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Lawyers
as Teachers & Peacemakers When
I accepted the gavel as MSBA President, I applauded the work of the
MSBA Civic Education Committee—which my predecessor, Patrick Kelly,
created—on educating the public about the justice system, especially
helping today’s youth learn about, understand, and appreciate their
rights, their responsibilities, and their relationships in a democratic
and diverse society. Today I am writing about an exciting new project
that the Civic Education Committee and the Alternative Dispute Resolution
Section are launching this year: “Operation Arbitration.” Civic Education The
perspective of the student citizen is unique, and valuable, and hard
to regain later in life, and we must hear it and listen to it if we
want this nation to sustain itself as a free and democratic society
in the years and generations ahead. Democracy is not easy, and the
democratic institutions that we take for granted—a written constitution,
an independent judiciary, a bill of rights, freedom of conscience,
and the rule of law itself—are under a constant attack that they will
not survive unless each generation embraces them for its own. Civic
education is the contribution that the organized bar can make toward
giving the next generation the tools that it needs in order to preserve,
protect, and defend those great institutions for themselves and for
generations to come. A
fundamental constitutional right, guaranteed by the 1st Amendment,
is “the right … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
This right means that when we feel wronged by another, we aren’t left
on our own in order to right that wrong— we can call on the government,
usually through the courts, for help in righting the wrong. On the
other hand, because the courts are always open for that purpose, when
we feel wronged by another we must use the justice system and cannot
take the law into our own hands. The right of petitioning for the
redress of grievances ensures that people will resolve their private
disputes through law rather than through violence.
“Operation
Arbitration” is an original project in which volunteer lawyers will
help students hear and resolve real-life disputes involving students,
student groups, and their school communities. Operation Arbitration
is different from other law-related programs such as mock trial or
moot court because it involves real-life disputes, not an academic
exercise. The volunteer lawyers will train students to hear, mediate,
and—if necessary—decide real-life disputes among their peers.1 The
lawyers will coach the students (and their teachers), and will hear
appeals from the student arbitrators’ decisions. The project will
help students learn about how the justice system works, help them
value the rule of law, and let them and their communities see lawyers
in a positive, problem-solving role as “pro bono peacemakers.” (I
say “pro bono” because the lawyers are volunteering their time and
legal skills. Whether that time counts toward a given pro bono goal
depends on the particular program’s definition of “pro bono” and its
other requirements.) The Operation Arbitration curriculum will consist
of weekly lessons for students about (1) core conflict-resolution
skills, including both mediation and arbitration; and (2) civic education,
focusing on how the justice system works and how disputes can be resolved
outside of court. Meanwhile,
beyond Operation Arbitration, the Civic Education Committee is working
on other long- and short-term projects to get more lawyers involved
in Minnesotans’ civic education. The committee has organized this
work around four areas:
BRIAN MELENDEZ is president of the Minnesota State Bar Association and a partner in the law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP. He received his undergraduate and law degrees cum laude, as well as a master’s degree in theology, from Harvard University. He is active in numerous professional, civic, and alumni organizations both locally and nationally. |
