Fandom High School

"You know how to open, you know how to close," Nathan said as he passed around the week's handouts. "Now for the part that comes in the middle: dealing with witnesses. Today we're going to focus on cross-examination. This is when you're questioning witnesses that were called by the other attorney. We're going with this instead of your own witnesses because your own witnesses should be like reading from a script. They should know what you're going to ask, you should know what they're going to say. If you've done your prepwork there shouldn't be any surprises here.

"Dealing with someone else's witnesses is where it gets tricky," Nathan continued. "You want to make them support your case without alienating the judge or jury in the process. One way to do that is to ask leading questions. There are examples of leading questions in your handouts.

"For today's exercise I want you to pair up," Nathan said. "Remember last week's case of Police vs. Jack Jones? We'll be using it again, only this time with cross-exam. Pair up. One of you is the lawyer, the other is the witness. Those of you playing the witness could be Jack, one of the police officers, whatever you like. It's the lawyer's job to try to get you to tell your story through leading questions. Once you've gone through it, switch roles so that you both get a shot at being the lawyer. I'm here if you have questions."

[ooc: OCD is up! Have at it!]

"Today we're covering Tort Law," Nathan said as he passed around the handouts. "Otherwise known as the type of law that tends to give lawyers a bad name. As with almost anything, it can be good or bad depending on how you use it. The good is that it provides an extra incentive for people and companies to be accountable for their actions. The bad can be found in any ambulance-chaser you've ever met or heard of.

"For today's class I want you to pair up and choose a tort case. Take opposing positions and see which one of you has the better argument."

[ooc: OCD is up!]

"Nice to see you all back," Nathan said as he handed out the usual packets. "Today we're talking about Internet Law, or cyber law, as some people call it. We've already covered the practical problem of how internet technology moves too fast for precedent to keep up. Now let's talk about another problem with that technology: far too many lawmakers do not understand what the internet is. I can assure you that more than one member of Congress still thinks it's a series of tubes.

"So today I want you to pretend that you're trying to advocate for a law related to the internet where you have to find a way to explain what the internet is. Metaphors, diagrams, whatever it takes. Pair up and take turns being the politician who doesn't get it. Extra credit to anybody who figures out an actual law to argue for."

[ooc: wait for OCD is up. Now if only I could make this migraine go away...]

"Change of plans," Nathan said as he passed out that week's handouts. "This week we're covering Estate law. Your estate is your possessions. When you die - which I'm sure many of you felt was coming soon depending on how much you had to drink over Spring Break - this is the branch of law that covers what happens to your things.

"Everyone should have a will," Nathan said, with the confidence of one who came from a family where wills were drawn up as soon as children were old enough to sign their names. "Without one the government gets to decide who gets your things. Not uncommon? The government decides that it's going to keep your things. So you need something that prevents that from happening, even if all you own is your favorite pillow case.

"In your packets is a sample will." Nathan gave them a grin. "Don't worry, it's not legally binding. What I'd like you to do is read through, get the gist of what they're looking for, and then write up a will of your own. If you don't feel like giving out personal information as part of a class assignment, feel free to make up your assets and beneficiaries."

[ooc: wait for OCD is up!]

"In honor of tomorrow's holiday, today we're talking about Family Law," Nathan said as he passed around the usual handouts. "I'll spare depressing anybody by talking about divorce. Instead let's talk about law and family at its very basis. What, according to law, is a family?
( Good question! )

[ooc: OCD coming is up!]

Another class, another set of packets.

"Today we'll be discussing Environmental Law," Nathan said. "We like having clean air to breathe, water to drink, and food that won't kill us. Environmental law is how we make that happen.( And cut tags are how we have clean flists )

[ooc: OCD is up! Have at it!]

Nathan was there, dressed in a suit and tie as usual. He passed out a packet of handouts. "Today we're going to be discussing Copyright Law. At its core, Copyright Law makes sure people get credit and/or payment for their own work. Sounds good so far, right?
( But there's always a catch )

[ooc: OCD coming up! Going to bed, will pick up pings tomorrow.]