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FAQ Contents

• LRE improves critical thinking, analytical and problem solving skills.
• Students are actively engaged in the learning process.
• LRE increases students’ knowledge of the law making them better informed citizens.
• LRE encourages students to respect laws, rules and persons in authority when exposed to a balanced view of our democratic society.
• LRE can aid in reducing discipline problems in schools.
• Students learn positive ways to resolve conflict.
• Students are exposed to members of the legal community in positive ways.
• Students involved in LRE are less likely to become delinquent.
• LRE promotes positive self-image in students.
• LRE promotes community interaction with the schools.
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How do I get LRE into my school?
LRE Division staff and master LRE teachers are available to make presentations about law related education programming, materials, methodologies and benefits to school boards, school districts, faculty groups and parent groups. To request a presentation, contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org.

Law related education is not just for social studies teachers. LRE can be infused into and taught in all subject areas. Teachers can get involved in mock trial, We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, We the People: Project Citizen, Foundations of Democracy, Community Works, LawForKids.org, Law For Teachers, or borrow and use materials from the LRE Clearinghouse. LRE curriculums are also available that teach students about drug and violence prevention, the Constitution and Bill of Rights and practical law. For more information contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139.

For information about the LRE programs contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139.

Middle School Mock Trial Program
The LRE Division provides support and technical assistance for regional middle school mock trial competitions in the Upstate, Midlands and Coastal regions of the state. Each regional competition has it’s own coordinator who sets the competition schedule. Competition is usually held in the fall on a Saturday. There is no statewide middle school competition.
Teams of up to 14 students prepare both sides of a fictional case. The students play the roles of attorneys and witnesses. Teams will try both sides of the case against opponents chosen in a random draw. Lawyers and judges serve as presiding and scoring judges for the competition. The top two teams after two rounds advance to a final round. The top teams receive awards as do students recognized as the Most Effective Attorney or Most Effective Witness during each trial of the competition.

Mock Trial Discussion
Click here to join in on the High School Discussion or here to join the Middle School Mock Trial Discussion.

For information about the mock trial program contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139.

School Resource Officer opportunities
LRE offers training content areas during the Basic and Advanced School Resource Officer (SRO) classes offered by the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy.  Through Basic SRO, an overview of law related education programming is offered.  In Advanced SRO class, officers are trained on LRE best practices, and provided training materials to teach in the classroom in their assigned school.  To register for either of these courses, please contact the SC Criminal Justice Academy at 803-896-7777.

 

For more information, contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139.

Street Law
Street Law is a course in practical law. It began as a project at Georgetown Law Center in 1972. Four law students and their professor were looking for a way to provide young people with information about the law that would assist them in their daily lives, offering a preventive law approach that would also provide students with knowledge of what to do when confronted with a legal problem. The name Street Law represents the content of the course -- practical law important in a person’s everyday life, on the street. Information is presented through student-centered activities that enable teens to develop the skills they need to use Street Law’s information and to be effective citizens. Most often, Street Law is taught as a one-semester social studies elective. In some schools a full-year elective exists. Some schools use Street Law: A Course In Practical Law as a part of, or in place of, a government course. The text may also be used by teachers of practical business law courses.

For more information, contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139. 

Supreme Court Institute
The Supreme Court of South Carolina and the South Carolina Bar Law Related Education Division through an IOLTA grant from the SC Bar Foundation are offering an interactive learning institute, the "South Carolina Supreme Court Institute," for middle and high school teachers statewide to encourage a better understanding and appreciation for the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.  To accomplish this goal, the SC Supreme Court program is offered over the course of four and a half days.  As a result of attending this institute, attendees will have a better understanding of the Supreme Court and how it relates to everyone in their daily lives.  The institute will focus on including outside resource persons to include SC Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal along with fellow justices and various judges representing the Federal Court, Family Court, Circuit Court, and Court of Appeals.

For more information, contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139.

Teacher List Service
The South Carolina Bar has begun a list service called LRE Teacher listserv.  If you are interested in receiving law related education information in this format, please contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or 803-252-5139. 

Teen Law 101
Teen Law 101 is a program of the South Carolina Bar LRE Division to provide young adults with the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about legal issues affecting them.  Teen Law 101 serves as a good starting point for the answers to basic questions about the law.  For more advanced questions about the law, or to ask something that has not been a part of the Teen Law 101 information, please see LawForKids.org.

For more information, contat the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139.

Training Opportunities
LRE Division staff and master LRE teachers are available to conduct in-service presentations for school and district in-services. In addition, the LRE Division sponsors a number of training sessions on a variety of topics. For more information about training click here or, contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139.

We the People: the Citizen and the Constitution
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program is an instructional program on the history and principles of American constitutional democracy for elementary, middle and high school students. The program is based on curricular materials developed by the Center and acclaimed by leading educators. It culminates in a competitive simulated congressional hearing where the entire class, working in cooperative teams, prepares and presents statements before a panel of community representatives who act as congressional committee members. Students then answer questions posed by the committee members. The format provides students an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of constitutional principles while providing teachers with an excellent means of assessing performance. The rewards the students gain are phenomenal, both by way of content understanding and performance skills. Students who prepare to compete must develop problem solving, coordination, team building, research, writing and public speaking skills. These skills are directly related to the rich content of the We the People…The Citizen and the Constitution program that ultimately builds citizenship potential among student participants.

For more information, contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139.

We the People: Project Citizen
We the People: Project Citizen is a public policy curriculum designed for grades 6-9. Students research a problem in their community and develop the public policy to address the problem. The curriculum enhances students’ communication, reading, writing and research skills and helps them develop problem solving and critical thinking skills as well as teamwork.

The program teaches student’s to:

• Identify a public policy problem in their community
• Study; gather and evaluate information on the problem from a variety of sources
• Examine and evaluate existing a proposed policies designed to deal with the problem
• Select or develop a proposed public policy designed to deal with the problem and evaluate its consistency with constitutional principles, and
• Develop a proposed action plan to show how they might attempt to influence their government to adopt their proposed policy

A limited number of free classroom sets are available. A statewide in-service is usually held in the early fall.

For more information about Project Citizen contact the LRE Division at (803) 252-5139, or e-mail lre@scbar.org.

Youth Court
Youth Court is one of the fastest growing youth diversion programs in the nation. In South Carolina, there are 35 separate youth courts serving many different communities and schools. In communities, youth court is a juvenile diversion option intended to keep young people with no criminal record out of the juvenile justice system, allowing them a second chance to maintain their clean juvenile records. In schools, youth court can handle actual criminal offenses in which the School Resource Officer is involved, or it can be inserted into the discipline code to handle violations of school rules. Youth Court functions like a traditional court with all the key roles in place. The difference is that all of those roles are played by youth. Youth Courts utilize positive peer pressure as their primary mode of operation. They can be implemented in a variety of forms, but in all forms, youth serve to hear charges and impose a disposition. Youth Court provides a fascinating opportunity to positively impact the young people of this state, while simultaneously educating youth offenders and non-offenders about the law and the judicial process.

For more information, contact the LRE Division at lre@scbar.org, or call 803-252-5139.