Highlight of the Week

Legal Eagles have their day in court!

Last Saturday, 14 of our brilliant Sixth Formers took part in the Young Citizens Mock Trial Competition and secured an amazing third place out of 11 London based Independent Schools. This is the second time that we have taken part in the competition, following our success in 2022. However in 2022, the event took place virtually due to Covid restrictions so we were delighted and honoured this time to be given the opportunity to perform inside a real court room. The surroundings added tension and a real sense of occasion which all students rose to.

The competition involves dissecting the legal arguments of two cases devised by the a team of legal professionals. Students take on the roles of barristers, witnesses, Jury, court clerk and ushers and compete against the opposing team from other schools on the day. In the first round our opponents were Southbank International School, who put up a strong defence against our very astute prosecution team, of which Faaris A and Katy S were Barristers, alongside our chief witnesses Grace B and Beth D and court clerk Rheanna T. The case, which began tentatively with a few errors in the defence witness statement which Faaris, who began with a very eloquent opening speech, responded with a cut throat cross examination. This was supported by strong witness recollections from both Grace and Beth and extremely astute questioning from Katy who confidently closed the case with an impressive argument for the burden of proof, resulting in the defendant from the other team being found guilty.

In the second round our defence team faced Syndenham High School for examination of the second case. Katy S, this time playing the defendant, was accused of causing a public nuisance through protesting and blocking road access. Her sharp responses were supported by Danyal M who affirmed her innocence, remaining unflappable under intense questioning by the other team. This time Toby U was our court Usher and Louise G joined Ana J as a defense barrister and following a strong opening statement, both cleverly used a mixture of prepared and spontaneous questioning to expose the weaknesses in the prosecutions’ case. An excellent and professional closing speech from Ana secured our desired not guilty verdict.

In the third and final round we faced St Augustine’s Priory in our most challenging. Tom G performed convincingly as the defendant who was accused of unauthorised access to computer data. Crystal clear testimonies were given after Ana opened the defence case with a very detailed opening statement. The prosecution team of the opposing side showed major weaknesses in being unable to keep up with fervent cross examination and pressure from Ana and Louise. Louise was later commended by the Judge for her impressive and sophisticated closing speech in which she signposted clear weaknesses in the prosecution’s case; so precise, dynamic and eloquent you’d have been forgiven for thinking this was a real barrister speaking! In a controversial turn of events Tom was found guilty but this didn’t impede our success with marks being awarded for individual performances. All the while our remaining team members Janvi P, Ted E-O, Lucas T and Kavin G performed as the Jury in rounds performed by other schools and had the unenviable task of deciding the defendant’s fate in each case. To our absolute elation we were placed third which was a huge achievement in this very tough and unpredictable competition.

It was an incredibly exciting day and students should feel so proud of their hard work and performances. Students were also given a unique opportunity to have a Q&A with the judges to learn more about the process of court cases and the profession itself.