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Bar Foundation Takes Giant Leap into Cyberspace In this technological age of e-mailing and instant messages, with the click of a mouse information is literally at your fingertips. The New Jersey State Bar Foundation recently made its foray onto the information superhighway with the launching of its Web site at www.njsbf.org. "The Internet has changed the way people obtain information, and the Foundation is keeping up with the times," said Bar Foundation President Stuart A. Hoberman, an attorney with the law firm of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer in Woodbridge. "Our Web site will allow the Bar Foundation to reach further into communities and provide even more New Jersey citizens, teachers and students with information about New Jersey law." Easy to navigate and pleasing to the eye, the Foundation's Web site has a wealth of law-related information for the public, attorneys and New Jersey schools. The home page contains four buttons-About NJSBF, Students' Corner, Programs/Publications and Attorneys-that supply the user with information about different facets of law-related education and Foundation programming. The Web site also has a search engine built in which will search the entire sight for a particular topic. A "What's New" box on the home page keeps visitors up-to-date on what's happening at the Foundation with upcoming seminars, conferences and events that might interest them. The About NJSBF button gives viewers an overview of the Bar Foundation and its mission to educate the public about New Jersey law. Directions to the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick, home of the NJSBF, may also be found there as well as biographies of each member of the Foundation's Board of Trustees and ways to contact Foundation staff by phone or e-mail. Issues of the Foundation's newsletter, The Forum, are also available on the Web site. Currently distributed to more than 58,000 attorneys, New Jersey citizens and teachers, the Foundation plans to offer an e-mail version of the newsletter in the future. Here is just a sampling of what the Foundation has to offer online. For Teachers Teachers who may not have been exposed to the Foundation will find an abundance of beneficial law-related educational materials and programs to enhance their curriculum and stimulate discussion about the law with their students. Accessed through the Students' Corner button, the Teachers Information link allows educators to utilize a number of Foundation programs directly from the site. Teachers may request a free attorney-speaker from the Foundation's free Speakers Bureau choosing from the more than 30 law-related topics listed; or place an order for the Foundation's legal newspaper for kids, The Legal Eagle, if they are not currently subscribed. There is also a printable list of more than 200 titles in the Foundation's free Video Loan Library, with information on how to rent the free videos with a refundable security deposit check. In addition, teachers may access school-based publications including the current high school mock trial competition workbook, which is available in an html format as well as a pdf file. Teachers may also print the Law Fair and Law Adventure Mock Trial Exercise booklets which contain the winning cases for those competitions for the past two years; and the Mini-Court booklet for grades K-2, with printable full-size graphics of puppets that students may color. The Foundation's brochure "Working It Out," which outlines its Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation program is also available online, as well as back issues of The Legal Eagle since its inception in 1996. For Students A perfect place to start a research project, students can access back issues of The Legal Eagle in the Students' Corner, giving them information on such topics as hate crimes, the Bill of Rights, the death penalty, DNA evidence, privacy issues, juvenile delinquency, environmental issues, sexual harassment, affirmative action, Internet danger and much more. Students will also find puzzles from past Legal Eagle issues in this section, as well as links to other interesting law-related Web sites. For the Public The new Web site gives the public access to all Foundation publications online, even those that are out-of-print. If a visitor would like hard copies of current publications, there is an order form that can be printed and faxed to the Bar Foundation. Visitors may also put their name on the Foundation's mailing list directly from the site and register for the Foundation's more than 30 evening seminars and conferences including the Law and Disability Conference and Senior Citizens' Law Day. Clicking on the link for an upcoming seminar in the Calendar of Events will take the user to a press release with information about speakers and topics for that evening's seminar. The Foundation also has a number of different resources (i.e., seminars, videos and publications) in certain subject areas. These areas are grouped under the Program button and include such topics as automobile, family, senior citizens, crime, courts, finances and real estate. For Attorneys The Attorneys button takes visitors to a review of the IOLTA rules, explaining such issues as how the rules affect attorneys and their clients, the basic concept of IOLTA, the tax consequences for the client and attorney, where the money goes and how to comply with the rule. With the publication order form, attorneys can obtain a supply of the many Foundation law-related publications for their clients or merely refer them to the Foundation's Web site for more information. If an attorney wishes to become more involved in the Bar Foundation, this section allows him or her to register as a volunteer for the NJSBF Speakers Bureau which reaches into community, senior citizen groups and New Jersey elementary, middle and high schools. This section also features a special Honor Roll list of attorneys who have made charitable contributions to the Foundation. As new programs and publications are produced, they will be added to site, keeping it fresh and constantly changing. | ||
