Public Access to Law Programme

On the 7th and 8th of November, after Halloween midterm, every base class took part in a public access to law programme.

Barristers came into school and we had a day long workshop with them. Throughout the day we learned all about solicitors and barristers, and what were the differences are between them.

We also learned about the college process to become qualified and all the types of exams and work you do to. This was really interesting, as not many of us knew beforehand how to become a barrister or a solicitor.

Another interesting aspect of the programme was learning about the Irish court system and the law system. We looked at the different types of court: the District Court, Circuit Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. We also looked at the difference between the civil courts and the criminal courts.

At the end of the day, we were given an actual court case to research and we did our own mock trial.

Students were given different roles in the case and we had to conduct a trial, exactly how a real trial would be held.

The whole programme was a great experience and gave us a good insight into what it would be like to pursue law in the future.

By Cuileann Monaghan