where I got to pretend I was the attorney for Red Riding Hood.” In the end the jury found B. B. Wolf not guilty on account of the fact that he had a terrible gum disease that only made him look like he was going to eat Little Red Riding Hood.
At the end of the day, the 8th graders left the law school with pillow pets, tumblers, journals and more, along with newfound knowledge of law and what goes on in the courtroom.
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