Last Friday Essex Superior Court Judge Thomas Drechsler of Salem spent a morning with about 25 middle schoolers at the Brookwood School in Manchester, making the law personal for students who may not have any idea about the law and how it works. The program is part of the American Bar Association’s National Judicial Outreach Month, observed every March. The idea is to demystify the court process, especially the importance of an impartial, independent judiciary governed by the rule of law. And these students certainly learned a lot. By the end of Hon. Drechsler’s talk, Mr. Evan Diamond’s 7th Grade US History class were more than familiar with basic civil rights, how criminal cases differ from civil ones, the judicial system and how it all relates to every American.
