Our amazing cast this year included Shirin Ahlhauser, Garrett Henderson, Sarah Keller, Justin Matarrese, and Ariel Oxman. The organizer was our own Claire Duggan who handled every possible detail from the treats to the buses. Our partner in crime was Churchill teacher Claire M. McHale and her colleagues. My assistant Seth Tate also served as Johnny on the spot for everything from missing kids to wayward buses. Against all odds, we held two trials and lost nary of kid . . . and even finished ahead by eight ducklings!
In our programs, we divide the kids into two trials. One group is given a session on proving crimes and forensic sciences. Our own Lt. David Heffer did an amazing job as the forensic lecturer. The other group is given the trial and then the classes are flipped. Both classes favored conviction but roughly a fourth insisted that they had reasonable doubt in both trials.
After loading the kids up with sugar in the form of cookies and brownies, we took them out to the quad where they watched the flyover by vintage World War II planes. However, the real highlight was walking outside and finding eight ducklings in the midst of being hatched in one of our flower beds. While the kids had to be held back, they were thrilled to watch the duckling emerge and flourish under the mother duck.
We debated the proper names for the ducklings from habeas to corpus to judicata.
The law school loves having the kids and their teachers and parents. Our cast this year was incredible and kept us all laughing at their improv performances. Here are a few pictures of the duck and the ducklings:
