Help!!! Need to do a workshop for some year 9s (negotiation or something legal)?

[MrsFogi]

I've foolishly agreed to help out and now need to think of an "activity" to last about 15-20 minutes to introduce some year 9s to either the idea of a career in law or to get them to "negotiate". Any ideas? Has anyone done anthing I could steal/adapt?

[CriticalCondition]

I'm liking your work very much, BumblebeeBum, thank you!

[Somewhereoverthesanddune]

Negotiation exercise in pairs. Aim is to get the best settlement possibly for your client. Each person gets an acceptable range and then they take it in terms to propose amounts to the other.

So eg one party has max 100 and the other party has min 90. Party 1 starts by proposing 20 and party 2 counters 150. You either give no or a very small overlap and see how long it takes them.

[BumblebeeBum]

Some great ideas above. I’d go with the guilty / not guilty or true / false cards for them to hold up and the party story.

20 mins is plenty of time. Teachers would have been expected to taught them half a GCSE in that time!

Go with this as a structure

Starter - question posed to them on the board as they enter to get them thinking

Main - party scenario as above with them holding up cards to give their opinions multiple times throughout

Plenary - get them to write down one thing they learnt and/or one question they still have on a post it that they hand in as they leave.

[CriticalCondition]

Hmm, it's a tricky one. It's a very short time and it's not very clear what the purpose of the session is. Is it a session to inspire them to consider a career in the law (and inform their subject choices) or is it a fun 'life skills' type workshop?

If its purpose is to get them thinking about how law affects every aspect of our lives, how it raises and deals with really knotty issues and how interesting being a lawyer might be, then perhaps a relevant scenario might help. They could then discuss/decide/vote on the issues.

There's something along these lines in the intro to a book 'What about Law' written for prospective law students. Sorry, can't do a link here but the scenario is something like this....

A teenage party held by 17 year old 'Laura' while her parents are away for the weekend. It gets out of hand. All sorts of interesting questions for lawyers.

Property in the house is badly damaged or stolen. Obviously criminal behaviour but what if the perpetrators can't be identified. Can guests be forced to give evidence? Can they get into trouble if they don't name names?

An invited guest Sam trips on a loose paving stone on the patio and is seriously injured. Laura's parents knew it was dangerous and had been meaning to get it fixed. Can Sam sue them for compensation? What if Laura's parents had expressly forbidden her to have a party? What if Sam was drunk and messing about? What if Sam was a gatecrasher?

The police raid the party and find illegal drugs. Is it illegal to take these drugs? To share them? To supply them to friends? Should it be illegal to do any of those things?

Is Laura (only 17) legally responsible for any of this? What if she spent all night cowering in her bedroom, too terrified to do anything? Are her parents responsible even though they weren't there and are appalled by the chaos when they get home?

Not sure how you would make this into a more interactive/fun activity (I'm a lawyer not a teacher ) but sure there are ways! If you think it has potential it'd be worth looking up the book online and reading the party scenario in full on the 'Look Inside' function. It has a lot more detail and questions to consider.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

They will want to know your advice about law a-level - the messages are so mixed and it would be useful guidance for them.

Can you talk them through a legal case as a story? Give them potted versions of the crucial evidence and talk about how the material linked together to reach a verdict/how the solicitors used the information they had to reach an agreement (sorry, can't remember whether you said criminal law or not). The narrative will help them to understand - useful for them to have the solicitor's viewpoint as a lot of drama and teen fiction centres around the protagonists.

[GreenTulips]

Could you do
Guilty and not guilty placards -
Then read a case

Person steels from a shop - show sign
He stole a loaf of bread
He had no money
His children were starving
There was a major flood
No help had arrived from outside
There was no access to banks
He intended to pay it back
He works as (big firm)

Keep showing the signs - see if you get a majority!!

[Colbu24]

It's too little time to do much. It would have been great to have a court case or a debate. Moral dilemas are great.
Maybe you can do that game of who I'm I?
With legal terms.
My father is a criminal lawyer and he always talk about do you put a man in jail for stealing bread to feed his children?
He is a thieve or was he justified?

[MrsFogi]

Thanks for the replies so far. I know it is a very short time! I think the school is trying to have some sort of "fun" element here.

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

20 minutes is so short you'd struggle to sit them all down, do a meaningful activity and link it back to law.

I'd scrap the interactive element (I tend not to do anything interactive with this age group unless I have an hour or so) and do an introduction to legal careers - what's the difference between a solicitor and barrister, what do they actually do at work, how do you get to be a lawyer (there's more to it than just doing an LLB), need good grades etc. That will easily fill 20 minutes and will dispel a few myths. At a point where they're about to start their GCSEs and are thinking about their future, it's very valuable.

[GreenTulips]

Put them in groups

Give them 6 cards each -

Task them to get 4 kings group 1
4 sevens - group 2

Then get them to trade!

If they know group 5 want fours they'll be clever and negotiate the other teams losing