Indianapolis, Indiana – In a scene that blended childlike wonder with courtroom procedure, fifth-grade students from Binford Elementary stepped into the roles of lawyers, jurors, and witnesses — all for a case involving minions, mayhem, and mock justice. The setting? A fictional trial built around the animated movie Despicable Me, brought to life through the Outreach for Legal Literacy program at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.
The project, hosted each spring by Maurer law students, is much more than a fun classroom activity. It’s a structured, semester-long initiative designed to teach young students the fundamentals of the American legal system in a way they can understand — and enjoy.
This year’s mock trial case revolved around an invented scenario involving Mel, a well-known minion character, and a new teenage supervillain-in-training named Poppy Prescott. The charge? Assault and battery. The story, created by law students, alleged that Prescott shoved Mel to the ground, causing minor injuries and a faulty laser eye. The fifth-graders were then tasked with taking the case to trial.
They did everything from presenting opening statements and examining witnesses to delivering closing arguments and deliberating as a jury. Faculty members from the Maurer School of Law served as judges. In the end, the jury found Prescott liable for assault and battery, awarding Mel $500 in damages for medical costs, recalibration of his laser eye, and pain and suffering.
The experience, while playful on the surface, carried serious educational weight. Throughout the spring semester, Maurer law students visited the classroom weekly to prepare the fifth-graders for their big day. They introduced complex legal ideas — burden of proof, character evidence, the role of a jury — and worked hard to make them digestible for ten- and eleven-year-olds.
“I think the hardest part about Outreach for Legal Literacy is explaining complex topics in an elementary way,” said Maurer student Kaitlyn Ross, who mentored a group of students along with her partner Erin Shea. “These are concepts that we spend a full year studying in law school, so it is a challenging exercise to explain them concisely and coherently. My partner and I met before our lessons to discuss the issues and come up with fun examples that made the lessons easier to understand.”
And that effort paid off. After the mock trial, one student’s parent approached Ross and Shea to say how much her daughter looked forward to their Thursday visits. “It feels rewarding when the students ask questions that show they are curious about the concepts and are engaged in the lessons,” Shea said.
The Outreach for Legal Literacy program has been running since 1994. It was founded by Maurer professor Aviva Orenstein, an expert in evidence law, who still plays an active role in guiding the program’s mission. She says that legal literacy isn’t just for lawyers — everyone should understand how the legal system works, because it touches every aspect of life.
“Fifth-graders turned out to be a great age for this program,” Orenstein said. “For example, you can explain legal concepts like character evidence being unfair, because they’re subject to it all the time. You might make a mistake, and then someone brings up every wrong thing you did. They can understand that it is best to focus on the matter at hand.”
The law students’ work extends across the academic year. In the fall, the focus is on civics and constitutional law. Instead of a mock trial, the project culminates in a mock “principal” election, with the elementary students acting as campaign staff for their teachers who serve as fictional candidates. They design campaign posters, give persuasive speeches, and learn about the electoral process. This gives them not only an understanding of how government functions, but also valuable experience in public speaking, teamwork, and civic participation.
Jaelyn Guiton, the program’s current director of curriculum, works behind the scenes to ensure the lessons are engaging and age-appropriate. She updates the materials every semester and helps guide the law student volunteers who lead the weekly classes.
“The fifth-graders become more confident over the course of the year,” Guiton said. “They’ll ask, ‘Since you said this last week, does that mean it could apply to this case?’ The curriculum helps them build on prior lessons from week to week so they can make inferences as we get closer to capstone projects.”
In many ways, the benefits of the program are shared equally by the law students and their younger mentees. For the children, it’s a rare opportunity to experience real-world problem-solving, logic, and argument construction — not to mention the chance to stand in a courtroom and present their case before actual judges. For the law students, the experience builds the soft skills they’ll need to be successful professionals.
“It’s common to underestimate how much the legal system touches our lives,” said Anatasia Rivera, the outgoing president of the student organization. “We are all in this game of life, but there is varied familiarity with the rules. In the legal system, knowledge is power.”
She added that participating in the program has helped her and her peers learn how to communicate complicated legal ideas to non-lawyers — a critical skill for any attorney. “Being a part of this organization gets us out into the community, where we translate legal terminology, boosting presentation and public speaking skills and learning how to help others understand the law so they can have more agency.”
The Outreach for Legal Literacy program is about more than education. It’s about empowerment. It gives young students a window into a world that often seems mysterious or intimidating and shows them that they, too, can understand — and one day even shape — the law.
By the end of the mock trial day, many of the fifth-graders walked away not just with new vocabulary and a better understanding of the legal system, but also with a deeper appreciation for justice, fairness, and the importance of telling their side of the story.
And for at least a few of them, the seeds may have been planted for a future in law.
With a mix of giggles, gavel-banging, and genuine learning, the court of Mel and Prescott may not have been real — but the lessons were.
