Feature Article
law day 2015 dream team
Magna Carta: Symbol of Freedom Under Law
By Melody Z. Richardson
Richardson Bloom & Lines LLC
T
he Law Day Dream Team program will focus exclusively
on students this year with a half-day program that
will explore the relationship between Chapter 39 of
Magna Carta and the Sixth Amendment to the United States
Constitution. Although the 2015 multi-bar Law Day Program
will highlight seven chapters of the 63 chapters contained in
Magna Carta, its inspiration for the right to jury trial, will be
the primary theme of the program.
Students from two of Dr. Sharifa Lee’s law classes at Therrell
High School in southwest Atlanta will perform a mock trial for
the other high school participants. The students who have
observed the trial will be placed on jury panels and asked
to render a verdict on the charges against Chris Archer, a
college student accused of criminal hazing and the murder
of a young woman who died while pledging a fraternity. The
Honorable Robert McBurney will preside at the trial, and will
charge the jury on the applicable law.
In advance of the April 21 program, teachers of the
students who will be attending the program will lead a class
discussion on Magna Carta as a cornerstone of the United
States Constitution. This is the third year that the Law Day
Dream Team has presented a program celebrating the rule
of law. The Dream Team is a collaboration of law-related
associations with the Atlanta Public Schools, the Savannah
Public Schools, and the Tifton Public Schools. Joining
together to create this opportunity to educate and celebrate,
are the Atlanta Bar Association and its Family Law Section,
Litigation Section and Women in the Profession Section,
the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism, The
Fulton County Superior Court, the Georgia Association
of Black Women Attorneys, the Georgia Association of
Women Lawyers, the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar
Association, the Georgia Hispanic Bar Association, the MultiBar Leadership Counsel, the South Asian Bar Association of
Georgia, the State Bar of Georgia, and the Stonewall Bar
Association.
8 THE ATLANTA LAWYER
April 2015
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association