Mary-Beth Huston wants to be a lawyer when she grows up, and Thursday she and her classmates got a little bit of practice.

Stephanie Zywien, an Andover, Mass., attorney, visited the eighth-grade Spirit team at Timberlane Regional Middle School on March 27. She helped students come up with appropriate punishments for a series of fictional criminals. Students met in groups and read scenarios about teenagers their age, who were starting to go down the wrong path.

Together, students decided how to straighten out the characters, like "Adam Smith." He was cutting school and experimenting with drugs and alcohol.

Mary-Beth, 14, of Sandown had a punishment she thought would teach Adam the lesson he needed — detox, drug counseling, probation and handcuffing him to his desk at school.

But Courtney Simmons, 14, of Plaistow thought the punishment was too harsh.

"I don’t want to scar him for life," Courtney said.

"He needs to be traumatized to make sure he doesn’t do it again," Mary-Beth countered.

A lawyer’s request for punishment has to be logical, Mary-Beth said. That’s why she thought handcuffing her criminal to the desk would teach him a lesson that he would be handcuffed somewhere else if he didn’t start going to school.

The purpose of Thursday’s activity was for students to learn from Zywien what "fair and just" punishments are for situations the students could relate to, according to teacher Christine Paradis.

The team was given hardcover copies of "Leapholes" by James Grippando, activities surrounding the book, and Zywien’s visit.

At first, some students’ punishments were too easy, Paradis said. But soon they jumped to the other end of the spectrum. Morgan Carrigan, 13, of Plaistow and Taylor Semenetz, 13, of Atkinson wanted to send the same fictional character to juvenile detention for two and a half months, then to lots of rehabilitation and counseling.

"It’s a little harsh," Zywien said. "Most juveniles don’t get committed for their first crime. What about strict probation that requires him to go to school?"

Together, the students and the lawyer talked about making perfect attendance a requirement for the frequently truant boy to give him a chance.

But, if he violated the probation and missed a day of school, it was straight to juvenile hall, Morgan said