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Bar Mock Trial Competition 2019/20Student Role GuideCourt Artist and Court Reporter

2 © Young Citizens 2019

Bar Mock Trial CompetitionStudent Role Guide: Court Artist and Court Reporter

What are they?

The Court Arist and Court Reporter Competitions run alongside the Bar Mock Trial Competition. They provide a unique opportunity for students to take part in court reporting and produce courtroom sketches.

Schools can enter one or both competitions and are limited to one entrant per competition team.

What is involved?

Court Reporter Competition

The court reporter attends the regional heat. After watching Round One they will write a report of no

more than 350 words. This is then written up and submitted by post, by email or as a blog at a later

date. Please see page 3 for more information.

Court Artist Competition

The court artist produces either an A4 or A3 picture depicting the events in any round of the regional

heat. They must observe the in-trial proceedings, taking notes and brief sketches on the

surroundings and the appearance of the various participants. Court artists must not produce their

final piece whilst in court; their entries should be based on their notes, sketches and memory. See

page 8 for more information.

Judging the Competitions

Entries will be shortlisted by Young Citizens and then sent to a professional journalist and a

professional court artist. The winners of each competition will be invited to attend the National Final

to receive their prize. This year’s national final is taking place at the Old Bailey, London.



Court Reporter Competition

The Court Reporter must attend the regional heat where they will be asked to observe the first case in round one. The report must not be longer than 350 words and should be sent by post or email, to Young Citizens, or posted as a blog (with a link emailed), by Monday 23rd December 2019. The report may be hand-written or typed, but must be the student’s own work.

When completed please send the entry to:

Bar Mock Trials TeamYoung Citizens37 Heneage StreetLondon E1 5LJ

Or [email protected]

Please make sure your name, teacher's name and school's name are clearly marked on the work.

Hints and Tips

Headlines

The headline should attract the reader’s attention whilst being clear about the subject of the article. Here are some good examples from last year’s competition. The defendant was charged with Wit-ness Intimidation:

‘Two Lies One Truth – Witness Intimidation Suspect Cleared’

‘Witness left “fearing for their life”’

‘Exeter-eme Intimidation Claim Returns Innocent Verdict’

Content

• Write in plain English and try to explain things as simply as possible.• Accuracy is important. You must be able to prove everything you write. Also be aware of

sweeping statements.• Avoid clichés and unnecessary words and phrases.• Good punctuation, spelling and grammar are vital. Double-check your work to make sure that

you have spelt peoples’ names correctly.• Don’t prepare your report in advance - the way the evidence is presented and what witnesses

say may vary in the actual trial.



To make the experience as realistic as possible, it is important that your report does not infringe any laws, such as those listed below:

• ContemptCourt reports should be careful to not breach laws regarding contempt. The jury, not thepress, is there to decide the case and reporters must not write anything to prejudice a fairtrial (although the verdict would have been reached so this is unlikely).

• LibelThe law assumes that everyone has a good reputation. You may have heard of thepresumption of innocence – everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Therefore you shouldnot write something that detracts from that reputation; it is libellous unless you can prove thatwhat you said is correct. However, journalists are protected from libel if they write fair andaccurate reports of court proceedings. Check what you have written is fair and accurate. Agenuine error could still be libellous and the fact that it was accidental cannot be used as adefence in court.

• Reporting RestrictionsThe general rule is that the administration of justice must be done in public. Therefore unlessthere is good reason, nothing should be done to prevent the publication to the wider public offair and accurate reports of the proceedings by the media.

There are circumstances in which the court will have to consider departing from this general rule. For example, there are restrictions on the reporting of the identify of those under the age of 18 in-volved in criminal proceedings.

The restriction prevents the publication of any matter leading to identification e.g. addresses, school etc. of both the defendant/accused and witnesses if under the age of 18. However, the defendant/accused can be identified if convicted.

The identity of an alleged victim of rape or sexual assault is also protected. The Court does have the discretion to restrict court reporting in other instances, which are not covered by statute depend-ing on the circumstances.

The Law



The following are examples of real court reports which have made the national press and may help you with your own report.

Pensioner given criminal record for hitting teenager with church minutesBy Richard Saville Published: 7:22PM GMT 24 Feb 2009

Alma Harding, a retired post-mistress, who gave a teenager a clip round the ear with the rolled-up minutes of a church council meeting to stop him vandalising a village green has been given a criminal record for battery.Mrs Harding, 63, described as a “pillar of the community”, was found guilty by magistrates in a case she angrily criticised as a “waste of time and money”.

The court heard that the 4ft 11ins pensioner confronted a 13-year-old boy, who is three inches taller than her, after she saw him and two friends playing football near some flower beds and swinging from a chain around a war memorial in Kenton, near Exeter. Previous incidents committed by unidentified youths convinced her they were about to carry out acts of vandalism so she tried to prevent them. When she asked them to stop what they were doing, she was abused by the children, the court heard.

Mrs Harding admitted that she clipped the boy round the head with a rolled up piece of paper she was carrying which contained the notes she had taken at a parish meeting.Magistrates ruled that she was “angry and frustrated” when she struck out, but said they were not going to punish her for the assault - letting her walk free from court with an conditional discharge. Speaking outside court afterwards, Mrs Harding criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for “putting me through a lot of aggravation and wasting money” but added that she had “no regrets”.“I was only defending myself,” she said. “You do not think if you are threatened, do you? You react. You can’t let all and sundry threaten society.”