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Publications Explore Students' Rights, Consumer Rights and More One of the most popular Foundation publications is the Consumer's Guide to New Jersey Law. Last published in 1993, the guide has been updated for the millennium. Consumer's Guide contains valuable information on 24 different topics including buying and selling a home; divorce; domestic violence; child abuse; wills/living wills; the Lemon Law; municipal court rights; small claims court; employment discrimination and much more. "Apprising New Jersey citizens of their rights as consumers is paramount to the Bar Foundation," said Foundation President Stuart A. Hoberman, an attorney with the law firm of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer in Woodbridge. "The Foundation is pleased to offer an update of the Consumer's Guide and is grateful to the many attorneys who gave their time and knowledge in the preparation of this popular publication." Trial Juror Pamphlet Revised Another Foundation publication that has been revised and recently published is the Educational Guide for Trial Jurors. The guide is distributed to all prospective jurors at county courthouses to aid the courts in explaining the jury system and what is expected of individuals who have been called to serve as jurors. The publication is also available to the public or school groups through the Bar Foundation. Written by attorney Stuart Lederman, a member of the NJSBF Board of Trustees and an attorney with the Morristown law firm of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland & Perretti, the Foundation distributed the free Educational Guide for Trial Jurors in cooperation with the judiciary to courthouses in all 21 counties. "The pamphlet has been designed to introduce potential jurors to the court system and to orient them to their role as jurors," said Michael Garrahan, chief of Trial Court Support Operations of the Administrative Office of the Courts, who coordinated judiciary assistance in preparing and editing the pamphlet. "We hope that jurors find the pamphlet both informative and useful as they set about performing their duty as jurors in the Superior Court of New Jersey." Illustrating the rules of evidence, the role of witnesses, and explaining how each side will present its case, the booklet also gives practical advice on how a juror should conduct him or herself during a trial. In addition, the pamphlet explains the difference between a civil case and a criminal case, the meaning and requirements of grand and petit juries and how a jury is selected. The booklet concludes with a section listing additional resources about the jury system. Students' Rights Addressed Keeping students and the adults that deal with them informed of students' rights is the goal of the Students' Rights Handbook, a new publication published by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. The booklet is offered free to New Jersey schools and the public. Created and written by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the booklet is geared to high school students and covers such topics as discrimination, hair and dress codes, censorship, search and seizure, drug testing, school discipline and much more. "It is critical that students know their rights so that they may fully exercise them and stand up for themselves," said Lenora Lapidus, legal director of the ACLU-NJ. Free copies of the Students' Rights Handbook , the Educational Guide for Trial Jurors and the Consumer's Guide to New Jersey Law are available through the New Jersey State Bar Foundation in single copies and bulk orders. The publications can also be printed or ordered from the Foundation's Web site at www.njsbf.org or by calling 1-800-FREE LAW. Other publications the Bar Foundation expects to publish in 2001 include another publication on students' rights cosponsored with the Association for Children of New Jersey and an Education Law Center manual for parents of students with disabilities in New Jersey titled The Right to Special Education in New Jersey: A Guide for Advocates. |
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Due Process Special Promotes RESPECT New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the union, and is one of the most diverse. As a result, New Jersey youth routinely encounter fellow students from various religions, classes and cultures, whose backgrounds and points of view do not necessarily reflect their own. To help students learn to respect their differences, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and New Jersey Network brought the issues of tolerance and diversity to the forefront in October with a special episode of the Emmy-winning television program, Due Process, titled Respect. Sponsored by the NJSBF and NJN, the show provided a thoughtful, interactive discussion between a panel of experts and an audience of high school students. The one-hour special originally aired October 26 and is now available on video through the Foundation's Video Loan Library. Respect features video clips highlighting successful approaches to preventing and resolving conflict, as well as insight and commentary from a multi-faceted panel whose members represented diversity in race, religion, gender and philosophy. These special guests, who all share a steadfast commitment to promoting tolerance and fighting bias, included:
Audience participants included students from Bordentown Regional High School, Columbia High School, North Brunswick High School, Old Bridge High School West, Paramus High School, South Plainfield High School and Watchung Hills High School. These students, some of whom were featured in the roll-in pieces, brought their unique perspectives on the best way to promote tolerance in their schools. Students also voiced their opinions about hate on the Internet and what some people consider hate speech in popular rap music. Due Process host Raymond Brown, a national figure in criminal defense and civil rights, and Due Process Senior Producer Sandra King, whose award-winning reporting has concentrated on issues of race, justice and diversity, hosted the program. To rent the video, send a letter with a $50 refundable security deposit check to NJSBF Video Loan Library, One Constitution Square, New Brunswick, NJ 08901. Videos are loaned for a period of two weeks. Due Process, NJN's public affairs program, underwritten by the State Bar Foundation, provides in-depth insight on cutting-edge issues of law and social justice and has earned accolades from public and professional groups, including six Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards and 20 nominations during the last four years. |
