Justice Frazee, Justice Thompson and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for inviting me to testify on behalf of the New York County Lawyers' Association and for giving me this opportunity to discuss NYCLA's ideas for enhancing public trust and confidence in the legal system. On the evening of Wednesday, August 26, 1906 – two years before the founding of NYCLA -- Roscoe Pound, then only thirty-six years old and the dean of the law department of the University of Nebraska, read a paper entitled "The Causes of Popular Dissatisfaction with the Administration of Justice" at the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association.

In his opening paragraph, Dean Pound observed that:

Dissatisfaction with the administration of justice is as old as law....[A]s long as there have been laws and lawyers, conscientious and well-meaning men have believed that laws were mere arbitrary technicalities, and that the attempt to regulate the relations of mankind in accordance with them resulted largely in injustice. But we must not be discontent with all law into overlooking or underrating the real and serious dissatisfaction with courts and lack of respect for law which exists in the United States today.

Although Dean Wigmore wrote some thirty years later that Pound's speech "struck the spark that kindled the white flame of high endeavor, now spreading through the entire legal profession and radiating the spirit of resolute progress in the administration of justice," Pound's observations appear as accurate today as they did when he made them more than ninety years ago. Our impression, derived from contact with our clients and other members of the public, is that the public remains dissatisfied with our legal system. Moreover, this public dissatisfaction contrasts sharply with the views of leaders of the bar who, although mindful of the need for substantial innovation and improvement, have a high regard both for our system of justice and for the judges and other public officials who lead it.

Our citizens derive their knowledge about the workings of the justice system in part from their infrequent direct contact with the system as either jurors or litigants and in larger part from reports concerning the legal system that appear in the media. None of these sources, however, provides the information that members of the public need to understand the role that our system of justice plays in our society and how the system functions on a day-to- day basis. Accordingly, in our experience, the public does not have an adequate understanding of such fundamental questions as: what it means to say that the United States is governed by the rule of law, what the courts do, what would happen if there were no laws or no courts, and why an independent judiciary is so important to the preservation of individual liberty.

Although it is extremely important that we continue to work hard to improve the experience that our citizens have as jurors and litigants and that we continue to urge the media to be more informative, neither of these efforts is likely to make a substantive difference in public perception of the legal system. The direct contact that most citizens have with the legal system is too sporadic, and it is not the responsibility of the media to educate the public concerning the daily functioning of the legal system.

Instead, it is our view that the best long range strategy for improving public trust and confidence in the legal system is for there to be a substantial increase in efforts to educate children about the legal system and its importance to the preservation of a free society. We believe that such education should begin in the earliest grades and continue in each and every grade at least through the end of high school. We have spoken with Debra Lesser, who is a member of NYCLA's Committee on Law-Related Education and is Executive Director of the Justice Resource Center, and we are impressed with the wonderful work in this area that is already being done in the New York City public schools. But if we are to meaningfully improve trust and confidence in the legal system, we need to devote substantially more resources to that effort.

Although we have designed and taught CLE courses, we are not professional educators, and it would not be appropriate for us to attempt to design curricula concerning the legal system for use in the public schools. However, we believe that NYCLA can be a valuable resource for those who are properly charged with that task, and we are anxious to help. Moreover, NYCLA, and other bar associations such as the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, have long recognized that the organized bar has an important role to play in law-related education in the public schools, and we stand ready to continue and even expand this role.

Law-related education has been one of the highest priorities of the New York County Lawyers' Association for more than fifteen years. Our Committee on Law-Related Education (or LRE), ably chaired by Justice Richard Lee Price, is widely recognized as a leader in educating the public, especially school-aged children, about our laws, the legal process and the court system. Through the Committee on Law-Related Education, students, teachers, lawyers, court administrators and judges have come together to learn how the law touches each of our lives every day.

Appended to this statement is a summary of NYCLA's activities in the area of law-related education that was prepared by members of that Committee. I will limit my remarks today to some of the highlights.

1. Lawyers in the Classroom

The "Lawyers in the Classroom" program runs throughout the school year and places lawyers directly into New York City public school classrooms, where they discuss topics of interest to the students, including criminal and constitutional law and career development. This program is one of our most popular. The LRE receives an average of 50 requests per year for classroom visits, and lawyers representing the Committee visit with approximately 1,250 students each year. Approximately 20-25 LRE members participate in this program. In addition, the "Lawyers in the Classroom" program arranges 8-10 class visits each year to Justice Price's courtroom to observe a trial and learn firsthand about the legal system.

This program is run exclusively by NYCLA Committee members, and last year the LRE accommodated all of the requests it received for classroom visits and court tours.

2. Youth Law Manual

The Youth Law Manual, a copy of which I will leave with this Committee, was prepared by LRE as a reference guide for students throughout New York City. Within its chapters, the Youth Law Manual provides valuable information to students in the areas of contracts, credit cards, leasing an apartment, child abuse and neglect, marriage, buying a car, social security, child support, school law, what to do "if you're arrested," and other pertinent rights and responsibilities.

Funding for the first printing of the Youth Law Manual was provided by the New York State Bar Association, and 5,000 copies were printed and distributed to students throughout the city. Funding for the second printing was provided by the New York State Attorney General's Office, and, once again, approximately 5,000 copies were printed and distributed. Only a handful of copies remain.

LRE is updating the Youth Law Manual to reflect the most recent changes in the law, and additional printings of the revised Manual are planned. However, no funding currently exists for this purpose.

3. Justice Resource Center

The LRE runs several programs in conjunction with the Board of Education of the City of New York and the Justice Resource Center, which coordinates all law-related education programs and curricula for public high schools and junior high schools throughout the five boroughs. Those programs include:

(a) Mock Trial Program and Competition

This annual state-wide program, sponsored by the New York State Bar Association, enables students to prepare for and participate in a Mock Trial. The Justice Resource Center coordinates this program in New York City. The program takes place over the course of six months. The actual competition is held at a courthouse.

NYCLA provides the use of its facilities for the teacher- orientation session that is held each year. LRE and other NYCLA members facilitate the training of teachers and of volunteer lawyers who serve as judges.

LRE and other NYCLA members volunteer to be both team coaches and judges. Coaches help students prepare their cases for "trial." They provide on-going guidance as well as trial tactics for students to use as they assume the role of attorneys, witnesses and legal experts. Lawyers also volunteer to judge the competition within the courthouse. The winner of the city-wide competition goes on to compete at the state level in Albany, New York.

(b) MENTOR Program and the MENTOR Moot Court Competition

The MENTOR Program pairs law firms, corporate legal departments and government agencies with public high schools. The annual MENTOR Moot Court competition enables students to make an appellate argument. The final round is held in such high esteem that Judges from the Appellate Division, First Department preside over the round. The MENTOR Program is replicated nationally and is funded by the Federal Bar Council. NYCLA is paired in the MENTOR Program with Edward R. Murrow High School.

(c) Law Cluster Schools

There are 79 law cluster high schools throughout New York City. These schools focus on law throughout much of their curricula and offer specialty classes for students interested in pursuing law as a career. Some of our LRE members are teachers and members of the Board of Directors at some of these schools. Through the Justice Resource Center, LRE members participate in teacher training workshops for topics such as those that appear in the Youth Law Manual.

These are just some of the programs NYCLA sponsors; others are described in the accompanying memorandum.

NYCLA stands committed to making law-related education a top priority, and we will assist this Committee in improving the administration of justice for all.