Advocate recognised for mock trial mentoring

The Bar National Mock Trial Competition is celebrating its silver jubilee, and for one member of the Faculty of Advocates, it has produced a golden moment.

The 25th staging of the final of the competition is this weekend at the Old Bailey in London, where Scotland will be represented by Mackie Academy of Stonehaven, winners of the Scottish heat for the last three years.

The Mackie students have been helped by advocate Craig Findlater, and the school nominated him for the award of Mentor of the Year in appreciation of all his efforts.

He did not win the title, but was delighted to have been nominated.

“It is a privilege, and a lot of fun, to be involved in the mock trial competition. The standard of advocacy shown by the school pupils is always very high, and they seem to enjoy getting practical experience of how our courts work,” said Mr Findlater, treasurer of the Scottish Criminal Bar Association.

“Being nominated as Mentor of the Year was a very pleasant surprise. I wish to thank Mackie Academy for all the hard work they put in, the Citizenship Foundation for running such a worthwhile scheme, the Faculty of Advocates for supporting it, and of course (fellow advocate) Tony Lenehan for ‘volunteering’ me into the whole thing in the first place.”