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Special Education Students' Needs Addressed The New Jersey State Bar Foundation held a free public seminar in November to address the needs of students with disabilities. Titled Everything You Always Wanted to Ask About Special Education: Parents & Schools' Rights and Responsibilities, the seminar took a personalized view of special education with dialogue between the audience and a panel comprised of three experienced special education law attorneys. Materials from the conference are now available for interested parents and advocates who could not attend the November session. Topics covered in the seminar included identification and referral for special education; evaluation by school districts and independent evaluators; the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and the provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). In addition, what constitutes a Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) and the concept of inclusion; discipline for students in special education; transition to the adult world, and mediation and due process, which deals with ways of solving conflicts between parents and school districts, were also covered in the seminar. Speakers for the seminar included Rebecca K. Spar, an attorney with the Hackensack law firm of Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard; Elizabeth Athos, senior attorney for Education Law Center; and Nancy Tubbs, staff attorney for the Association for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ). Spar concentrates her practice in education and disabilities rights law. She is a former chair of the NJSBA Children's Rights Committee and is currently chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association's School Law Committee. Athos works as an attorney in the Student Rights Project at the Education Law Center, a nonprofit, Newark-based law office with a statewide practice. ELC is dedicated to helping New Jersey children receive a thorough, efficient and appropriate education. The Student Rights Project provides legal representation to individual students involved in a dispute with a public school district or the New Jersey Department of Education. Education Law Center concentrates its work in low-income urban and rural districts. As part of ACNJ's Legal Resource Center, Tubbs talks to parents about the education rights of children with disabilities. She represents parents at school meetings and mediations and also conducts training for various groups on education rights and duties. Hand-outs Available The speakers provided participants with many valuable handouts that are available through the Foundation by calling 1-800-FREE LAW. Those handouts included:
In addition to the seminar, the Foundation is cosponsoring with Education Law Center, the printing of The Right to Special Education in New Jersey: A Guide for Advocates, a manual developed and written by the ELC for parents of students with disabilities in New Jersey. The booklet provides valuable information to parents on the legal rights of children with disabilities to receive a free and appropriate education in public school. The publication is expected to be available shortly. For more information about upcoming Foundation seminars or information on the availability of The Right to Special Education in New Jersey manual, visit the Bar Foundation online at www.njsbf.org. |
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Mock Trial Competitions Get Underway Competition in the New Jersey State Bar Foundation's mock trial programs is heating up despite the temperature outside. Offering something for students in kindergarten through high school, the Mock Trial Program continues to be a hit with both New Jersey teachers and students. Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition New Jersey high school students experience firsthand what it's like to participate in the American justice system when they step into the roles of lawyers, jurors and witnesses and compete in the 2000-2001 Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition. This year's case is a wrongful death suit involving a college junior, Brenda Groom, who died at a campus rock concert. At issue is whether the college failed to provide adequate security to prevent Brenda from being trampled by frenzied fans or whether the "designer drug" Ecstasy brought about her death.
Open to all New Jersey high schools, the Mock Trial Competition is sponsored each year by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation, the educational and philanthropic arm of the New Jersey State Bar Association, in cooperation with New Jersey's county bar associations. The Mock Trial Competition helps to educate students about the law and to develop basic life and leadership skills, such as listening, speaking, reading, writing and analyzing. This year, a record 223 schools are participating in the program. Since its inception in 1982, the Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition has taught more than 51,000 high school students the fundamentals of our court system. The competition is open to all public and private high schools in New Jersey. Workbooks that contain the rules, procedures and case for 2000-2001 are available free of charge by calling the Foundation at 1-800-FREE-LAW. The workbooks may also be printed from the Foundation's Web site at www.njsbf.org. To help students prepare for the competition, each registered mock trial team will be assigned a volunteer attorney-coach upon request. The contests will begin at the county level in January and/or February. For further information about the 2000-2001 High School Mock Trial Competition, contact Sheila Boro at (732) 937-7519 or sboro@njsbf.org. You can also write to: High School Mock Trial Competition, New Jersey State Bar Foundation, One Constitution Square, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1500. Law Fair/Law Adventure Competitions For younger students, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation