Watch a video introduction to the Legal Apprenticeship Program!

Hear the perspective of a former Legal Apprentice who wants to be a lawyer!

Discovering Justice's Mock Trial program includes the Legal Apprenticeship Program in partnership with Citizen Schools, a nonprofit after-school organization. Discovering Justice is also piloting a Mock Trial program in Worcester in partnership with the University Park Campus School and the law firm of Fletcher, Tilton & Whipple, with plans to expand the program to more students and communities.

Through both programs, middle school students gain a first-hand understanding of the law and the justice system, and build confidence, critical thinking, writing, and public speaking skills. Students, working with attorney volunteers, prepare cases for mock trial. They write opening and closing statements, prepare questions for witnesses, and study the law related to their cases. Their hard work culminates in a mock trial, held in a real courtroom and before a real judge and a jury of community members.

The Legal Apprenticeship Program

Since its inception, the Discovering Justice and Citizen Schools’ Legal Apprenticeship Program has introduced more than 1,200 children to the justice system and has engaged almost forty law firms, corporations, and public agencies as volunteers. Law firm and agency partners have included the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Each spring and fall, this once-a-week after-school program brings ten to twelve groups of middle school students into the conference rooms of Boston law offices and agencies to learn to be lawyers. Under the volunteer mentorship of some of the city's top attorneys, these legal apprentices write arguments, examine evidence, and prepare cases for mock trial.

After ten weeks of preparation, the young litigators argue their cases in front of federal and state court judges, jurors, and community members in an Evening of Mock Trials at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse. The cases cover a variety of issues with social and practical relevance to middle school students, including computer hacking and a student’s expulsion from school.

The Legal Apprenticeship Program enjoys widespread support from distinguished judges, elected officials and community leaders, including Associate Justice Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, and former Boston Police Commissioner Paul Evans, all of whom have served as jurors for the Evening of Mock Trials.

If you are interested in becoming one of Discovering Justice's partner firms or agencies, please contact us.

To learn more about how you can help to support the mission and programs of Discovering Justice, please visit Get Involved.

“It was wonderful to train kids to get up before a bunch of people to speak and to get some sense of what the legal system is about.  As for me, I found it an exhilarating experience.”
—Rudolph Kass, Retired Massachusetts Appeals Court Judge

“When the jury was out deliberating, the judge took the time to give the kids individual feedback on their performances.  It was incredible!  It’s one thing to get feedback from your teacher-but a real federal judge!”
—Allison Buck, Attorney, Liberty Mutual

"This experience has been fulfilling in an incredible way because you know that you are helping children who have the potential to do amazing things but somewhere along the way obstacles have been put in their way. So if you can help them read a little better, write a little better, speak a little more clearly on their feet; if you can help them see a little more clearly the options that are out there, being a lawyer or whatever. It gives them a great sense of opportunity and it makes us feel great!"
—Benjamin Albert, Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels