ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER?

Demarest Elementary School Students Prepare for the New Jersey State Bar Law Fair Competition
By: Rosa D. Forrester, Esq.

On January 13, 2016, I went back to elementary school.  I was lucky enough to be invited to visit Demarest Elementary School in Bloomfield, New Jersey to assist a group of 5th graders with their entry into the New Jersey State Bar Law Fair Competition. The competition requires that the students create a detailed fact pattern involving a negligence claim. The students have to identify the issues and sub-issues in their case, and discuss the concepts and laws applicable to their particular facts. Having come in third place last year, the students are determined to prevail in the 2016 competition.

Each fact pattern revolves around topics chosen by the students. This year the 5th graders wrote about selfie sticks, cell phone usage in schools, and the perennial favorite: the banana peel slip-and-fall. The students have been researching basic ideas for weeks, and already knew all about the legal concepts of negligence and parental supervision. I was excited to explain some of the more complicated issues in terms they might understand. Discussing the elements of causation became a lot more fun when speaking in terms of bouncy-house injuries!

When the bell rang, the class was prepared for their arguments, and I was excited for the future legal eagles of the class of 2031!

Good Luck to Demarest Elementary School at the spring Mock Trial Competition!