Sound arguments and a little acting skill helped the students of Our Lady’s in Drogheda win a major mock trials competition in the US
THE COURTROOM is no place for young people. Under-18s give their evidence by video link to avoid the rigours and stresses of a trial, and children’s identities are protected from public scrutiny.
The students of Our Lady’s College in Greenhills, Drogheda, had no such concerns. The girls competed against almost 30 other schools in the Four Courts last April, and walked away as winners of the Public Access to Law’s (PAL) Irish Mock Trials competition.
Their victory propelled them to the Empire City Invitational, an event in New York which gathers the mock trial winners of each US state alongside winning teams from Ireland, the UK, and other European countries. After days of argument over a kidnapping case, the girls overcame formidable opposition to emerge as winners of the competition.
All the teams had to prosecute and defend the same body of evidence, with each trial lasting at least two hours. Each student played a different role. The Irish team consisted of barristers Aoife Downes, Jessica Taggart and Emily Walker, witnesses Theresa McKenna, Áine Carolan, Tara Gallagher, Niamhín O’Dowd and Jessica Reilly, solicitor Katie Casey, and Dearbhail Kerr. Two teachers travelled with the group, along with Irene Sands, a former student at the school who acted as team legal coach.
The cases were presided over by a real judge, the Hon Raymond J Dearie, chief justice of the US District Court for the eastern district of New York, while in the jury box were 13 practicing US attorneys tasked with adjudicating and marking each team’s performance.
“We were given a kidnapping case to try,” explains Emily Walker. “We had to take both sides of the case, which was difficult as we had to show how the defendant was guilty and then develop equally plausible arguments to prove her innocence. It required a lot of versatility, but we were delighted to prove the defendant innocent when we represented her, and guilty when we prosecuted her.”
The Irish team were at a disadvantage, as the trial was conducted under the rules of US law. But their passion and performance – with the Irish witnesses shedding tears on the stand when the need arose – won the day.
Emily says that the experience taught her that information presented as facts need to be carefully scrutinised. “Before you make up your mind, you need to consider something from all sides,” she says.
Una McGorry, TY co-ordinator with the school, says that the PAL module helps develop students’ characters. The course consists of six hours of legal instruction from a practicing barrister, followed by a mock trial staged in the school. This training prepares the students for the National trials in the Four Courts; only 24 schools, plus the four finalists from the previous year’s competition, are selected to take part.
“We’ve been running the PAL module for 10 years and find that it develops confidence, initiative, thinking on your feet, debating skills, perspective, and looking at both sides of an argument,” says McGrory. “Quite a few of our past pupils have gone on to pursue a career in law.”
palddp.org
MOCK TRIALS COMPETITION
