Five Years of Progress: Reinventing the Republic with the Council on Public Legal Education

by Judge Marlin Appelwick and Judith Billings, CPLE co-chairs

Jay Leno asks people on the street simple civics questions and gets ridiculous answers. While these clueless answers entertain us, they highlight a tragic ignorance in this country. National test scores show this is more than anecdotal: In the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress, one-third of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students could not demonstrate even a basic understanding of civics at their grade level.

This crisis in public legal education is a risk to our nation and our state. Five years ago, the Council on Public Legal Education and the Washington State Bar Association began working together to tackle this crisis. What is being done and why is it important? Read on.

What is public legal education?

Public legal education is not just education about the court system. Rather, it is the broadest awareness about the law. It encompasses constitutional rights and responsibilities. It encompasses statutes, regulations, and court rules. It encompasses how we resolve disputes, formally and informally. It encompasses civility, respect, and concern for others. It is about fairness and justice.

That is the description of public legal education given in the final report of the Public Legal Education Workgroup in 1999. This workgroup of nearly 60 lawyers, judges, educators, journalists, and community representatives was formed on recommendation from the Access to Justice Conference to "develop, oversee, and coordinate a law-related education vision for Washington state."

Why is public legal education important?

Lawyers take for granted the rule of law, the structure of our constitutional democracy, and the role of lawyers and courts in American life. Nonlawyers, however, may not understand, let alone agree with or support, basic concepts lawyers take for granted.

The truths that the Declaration of Independence deems self-evident are not so self-evident to the average person. This puts us all at risk.

"A constitutional democracy, such as the United States of America, requires informed, effective, and responsible citizens for its maintenance and improvement. If the polity is to survive and thrive, citizens must have an adequate knowledge of its principles and institutions, skills in applying this knowledge to civic life, and dispositions that incline them to protect individual rights and promote the common good." (Civics Framework for the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress, p. viii). Accordingly, each generation must reinvent the Republic for itself, internalizing and taking as its own the fundamental principles, values, and dispositions that undergird the American constitutional system. Because the American system is a constitutional (i.e., law-based) democracy, understanding the nature of law and its role in society — past and present — is an essential part of that process."

— Strategic Plan of the Division for Public Education, ABA (emphasis added).

Imagine the consequences of ignorance of or indifference to such things as the absence of Miranda warnings; the suppression of free speech; no appointed counsel for indigent persons charged with crimes; no access to civil legal assistance for the poor; rampant discrimination; refusing jury service; and no second thought to committing consumer fraud, petty theft, or domestic violence. Although it seems unthinkable, it is not impossible, perhaps not even improbable. Understanding of the rule of law and respect for the law are essential for a safe, orderly, and peaceful society.

What is the Council on Public Legal Education?

The top recommendation of the 1999 Public Legal Education Workgroup was that an entity be formed to promote, -coordinate, and conduct public legal education in Washington state. Thus, the Council on Public Legal Education was formed, and began to meet regularly five years ago this month — in January 2000. Initially a semi-independent entity housed at the WSBA, the CPLE recently became a standing committee of the Access to Justice Board (also housed at the WSBA), where the whole idea was first conceived.

The CPLE is composed of volunteer representatives from the bar, the courts, the schools (K-12 and higher), the media, the general public, and specific organizations such as the Attorney General's Office and the Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction. Its mission is to promote public understanding of the law and civic rights and responsibilities, which it pursues by conducting, coordinating, encouraging, and publicizing public legal education efforts in Washington state.

Despite being a volunteer-based organization, the CPLE cannot operate without some minimal infrastructure (staffing, facilities, and operating expenses), which is largely provided by the WSBA. Individual projects have been supported by a range of partners, including the Washington Judges Foundation, the University of Washington, the Washington State Legislature, the Administrative Office of the Courts, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Paul G. Allen Charitable Foundation. TVW has been a valuable partner by broadcasting CPLE meetings and events, including a youth court conference, a symposium on patriotism and the law, and annual forums held at the state Access to Justice/Bar Leaders Conference.

A sampling of the CPLE's projects and initiatives follows.

Civics in public education

Changing public education is the only true chance we have of addressing the major deficiencies in civic education and awareness. Recent school reform has emphasized teaching and evaluating the "basic" subjects of reading, writing, math, and science, which leads educators to teach to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). Unfortunately, "non-basic" areas, including civics education (where law and government are usually taught), get relegated to the back seat. The CPLE has joined with the Washington State Council for Social Studies and other concerned groups to work with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to re-emphasize civics. In last year's legislative session, our combined efforts gained passage of 3ESHB 2195, which directed the Superintendent of Public Instruction to prepare a plan for implementing classroom-based assessment of civics. This was an important first step in regaining a civics toehold.

