WBUR 90.9 FM, Boston's NPR news source, recently visited our Boston office and the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston to report on a Legal Apprenticeship Program. This program is co-sponsored by Discovering Justice and Citizen Schools, two Boston-based non-profit organizations. Discovering Justice, formally known as the James D. St. Clair Court Education Project, seeks to educate children and adults about the judiciary and its role in democracy. Citizen Schools is an after-school program for middle and elementary school students focusing on experiential education through challenging, hands-on "apprenticeships" that unite volunteer citizen teachers and small groups of children.
WBUR shadowed seven middle school students from the Edison School in Brighton, along with the WilmerHale staff and attorneys who served as their teachers during the program. The students tried a libel case in front of the Honorable Robert J. Cordy of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and 15 celebrity jurors from the firm and community. The event was the final session in the 10-week legal apprentice program, in which attorneys from law firms and local D.A. offices coached nine groups of students.
WilmerHale's Jerome Facher and Allen Nunnally commented on the program and the team's case. Click here to listen to the news clip on WBUR. To learn more about Discovering Justice and/or Citizen Schools, please click on the respective link.