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Hi there, my name is Joe and I’m going to talk about how we got the students of Mulroy College ready for their mock trial that was held in Letterkenny Institute of Technology. This was my favourite part of my Street Law experience because despite it be challenging, in the end it was very rewarding seeing how much the students developed. Initially, Michéal and I were nervous about getting the students ready for the mock trial because we were supposed to have two lessons to do so but only ended having one. There was a lot of work to get through and we worried we wouldn’t get through it all with the students. We had to assign all the roles (which was difficult because there were 35 students and we had to create extra roles as a result), get the students to learn the facts of the case and let them practise in their groups. We had issues getting students to take up roles but once we assigned them to their specific roles they really got interested. We separated the students into groups depending on their roles and they worked together to make sure they were prepared. If I am being honest the aspect of the class I enjoyed the most was when we got the students to act in a role play situation so they would get an idea of what was expected for their positon. From the role plays students learned what skills they had to work but as well as that you could clearly see students coming out of their comfort zones and, with our encouragement, flourished. On the day of the mock trial itself it was clear evident the students had practised relentlessly during the week because they performed excellently and with great confidence. Overall, the preparation for the mock trial was not only difficult for Michéal and I but for the students as well but in the end up the hard work was worthwhile when the students performed so well during the mock trial.

Joseph Gallagher,

3rd Year LL.B Student

LYIT Street Law. Photo Clive Wasson.