TY Legal Studies Module

In the TY Legal Studies Module, one of the main topics and areas that we focused on was the roles played in the context of a court room. We learned about the role of the judge, the tip-staff, the registrar, barristers and solicitors etc. So when we discovered that we would be bringing these roles to life in our very own mock trial, we became very excited and driven to preform to the best of our ability. This mock trial would see us up against the other module class, presenting us with great competition. 

We spent the weeks leading up to the trial preparing and assigning roles to everyone in the class, making sure nobody was left without a job or purpose throughout the course of the trial.

We all studied the case and familiarised ourselves with the story we were given. When the day of mock trial came around, both classes arrived in the library to begin arranging the tables and chairs to resemble a court room giving a more professional approach to the setting. We began immediately, with no time to lose. 

The "judge" came in and the trial commenced. The prosecution and defence gave their opening statements before the prosecution witnesses were called to be questioned. After the prosecution questioned their first witness, the defence then cross examined them. This was repeated for all three of the prosecution witnesses before moving on to the defence witnesses where the prosecution cross examined this time.

Each witness had the tough job of preforming as believable as possible while the very talented barristers questioned them. Everyone portrayed their role with a lot of skill and talent and our teachers Ms O'Neill and Mr Daly were impressed and also hopeful with the thought of some future lawyers in the mix. Closing statements were given before the jury were sent out to deliberate. Their verdict was decided swiftly before they arrived back to announce the accused not guilty. We finished up by talking with Mr Daly and Ms O'Neill about the module, what we enjoyed, learned and our thoughts on the mock trial.

I found the experience of completing this mock trial highly enjoyable and educational. I am very glad that I was assigned legal studies as a module as it has opened my eyes to the world of law, crime and the courts, all things that I have now become very interested in and may even pursue as a career.