Bar Mock Trial gives lawyers-to-be invaluable experience

Each year, Law students at the College compete in the Citizenship Foundation’s Bar Mock Trial competition, acting as barristers, witnesses and jurors in fictional cases but in real courtrooms in front of real judges.

The experience is invaluable for the students’ CVs, and helps to develop confidence in presenting along with an in-depth understanding and appreciation of the lawyers’ roles in court.

This year’s regional competition was held at Liverpool Crown Court, with two teams from the College taking part - Team Grey, who were mentored by Head of Law, Jen, and Team Marshall, mentored by Law teacher, Adam.

Here, Hannah and Seana write about their experiences, including dealing with nerves and performing as a team.

Both teams outside Liverpool Crown Court

Hannah Bendrey, Team Grey:

Being a Law and Drama student, it seemed obvious that this competition would be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate skills and knowledge from both subjects and an experience that I could learn a lot from. At first, I felt daunted being given the role of a prosecution barrister - having to learn the case, my opening speech, and questions for the chief and cross, however, this was a challenge I was willing to take on and once I started I didn’t want to back out. We regularly practiced as a group and each practice we highlighted areas we needed to improve and focus on. Having the full run-through was especially beneficial as we could see what it would be like in the real thing. After weeks of hard work and dedication in rehearsals, it was impressive how much we had progressed from the beginning.

As with anything like this, it’s safe to say the nerves did kick in, but from the moment I stepped into the court room in front of the judge and a jury, I was determined to give it my best shot and I enjoyed every second of it! We also got the chance to be a part of the jury for another high school. I think it was important that we got to see how others did the same case but differently. The way the Mock Trial was organised and set out (including us all being in smart, professional dress), made it a real eye-opener and gave me a true insight into the role of a barrister and the procedure of a trial. I’m so glad that I’ve been a part of this competition and it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience, that I for sure have learnt a lot from and I would love to do again. 

Team Grey

Seana Jones, Team Marshall:

This year, I did something that I was really proud of. In my old sixth form, I didn’t even do Law, but I was always told that I should because I’m pretty good at arguing – the Bar Mock Trial was the perfect opportunity to do this professionally. For a couple of weeks from when rehearsals started, I was adamant that I wasn’t going to do it because, to be honest, it sounded quite terrifying to me: going against people I’d never met before. However, Adam (my Law teacher) successfully boosted my ego to the point where I thought ‘yeah okay, why not’.

The next couple of months of rehearsals flew by – I was the defendant in my fraud case, and knew my story inside out. It was great watching my team mates quickly become more confident in themselves and as lawyers. They’ve gone from being strangers to me to pretty cool friends.

Anyway, the day of the competition came around stupidly quickly. The entire week before, I’d been off College really ill, and was determined to not let my teammates down. So, I showed up to the court with only half of my voice, which was worrying because I was used to having shouting matches with my cross-examiner.

Once we were in the building, we weren’t allowed to leave until the end of the day. That’s when everything became official. Our College was given a tiny ‘room’ (it wasn’t really a room) so we just had to wander around since we couldn’t fit, and my team weren’t competing until last.

First, I was part of the jury for another team and believe me there were arguments in the little meeting room. Girls from a local Grammar school and I were whisper-shouting at each other about the verdict, but eventually it was everyone against two.

Fast forward to lunch. We knew it was our turn afterwards, so we thought it was best to comfort eat while we could. It wasn’t food. We didn’t eat. It honestly would have appeared to an outsider that we were in a prison film with the low-key lighting and benches that crush your butt-bones. So that didn’t really help the nerves.

Ten minutes later, we were in a courtroom, and I’d been ordered to sit behind the glass, separate from everyone else. Adam Carr and Maisie Birch did their speeches and their cross examinations and I couldn’t hide my grin. They were absolutely fantastic. But, then it was my turn and I didn’t feel so cocky. I took to the witness stand and flew through my examination in chief. Before we had started, I had been warned to take it slightly easy on my cross examiner, and I did. But the juries ‘ooo’s told me I’d made my College proud.

Surprisingly, the jury found me not guilty of my convictions even though in the case, she was totally guilty of defrauding the old man. The scary judge was really impressed with our College and we felt good.

Team Marshall