by Esther Animalu, contributing reporter

Defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges and court reporters. These are a few positions that students from the WJPS Law Court committee will perform within our school community. Due to fact that there is no dean this year, Mrs. Poulos has assembled a team of students to fill in the void, and take on the role as being the ombudsman and support department of the school. Students from the law court class receive specialized education pertaining to law, government and sole justice.

“The purpose of the law court is to give students a voice and proper assistance, since we don’t have a dean this year. We feel that students can relate to us more because we’re around their age and we’re representing them, as opposed to a grown adult. Students in the law court are learning about what it means to be a lawyer and properly defend others, we’re getting a firsthand experience about law,” freshman Leah Tsambazis said.

According to, The Hechinger Report, “A 2009 study by New Leaders for New Schools, found that more than half of a school’s impact on student gains can be attributed to their own student peers taking on leadership roles as well as teacher effectiveness – with student leaders accounting for 25 percent and teachers 33 percent of the effect.”

The law court team primarily consists of freshmen students, they’re being educated with equipped training from the NYU law and government guidelines. In addition, students learn about the fundamentals and criteria of the makings of a law court system. Students from the WJPS Law Court are routinely training in order to fulfill the principals of what it takes to be a lawyer as well as a resource of aid in our school community. The law court wants to conduct prominent leadership roles by solving issues between other students, ordering jury duties, and having fair, just trials when needed.

“I love being a member of the law court because I get to solve issues and defend students for being late, uniform violations, etc. We’ve already received four cases. But the downside is that, if someone feels that they should’ve won a case, or felt that they didn’t get justice that they deserve, we’ll receive a lot of hate,” freshman Leah Tsambazis said.

The WJPS Law Court has set up their office at the back of the stage, they’re available periods four and five, if students or teachers are having any issues, and are seeking the court to take their case. The law court will punish all infractions by using the New York City Department of Education Discipline Code.

“The court positions are determined by how high we score on the student Bar Exam, administered by Mrs. Poulos. The top three students who receive the highest scores will be the judges of the WJPS Law Court. Other positions such as defence attorneys, courtroom clerk, etc. will be alternated amongst students in the law court throughout the year,” freshman Anthony Degoian said.

Although students from the law court are stepping up and filling in the position as our new school dean, other students feel that the court system may not be objective and fair. Also, students feel that the law court committee may not have enough experience to take on hefty dilemmas.

“I feel that the law court should not be the deans of the school because, they’re younger so they don’t have a lot of experience about the structures of law and how to look at issues from different angles. Also, older students probably won’t feel comfortable talking to them because, we feel that they’re not fully skilled at handling serious issues. I’d rather have an adult as the dean because they’re qualified and were educated in that field for a long time,” sophomore Denise Amorgianos said.

Students are allowed to take other students to court. However a student is not allowed to take a teacher to court, instead, they have to settled their dispute with the guidance counselor or the principal.  

“I feel that the law court will be biased because they’re students, and they’ll show favoritism towards their friends and other peers. Instead of solving the actual problem at hand,” junior Adriana Loh said.

Against all odds, the WJPS Law Court committee is taking on major leadership roles as problem solvers and mediators of our school community. The court team is steadily transforming our school environment in hopes that students and teachers can flourish, by upholding justice.