All the world’s a stage– including the UT College of Law, where associate professor Joy Radice is redefining the phrase “courtroom drama.”
When Radice joined UT’s faculty in 2012, she left behind her job at the New York University School of Law. There, actors and theater students were routinely used in class– a unique approach she now replicates in her Criminal Law class.
During the first 12 weeks of class, students primarily read and discuss cases from textbooks. The last two weeks, however, are a little different.
Using real (though slightly altered) case files from the UT Advocacy Clinic, Radice’s students simulate the legal process as mock prosecutors and defense attorneys. With funding provided by UT’s Teaching and Learning Center, Radice employs actors to play police officers or suspects in the case, giving her students actual subjects to interview and cross-examine. The result? A not-so-mock trial.
“Professor Radice is incredibly intentional in making sure her students connect the theoretical with the real life aspects of practice that we will encounter after law school,” said Alé Dalton, a 2nd year law student. “The actors were in character at all times, reciting the details of the night in question effortlessly which allowed us to truly treat him as a client and as him in-depth questions that ultimately helped us resolve his case”
On the last day of class, prosecutors and attorneys are paired up and must agree on a plea bargain. Because 90 percent of trials are resolved through plea bargains, Radice believes students should practice working through the tension that accompanies them. Some students could not reach agreement on a plea bargain and opted to go to court instead. Others agreed on terms for community service or supervised probation. Only a few pairs convinced the suspect to admit to their crimes.
“We had this really great conversation, not just about the law but about how it actually works in the real world,” Radice said. “I think it was just a nice way to wrap up everything we were doing from the textbook over the course of the year.”
Heartened by the project’s success, Radice asked UT theater students to create another simulation, this time for the College’s Advocacy Clinic, a semester long course for third year law students.
By the second day of class in the clinic, students begin receiving real clients and cases. Radice wanted to create a mandatory boot camp to preface this course, hopefully preparing third year students for the challenges to come.
“Working with the actors from UT during the boot camp portion of the course was one of the experiences which was really out of my comfort zone,” said Rebekah Pykosh, a third year law student who went through the boot camp this fall. “I thought it was going to be hard to “play along” with them but actually it felt totally real. . .I actually forgot I was working with an actor because it felt so real.”
Currently, Radice is researching how well simulation works as a method for teaching law. Using results from the Criminal Law final exam, for example, Radice plans to compare student performance on questions pulled from the text books with their performance on questions pertaining to the simulation.
“I know it won’t be a full-proof conclusion, but it will allow me to say that I think this teaching method, which is pretty unique in this big class, is just as effective if not more effective than the teaching that we’re used to,” Radice said.
Statistics aside, Radice’s simulations are already becoming a favorite activity for students– even those who do not plan to pursue criminal law.
“As someone who does not plan to practice in the criminal law field, I still found Professor Radice’s efforts at making the class more tangible invaluable in understanding how great lawyers interact with their clients and work to solve their clients’ problems,” Dalton said. “That’s something every law student will use in the future.”