In addition, the CPLE has presented many teacher workshops at conferences of the Washington State Council for Social Studies; launched Democratic Life, an electronic newsletter for teachers interested in democratic citizenship education; encouraged civics preparation as part of teacher training in collegiate schools of education; and provided a platform for access to civics curriculum materials and general civics information on the lawforwa website (www.lawforwa.org). Many CPLE members have also taken the discussion of public legal education to the media, including Julia Gold, a Fulbright Scholar from the University of Washington School of Law, and Justice Faith Ireland of the Washington State Supreme Court.

The lawforwa website

One of the prime objectives of the CPLE is to provide ready access to information about the law, government, and civic involvement to all the people of Washington, especially in areas where libraries and other educational resources are scarce. While a great deal of this information is available on the web, most people are not aware of it or cannot locate it. The typical web search engine will retrieve large volumes of reference material; most people will lack either the ability or the patience to sort through this volume of entries to find what they need. To address this problem the CPLE has built the lawforwa website, which will help the public find specific information on the law, government, and civics. It also provides tools and information specifically for journalists and teachers.

The website is now open to the public, and will be expanded, refined, and evaluated during its first year of operation. Please take a look and help spread the word about this exciting new project. The website was built with funding from the Paul G. Allen Charitable Foundation and a partnership with the University of Washington's Program for Education Transformation Through Technology, which developed the technology that powers it. Current support is being provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Youth courts

Youth courts are an alternative to traditional methods of juvenile justice. In youth courts, youth "juries" determine consequences for their peers who have admitted responsibility for minor crimes, traffic infractions, or school rule violations. Both offenders and volunteers in youth courts learn valuable lessons about restorative justice, rights and responsibilities, and how the legal system works first-hand. Working in partnership with the Washington Judges Foundation, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other organizations, the CPLE has helped to create several new youth courts in Washington and helped existing ones to improve and expand. In 2002 the CPLE lobbied for the passage of state legislation that makes it easier for new youth courts to be created by clarifying how they must operate.

The CPLE's youth-court efforts are led by member Margaret Fisher, an attorney and nationally recognized expert in law-related education for young people. Fisher was recently awarded the prestigious Isidore Starr Award by the American Bar Association for her work on youth courts, Street Law, and other programs. The award is named after "the father of law-related education," who — coincidentally — is also a member of the CPLE.

Street Law

Street Law is a curriculum to teach high school students about the law. The University of Washington and Seattle University law schools supply high schools in Seattle and Tacoma with law students to help teach the curriculum. Through a partnership with the Washington Judges Foundation (WJF), the CPLE is expanding Street Law throughout the state by supplying interested teachers with textbooks and a judge to serve as a subject matter resource. The CPLE successfully piloted the program at La Conner High School and expanded it to four more schools in 2004. Funding permitting, the WJF is committed to adding four new schools yearly for the next five years.

Law School for Legislators

New legislators do not necessarily have a background in law, and few attorneys currently serve in the Legislature. In partnership with the Washington State Legislature, the CPLE organizes a Law School for Legislators workshop at the start of each biennium. The program focuses on important concepts like separation of powers, judicial independence, statutory interpretation, and the role of the state constitution.

The Flame of Democracy Award

The Flame of Democracy Award is given annually to one or more individuals or organizations that has made a substantial contribution to educating the people of Washington about the law and government. The CPLE bestowed the first award posthumously to Richard "Dick" Larsen in 2002 for his long-time contributions as writer with The Seattle Times, his work as an author, and his service as a founding member of the CPLE. In 2004, the award was given to the Northwest Justice Project for its self-help website for pro ses and to the Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney's Office for its school outreach program.

Community Resource Directory and Legal Information Resource Kit

The CPLE has compiled a Community Resource Directory, which is a guide to non-web based information for the public on the law and government including brochures, videos, speakers' bureaus, workshops, and the like. The directory will be distributed to libraries, social-service agencies, community centers, and other groups serving the public, and will also be available and regularly updated on the lawforwa web site.

Out of this directory the CPLE created a Legal Information Resource Kit, containing brochures on a variety of legal topics from organizations such as the Office of the Attorney General, the League of Women Voters, and the American Civil Liberties Union. The kit will be provided to organizations that are interested in ordering some or all of the brochures to distribute to the public.

A closing thought

This article highlights the activities of the CPLE over the past five years. The CPLE is committed to increasing access to justice in Washington by providing access to information and public legal education for all. In doing so, the CPLE is attempting to engage the public in discussing and understanding the fundamental principles, values, and dispositions that undergird the American Constitutional system so this generation will claim them as their own and reinvent the Republic for itself.

The CPLE is proud of its partnership with the Washington State Bar Association and grateful to its leadership for five years of support. We hope you, as members of the WSBA, are also proud of what we have accomplished. Together, we are beginning to meet a great public need.

Hon. Marlin Appelwick serves on the state Court of Appeals. Judith Billings is a former state superintendent of public instruction. E-mail to the Council on Public Legal Education may be sent to cple@wsba.org.