Middle School Students Celebrate Law Day at the John Adams Courthouse

Students from Beacon Academy enjoy Law Day in the Great Hall of the John Adams Courthouse.

A special Law Day program was held at the John Adams Courthouse in Boston for more than 100 students in grades 6-8 from schools in Marblehead, Brookline and Boston. Students and teachers from each of the schools met with Supreme Judicial Court Justice Robert J. Cordy, a costumed John Adams, (Cliff Allen, Reporter of Decisions), several attorneys who are former SJC Law Clerks, and Nancy Kurtz, a volunteer docent from Discovering Justice (who spoke about the case of Sacco and Vanzetti in the special exhibit room).     

John Adams (Cliff Allen, Reporter of Decisions) discusses the importance of Rule of Law with students from the Driscoll School in Brookline

Each of the four school groups learned about the Rule of Law, the program's theme, from the presenters who were in different locations in the courthouse. The students circulated from the Seven-Justice Courtroom to the Oliver Wendell Holmes Courtroom to the Great Hall escorted by Discovering Justice docents. The attorneys divided the classes into small groups and engaged the students in an exercise to demonstrate how laws can be interpreted. John Adams gave a history lesson on his life and influence as President, lawyer, patriot, and author of the Massachusetts Constitution. Some of the classes went to the State House following the Law Day program to learn about the other branches of government.   

More Photos of Law Day at the John Adams Courthouse