An inaugural mock court competition was held recently with sixth formers from the island’s schools invited to make or oppose mock applications for court bail.

Held by the island’s Courts and Tribunals service, 12 students from Ballakermeen High School, St Ninian’s High School and King William’s College were randomly assigned a role and a case, provided with court papers in advance of the competition and a pre-competition video tutorial on the law.

The students were introduced to Court 3 and given a brief tour, after which they conducted final preparations with guidance from Advocates Sara-Jayne Dodge from Smith Taubitz Unsworth Limited, Emily Johnson from Cains, and Trainee Advocate Mark O’Connor from CallinWild.

The Court proceedings were overseen by three of the island’s magistrates, aiming to offer an experience as authentic as possible for the aspiring Advocates.

The event, held over the weekend, concluded with a question and answer and feedback session.

Alexander Armstrong, the Court’s Legal Officer and Assistant Chief Registrar, said: ‘All of the students demonstrated excellent levels of public speaking and had clearly put a lot of time into the preparation and structure of their arguments.

‘This experience has hopefully provided a brief insight into the work of an advocate which will assist the students in their future careers goals, bolstering their CVs and providing a spring board to further legal work experience.’

The competition winner was Anna Rose Ridgway from Ballakermeen High School.