Success this year in the Bar Mock Trial was that it went ahead! Just about.

We were unable to defend our title as ‘Outer London Heat Winners’ as Snaresbrook Crown Court (like most of the Crown Courts in the country) was unavailable for use because of the huge backlog of cases the justice system is still trying to process after Covid.

Instead, on March 1st, we were (i) thrown together into a ragbag “Cambridge consortium” with schools from all around the South East of England and (ii) required to perform virtually in a Zoom meet, which seriously tested Mr Spurgeon’s computer skills.

The teams did brilliantly with excellent performances from witnesses facing intense (and occasionally bizarre) cross-examination, barristers giving powerful opening and closing speeches and ushers & clerks dealing expertly with court admin. Despite the judging at times leaving a little to be desired, the defence teams, amid great celebration, successfully secured the acquittal of both our defendants.

Well done to all who took part and kept up their enthusiasm for the cases over the long time period we had to wait from September to March. Also as a group we would like to officially thank the University of Hertfordshire Law Faculty for allowing us to dress up and use their courtroom (which has apparently appeared several times in court scenes in ‘Eastenders’) to practise in, and to the Head for helping us fund the trip.