Law students escape from Turn of the Century Law Office

Students at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law put their legal knowledge to the test to break out of the Turn of the Century Law Office in a legal-themed escape room.

At the beginning of March, the office, located in the John A. Weir Memorial Law Library, was transformed into an escape room thanks to the work of the Law Library Student Advisory Committee.

The committee is composed of law students Chiara Concini, Jack Kelly and Rishabh Gangwani, as well as librarians Christine Brown, head of faculty engagement, and Doris Wagner.

“The law can feel like a bit of a mystery at times, especially for us law students, so the theme felt apt,” said Gangwani who designed the poster featuring Lady Justice holding a magnifying glass.

The escape room was first offered by the committee in 2020 when Brown was inspired by a law library at another university that had created an escape room. For this year’s escape room, the committee redeveloped the game.

Kelly helped craft the narrative for the escape room, which involved an articling student who had to help their principal find a keyword in a case.

“I worked to write a story that was somewhat legally-focussed but wasn’t too terribly difficult since everybody is working hard enough as is!” he said.

To escape the office, participants had to piece together a valid legal citation by completing puzzles. With each solved puzzle, they unlocked a component of the citation. Puzzles ranged from using clues to determine the birth order of children listed in a will to solving riddles based on the Charter.

Concini and Kelly, who developed the puzzles, knew that building an escape room for law students to solve posed a unique challenge.

“One of the special things about law students is that there is always at least someone with a different, more creative way of solving a puzzle, one that you had not necessarily considered,” said Concini, who worked closely with Kelly to ensure there were no loopholes to the problem.

“Even after all our preparation, we still had groups discover aspects of the room that we had not

contemplated beforehand.”

The Turn of the Century Law Office offered the perfect space to stage a law-themed escape room. Opened in 1994, the room was inspired by the donation of books from lawyer John Cormack’s library. Cormack established his firm in Edmonton in 1905, and his books offer an example of texts that lawyers frequently referenced at that time.

"It was a win-win,” said Brown, who was thrilled to see students using the office that is usually reserved as a “museum piece.”

“It is such a cool, antique-y space and students loved how ‘real’ it felt,” said Concini. “Jack and I based our puzzles off of the old books, antique clock, typewriter and telephone that were all unique aspects of the room. I think this made the escape room more enjoyable and immersive for students.”

Eighteen teams competed in the escape room, doubling the number of participants from the first iteration of the game in 2020. Minutes after registration opened, all slots had been filed.

“The interest and turnout were amazing – we had to add a day of timeslots to the original schedule to accommodate all the interest!” said Gangwani.

Of those eighteen teams, “Escape Goats,” composed of law students Kaitlin Andersen, Laura Soproniuk, Marlee Chrystian, and Michael Solomon, came out victorious, solving all puzzles and escaping the room in 17 min and 10 seconds. That team earned gift cards to Hello My Friend Cafe.

“The winners were very impressive in that they solved every puzzle as they had been designed but definitely faster than I think we could have!” said Kelly.

"In Law, we are trying to make personal connections with students and make their time here fun and enjoyable,” said Brown. Kelly echoed that sentiment.

“Seeing students engage with the room and really have some fun was very rewarding,” said Kelly.

The law library student advisory committee hopes to host another escape room in the fall. The committee is open to any law students interested in getting involved.