offers its Law Fair and Law Adventure Competitions, which stimulate creativity while at the same time enhancing students' understanding of the law. In the Law Fair Competition students in grades three through six write original mock trial cases on any topic. Past cases have tackled such complex legal issues as negligence, product liability, theft, discrimination, eminent domain, underage drinking and freedom of speech. In the Law Adventure Competition students in grades seven and eight are given two themes from the Bar Foundation, and they must develop an original mock trial case around one of them. This year's themes are malpractice, either medical, legal or any other kind of professional malpractice; and the problems increased genetic knowledge may present in terms of legally discriminating against an individual. Free exercise booklets for the Bar Foundation's Law Fair and Law Adventure Competitions are now available to interested elementary and middle schools. The booklets, which contain the winning mock trial cases from last year can be used for classroom exercises even without entering the formal competitions. The Law Fair exercises are for grades 3 - 6. The Law Adventure booklet is for grades 7 and 8. The exercise booklets are available on the Foundation's Web site at www.njsbf.org and they may also be ordered by calling 1-800-FREE LAW. Please specify grade level when ordering. The Foundation's Law Fair and Law Adventure Competitions are open to all public and private elementary and middle schools in New Jersey. Entry for both competitions is free and the deadline to enter is Jan. 31, 2001. For more information, call the New Jersey State Bar Foundation at 1-800-FREE LAW or e-mail sboro@njsbf.org. Mini-Court For really little ones, the Foundation offers its Mini-Court Teacher's Guide for grades K-2. The booklet features a five-day lesson plan for students in kindergarten and first grade and a separate five-day lesson for students in second grade. Designed to introduce basic legal concepts to children, the lesson plans were developed by a group of volunteer elementary school teachers and lawyers. Using the cases of Goldilocks and Spot the Dalmatian, who ran away from home while in the care of a 13-year-old babysitter, the lessons highlight such legal issues as negligence, the credibility of witnesses and the difference between civil and criminal law. In addition to the lessons, the guides include a glossary of legal terms, a coloring page, a courtroom diagram, a resource section, an activity page and an award certificate for the students. The Mini-Court booklet is also available on the Foundation's Web site. In addition, teachers can print large graphics of Goldilocks and all three bears from the Web site for students to color and use as puppets. |
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Teacher New to Coaching But Not to Mock Trial Program Don Bosco Technical High School in Paterson may be new to the New Jersey State Bar Foundation's Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition, but their teacher-coach, Regina Melnyk, is no stranger to it. Melnyk, who teaches American Literature, British Literature and an S.A.T. prep course, participated in the competition while a student at Lawrence High School, competing as both witness and an attorney. So, Melnyk knows what it will take to prepare her team. Coming from a family of attorneys (her father is currently a Workers' Compensation judge), it was natural for Melnyk to join the mock trial team while in school. She notes that for a long time she wanted to become an attorney herself. That decision changed in college when she received what she says was a "calling" to be a teacher. Melnyk credits the mock trial program for honing her debate and oratory skills, which benefit her today in her role as teacher. "A lot of the improvisation and quick-thinking skills that I learned way back then come into play in my classroom today," she said. "Being on my mock trial team in high school has probably made me a better teacher." Transition From Member to Coach Don Bosco Technical High School is a private, all-boys school with a technical focus on computers. Melnyk says that many people have misconceptions about the young men of Paterson, labeling them "city kids," which she feels is sometimes misinterpreted as "incapable." "I want everyone, especially my students, to know that they are just as able to compete in this competition as any boy anywhere in New Jersey," Melnyk says. "I have great faith in them. There's no reason why we can't win." When Melnyk started teaching at Don Bosco in 1998, she saw a lot of extracurricular activities for the students that challenged their bodies, such as sports, but not many that challenged their minds. Melnyk has since instituted a literary magazine, chess club and has been moderator of the National Honor Society. "I'm very interested in giving the students exposure to activities that challenge their minds," she said. "Mock trial seemed like the kind of academic activity that could really benefit the boys." And, as a former mock trial team member, Melnyk knows what to expect in competition. She thinks her students will find mock trial the most difficult and challenging activity they have ever faced in high school. She also notes that it will be the most rewarding for them. "Mock Trial taught me a lot about dedication. We worked before school, after school, and on weekends. I had never before put so much into one activity," she said. Melnyk notes that the "winning team is not necessarily the one that gets the verdict in its favor, but the team that does the best job playing its role." According to Melnyk, the benefits of the mock trial program are far-reaching, encouraging higher-level thinking, a key to success in college and future careers. "Every education professional will tell you teaching students to think can be more important than the content of a lesson. Students may forget the author of The Canterbury Tales or the 32nd president, but they will never forget how to think," she said. "Employers today, whether hiring at a fast food place or a Fortune 500 company, want thinkers. Mock Trial prepares students to be superior members of society and the work force." | ||
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