High Court Judge meets Law students

Posting by Bev Bishop, Marketing Co-ordinator

As Marketing Co-ordinator at the College, I don’t often get to go on fieldtrips with the students, but this term I have had the opportunity to visit Birmingham Crown Court with A level Law students on two occasions.

This week saw one such trip as I joined a group of 27 students in the city centre law courts. The visit included a talk from one of the court ushers, who explained how the crown court works. This included information about judges, jurors, barristers and other court officials, not to mention court procedures.

The usher who gave our talk let students sit in the judge’s seat and in the dock, which gave us all a giggle! He also mentioned our visit to the High Court judge in the court he was working in that day and in turn, the judge invited us into court for a private question and answers session.

We were very privileged to be granted 10 minutes with such a high profile judge – in this case a Lord – as it is highly unusual. The judge was very friendly and came down to the floor of the court, rather than sitting in his normal seat. He sat on the defence and prosecution tables in a much more informal manner, which helped to put the students at ease. Nonetheless, we were all a little in awe of such a high-powered Lord. He was very friendly and answered our questions very candidly. He told us about past cases he has presided over, including some very grisly murders. He also explained how he had become a High Court judge and talked about safety issues for judges, such as protection offered to them when presiding over terrorism cases.

As well as these talks, the students got to sit in on cases being heard that morning. Among the cases scheduled were trials for fraud, theft and drugs. There were, rather shockingly, three separate child abuse cases being heard that morning and even a murder trial taking place.

The students got to see juries working, to see witness questioning and cross examinations and even learnt about how vulnerable witness, such as in child abuse cases, get to give their evidence via a video link, rather than being subjected to the trauma of being in court.

I found the trip fascinating and I feel sure it will have benefitted the students too. When they come to sit their Law exams, not only will they be able to call upon things they learnt in class, but also to visualise what really happens in a courtroom, which is a big aid to memory.