This one is an oldie, but I think a good one. Using the scenario of conflict resolution in a student household, students step into the role of different legal theorists to answer questions about law and justice. Rather than alienate students at the start (ugh, not theory!), each of the positions is presented as a different student character - Thomas Aquinas is just Tom the theology major, Karl Llelwyn just Karl the busines student.
Students tend to have fun with this one and it is always a good reveal to disclose how each position relates to a different body of legal theory. Those who are engaged get a realistic handle on how theory influences everyday life and how different theoretical positions can really shape your ways off seeing the world.
I based this exercise on Margaret Davies' 'Asking the Law Question', although I also introduced Karl Llewelyn to make the range of theorists consistent with my own course. I also describe with each of the theories using a theorist based nutshell in chapter 10 of The Law Handbook, which might be useful to follow up this exercise (just hawking my wares).
The fact that only one of the theorists is a woman is also a good launching point for discussion. I've had a couple of students get really disgruntled by their narrow choice of characters in the scenario, but asked them to bear with it and when debriefing looked at the narrow gender/ethnicity profile of legal theory.
One thing has really dated in this exercise is the concept of the student household. When I wrote it (15 years ago, yikes), about half the students seemed to live in student households and the others new people who did. Today it seems to be a relic of the past, where many students live with parents or are adult learners with families of their own. I guess one day I will have to replace this scenario, I'd be interested to see what other settings people might suggest.
One side note, you might need to lay down some ground rules for roleplays as students may not know how to proceed. Some groups just read their character sheets at each other and don't really get the idea of speaking in character until you explain it to them.
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