Aspiring barrister Lucy Bennett crowned advocate of the year
A University of Bristol law student has seen off competition from almost 90 wannabe lawyers to win a BPP Law School-backed national advocacy competition.
Lucy Bennett — who was the overall top performer over the two-day tournament — took part in a series of mock trials aimed at testing students’ advocacy skills.
Navigating her way to glory, Bennett had to undertake a number of tasks including client conferences and realistic mock trials. To make the challenges all the more authentic, BPP drafted in actors from the Synergy Theatre Project — a London-based charity that works closely with ex-prisoners — to play key witnesses and clients.
Achieving an impressive 75 marks out of 80, second year LLB-er Bennett has bagged a Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) fees discount of £6,500 courtesy of BPP.
Keen to pursue a career at the bar, Bennett has completed mini-pupillages at Bristol’s Albion Chambers and London’s 1 Garden Court. Commenting on being crowned advocate of the year — which lets face it, isn’t going to look bad on her CV — the aspiring barrister said:
The competition was unlike mooting or anything I have ever done before, with the emphasis being on the realities of life at the bar. After each trial, we received great feedback from the judges and with performing so many times in quick succession, it meant we improved massively over the course of the competition. I had a great weekend and would recommend the competition to any aspiring barrister.
Impressed with the quality of the advocacy on show, James Welsh, director of BPP’s BPTC programmes said:
We provided basic online training for the essential key courtroom skills and we are delighted to see how quickly so many competitors grew into credible trial advocates.