On Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th May, we had a law course by James Fahy. He is a barrister from Galway and he also has the website http://www.laweducationforschools.com. He does law courses for schools.
Day 1: For the first day we were in the long room. James showed us a slide show about civil disputes and criminal disputes. He told us the difference between a barrister and a solicitor. A solicitor has a public office so that anyone can call in at any time. A barrister is asked to give advice and represent in the courts above the district court. We also learned the five different courts; the district court, the circuit court, the high court, the court of civil appeal and the supreme. The highest claim that you can get in the district court is €15,000. The highest claim you can get in the circuit court is €60,000 and the claims are unlimited price in the high court and in the court of appeal and supreme court you can claim nothing. I really enjoyed the first day as we had to do settle a dispute between a cosmetic company and a pharmaceutical company where they were both fighting over a rare crop. My team won the dispute.
Day 2: For this day, we spent the morning in the long room finishing off learning about criminal prosecution and court cases. He gave us lots of examples of why crime takes place and said mainly it is for family disputes or money. After break, we went to the Courthouse in on the Fionnar Road. The court was a district court but he said we would be treating it like a circuit court as the mock case we would be doing needed a jury so would be a circuit court. He split us into the prosecution and the defence before lunch for the mock trial which was about alleged threatening behaviour by a passenger towards a steward when she wanted to use the first class toilets when she was only economy class. I was on the prosecution side as one of the barristers along with Eva. Amy was my solicitor. Róisín and Caroline were the barristers for the defence and Patrick was their solicitor. After lunch, it was fun acting as the barrister and having to examine our witnesses and cross examine the defence’s witnesses. The passenger was found guilty by the jury and she was sentenced to three months so the prosecution won the case. I really enjoyed the day and it made me consider a barrister or solicitor as a career path. 
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