Trial Magazine

In response to a new city ordinance, a sign is posted at a park entrance stating: “No vehicles allowed.” Does this prohibit baby carriages or bicycles? What about an ambulance transporting someone with a life-threatening injury?

Each month, teams of lawyers and judges visit high school, middle school, and elementary school ­classrooms in Philadelphia public schools to discuss questions like these. Advancing Civics Education (ACE)—a partnership between the Philadelphia Bar Association and the School District of Philadelphia—pairs city schools with legal professionals who teach civics lessons that connect to the broader history curriculum. For Philadelphia attorneys Marc P. Weingarten and Melanie Garner, volunteering with ACE allows them to apply their shared interest in education and explore a topic they care deeply about—the duties and rights of people within our political and legal systems.

“I’ve been involved in ACE since the program began more than a decade ago, and it’s an excellent way for attorneys to provide a resource for public schools and engage with young people in a meaningful way,” said Weingarten. “Everything we do is based on back-and-forth conversations and interactions with the students. By challenging them to independently analyze scenarios like ‘no vehicles in the park,’ we help them build the critical thinking skills they need now and in the future.”

Lawyers participating in ACE complete a training program before joining a team and visiting a classroom. Each month during the school year, a team leads a lesson for the same class of students. ACE provides a curriculum covering topics such as individual rights, community responsibility, and dispute resolution, but teams can improvise within that structure.

Being responsive to student interests is one of Garner’s favorite parts of the program. “I always look forward to seeing what issues students will raise,” she said. “For example, last year, one lesson we taught to a group of high school students presented a fictional scenario in which a Muslim girl was restricted from wearing her hijab at school under a rule that prohibited students from wearing hats. That sparked a lot of interesting discussion about various First Amendment issues related to recent events such as the Muslim travel ban. It’s inspiring to see how quickly students make connections between our lesson plans and the real world.”

ACE also gives volunteers like ­Weingarten and Garner the opportunity to discuss the civil justice system—a topic that may be unfamiliar to students. “Many of them have never heard of a civil attorney before,” Weingarten noted. “By meeting members on both sides of the civil bar, students learn about this important part of our justice system and about career possibilities that they might not have known about.”

Weingarten and Garner emphasize that the program’s real impact will be seen outside the classroom. “We all need to be committed to building students’ understanding of the civic institutions that they will soon be leading, and ACE is one example that works,” explained Weingarten. “There’s no reason this program can’t be made available to attorneys and students across the country, and I encourage anyone interested in learning more to contact us.”

Mandy Brown is an associate editor with Trial magazine. Marc P. Weingarten is a partner and Melanie Garner is an associate at Locks Law Firm in Philadelphia. They can be reached at mweingarten@lockslaw.com and mgarner@lockslaw.com.