Police and prosecutors defended their decision to pursue the case, saying that Mrs Harding was offered the chance to accept a police caution, which would have given her a criminal record, over the alleged assault but chose to fight it at court.

Examples of Court Reporting



Teenage bullies jailed for firework attack deathPA Friday, 28 May 2010 The Independent, UK

Three teenagers who killed a woman by pushing a firework through her letterbox following a string of bullying attacks on her son were jailed today.

Mary Fox, 59, died in the fire in Bodmin, Cornwall on Bonfire Night last year after the Silver Dart was thrust inside to “frighten” the family as part of a prank.

Her son Raum, then 17, escaped through a window of the blazing council home in Wallace Road, but his mother inhaled a fatal amount of fumes.

Owen Hewitt 18, and Samuel Luckes, 17, were each jailed for seven years at Truro Crown Court for the manslaughter of the mother of nine. They were also each sentenced to three years concurrently for committing arson being reckless as to whether Raum’s life was endangered.

The pair “laughed and joked” that the burning house belonged to Raum’s mother, the jury heard earlier.

A third teenager, Ryan Croft, 18, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing, was given five years for manslaughter and two years for arson, also running concurrently.

Opening the case to the jury earlier this month prosecutor Paul Dunkels QC said: “On November 5 last year three young men were wandering around Bodmin with a large quantity of fireworks.

“They took a rocket, snapped the stick off it, lit it and put it through the letter box of the home of Mary Fox and her son Raum.

“It set fire to the house. Raum was able to escape by jumping out of the first floor window. Mary Fox could not get out. She was overcome by fumes and smoke from the fire, and died.”The group did not intend such dire consequences but only wanted to “give the occupants a fright,” Mr Dunkels added.

Hewitt, of Bodmin Foyer, Kestenenn and Luckes, of Rhind Street, Bodmin, had pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Mrs Fox, and also denied arson. Croft, of Wallace Road, had earlier admitted both allegations, the jury heard.

Luckes at first told police he was not around at the time, while Hewitt is said to have changed his story several times, at one stage saying it was the others who had gone into the garden.

The prosecution said it was a “joint enterprise” and, although they did not intend to destroy the house, they wanted to scare the Fox family.



“A student at Central Sixth Form College in Midtown was to-day cleared of the charge of arson at Royal Courts of Justice in Bel-fast. The judge at the hearing was the Hon. Mr Justice Weatherup.

18 year old Jordan Potter was charged with setting fire to United Kingdom Examining Board a level Art and Chemistry scripts on June 25th 2007. The fire, which was contained in the school’s examina-tion office, was suspected to have been started around 3.30pm, around the same time Miss Potter was in the area.

35 year old examinations officer, Lesley Morgan, told the court that Miss Potter had visited his office and behaved in a ‘rude and unrea-sonable’ fashion. In an earlier statement, Potter told police she had damaged her hand playing tennis, and that despite being concerned this might affect her ability to draw, decided to sit the exam. Mr Mor-gan explained that Miss Potter went to him to request more time but he pointed out to her that the boxes were sealed. When asked who he believed caused the fire, Mr Morgan replied, ‘Jordan Potter…she was the only one who knew where the box was, and the only one would have had an opportunity’.

After the closing speeches made by Prosecution barrister John Smith BL, and defence barrister Mary Jones BL, the jury left to discuss the case. After a brief meeting of around ten minutes, the jury announced they found the defendant Miss Jordan Potter not guilty.

Miss Potter will now take up her place at Westtown University to study art. An investigation looking into the cause of the fire will com-mence next month.”

Example Entry A snappy short paragraph summarising the report will help catch the reader’s attention

Avoid starting sentences with ages

The account must be factual. Your personal comments and analysisare inappropriate for a newsreport.



Court Artist Competition

The court artist can observe any round of the regional heat and produces a drawing based on brief notes, sketches and memory to depict events during the trial. The final drawing must be produced after observing the trail. The sketch must be on A4 paper and sent via post or email by Monday 23rd December 2019. The sketch can be in black and white or colour and produced with materials of the student's choice. Entries must be hand drawn and be the student's own work.

When completed, please send entries to:Bar Mock Trials TeamYoung Citizens37 Heneage StreetLondon E1 5LJ

Or [email protected]

Please make sure your name, teacher's name and school's name are clearly marked on the work.

Some examples of the previous entries:



Examples of Court Artists’ Work

Judging

While there is no set criteria for court artist submissions, the judges look for:• A drawing that is the same style as a court artist’s sketch, as opposed to cartoon or comic

styles;• A drawing that is clear to the judge that it is a scene from a courtroom; and• A drawing that reflects the trial that the court artist attended (ie the drawing is actually a scene

from the regional heat with the students).

Contacts, hints, and tips How to become a Court Reporter –https://www.allaboutlaw.co.uk/stage/becoming-a-lawyer/how-to-become-a-court-reporter

The work of a courtroom artist – https://www.theartcareerproject.com/careers/courtroom-sketch-artist

A day in the life of a courtroom artist – http://news.bbc.co.uk/aboutbbcnews/hi/news_update/news-id_3866000/3866845.stm

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37 Heneage Street, London, E1 5LJ. T. 020.7566.4141

www.youngcitizens.org/mocktrialsCharityReg.No.801360

Contact details for the Bar Mock Trials team:

020.7566.4154 or 020.7566.4155

[email protected]

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