Day to remember for all at mock trials final

One team took the title, but everyone was declared a winner at a highly successful final of the 2015 Bar National Mock Trial Competition.

Scotland hosted the final for the third time in the competition's 24 years, and some 340 school students from throughout the UK gathered in Parliament House, Edinburgh, to battle for the crown.

Eighteen schools had come through regional qualifying heats to make it to the final, and they enjoyed a day to remember.

The teams, which act out criminal trials under guidance from volunteer legal professionals, were judged by a panel of luminaries including Lord Justice Leveson, Lord Justice Davis, Lady Rae, James Wolffe, QC, Dean of Faculty, and three senior members of Faculty, Herbert Kerrigan, QC, Brian McConnachie, QC, and Murdo Macleod QC as well as Mark Mulholland, QC, from the Bar Council of Northern Ireland and Andrew O’Byrne, QC, Leader of the Northern Circuit of the Bar of England and Wales, and Sheriffs Ian Miller, Brian Mohan and Scott Pattison.

In the end, it came down to Wirral Grammar School for Girls and The Steiner Academy, Hereford. All three jurisdictions were represented on the judging panel for the grand final - Lord Justice Leveson, Lady Rae and Mark Mulholland, QC, - and in a close-fought contest they chose Wirral Grammar School for Girls.

By general consensus, however, the event and all who took part were declared the real winners.

The competition is organised by the Citizenship Foundation and is sponsored by the General Council of the Bar of England and Wales, the four Inns of Court and the local Bar Circuits.

In Scotland, it is supported by the Faculty, and in Northern Ireland by the Bar Council of Northern Ireland.

Kenneth Campbell, QC, the Faculty's representative on the Bar National Mock Trial working party, said: "The Faculty was delighted the national final was hosted in Edinburgh again, and the participants' enthusiasm and professionalism was palpable. We are delighted to continue our close association with this competition which gives young people a real sense of the many elements which make up the justice system which affects their lives as it does everyone's."