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It鈥檚 not often that lawyers get to become film stars for a day, but Stoel Rives partner Jim Westwood recently had his shot at playing a Nutty Professor type for a good cause.

Clad in a bowtie with mussed hair and a pointer, Westwood described the inner workings of Oregon鈥檚 court system to a classroom of students/actors as part of a video series created by the Multnomah Bar Foundation. The video is one of four the foundation has developed as a 鈥渟ignature project鈥� designed to enhance civics education for middle- and high-school students.

Along with the court system video – which includes an insider鈥檚 perspective of a day at the Multnomah County Courthouse – other topics include voting, civic engagement and civil discourse. Filmed by Gresham鈥檚 MetroEast Community Media, the videos feature a mix of actors and volunteers like Westwood. The most recent pair of videos was finished in the spring.

Westwood, a director on the foundation鈥檚 board and chairman of its Signature Project Committee, says MetroEast prepared the scripts, which were then reviewed by members of the foundation鈥檚 board to ensure their accuracy. MetroEast airs the videos on its public access channel; the foundation distributes them to area schools and civics organizations and posts them on its website.

鈥淭he key to the videos is that they are geared to an educated middle- and high-school audience, so the general public can understand them as well,鈥� he says.

Westwood, a longtime constitution team coach for Grant High School and this year鈥檚 recipient of the Legal Citizen of the Year honor by the Classroom Law Project, says his stint in front of the camera was 鈥済reat fun.鈥� Civics education, however, is a serious matter, particularly considering the curriculum cuts that have been made due to shrinking school budgets.

鈥淐ivics education is just vital. People are going to vote whether they are educated or not, so it鈥檚 better to make sure they know why voting is important and how their vote has an impact,鈥� he says.