Young Adult Legal Introduction Series

Memphis Area Legal Services, Inc. - 020103

Abstract Number: 020103

September 2003

The Private Attorney Involvement (PAI) component of Memphis Area Legal Services (MALS), International Paper, and the Memphis City School System have collaborated on a curriculum referred to as the "Young Adult Legal Introduction Series." The purpose of this program is to familiarize young persons with certain basic legal principles, which may help them to avoid some of the intractable problems most frequently seen by legal services lawyers. The project was introduced at a teacher training, and the first module of the curriculum will be introduced in required high school economic classes.

The format for the curriculum is a series of modules, each intended to be presented in a class period. A module will consist of an audio-visual segment about 15 minutes in length, along with printed instructional matter and "question & answer" materials for use in classroom discussions. The audio-visual will dramatize a problem situation involving a young person, with each scene of the "drama" followed by a brief "plain English" legal analysis of what is going on and what the protagonist should have done differently. A short summary will wind up each segment.

The first module (tentatively entitled, "The Short Happy Ride of Steve Coleman") involves the purchase of a used car by a young individual. The audio-visual portion is presented in six scenes, dramatizing the ill-advised purchase, followed by car trouble, repossession, and a court appearance in which a deficiency judgment is taken against the young person. Each is played out in a dramatic (somewhat humorous) vignette followed by the thoughts of a lawyer. The video is accompanied by printed materials.

The Young Adult Legal Introduction Series is exciting precisely because it is a form of community legal education that reaches a substantially larger population than is typically accessible to legal services community education efforts.

Contact Information:

Elder L. Shearon, III
109 N. Main St., Suite
Memphis, TN 38103
Phone:(901) 523-8822
Fax: (901) 543-5087
pshearon@malsi.org

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