Ellie’s week at Matrix:
“I was only at Matrix for four days due to a ridiculous train journey down from Scotland where I live, but my four days were as fulfilling as if I had been here for the entire week. Everyone that works at Matrix is really friendly and helpful and is a pleasure to be around.
On Tuesday morning I attended Parliament Hill School in order to help other barristers deliver a Lawyers in Schools session to Year 10’s on Intellectual Property Law. This was a rewarding experience as all of the girls I was teaching were engaged and had lots to say about the topic we were discussing. After this lesson, I was taken to Matrix Chambers for the first time and, after my induction, was taken to the Court of Appeal to sit in on a case about Employment Tribunals. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t really understand it as I came in late but I got to see how a court of this type took place which was interesting. At this point I also met the two people I would be sharing my week with, Dom and Forbes, who I’m glad to say are now good friends of mine.
On Wednesday, the three of us went to the Old Bailey Court to see if we could sit in on more criminal-orientated cases. The first one we sat in on was a hearing of Rebekah Brooks, and while her case is arguably one of the most fascinating cases of the past two years, as this was just a hearing it was quite boring so we left and managed to find a murder trial to sit in on. This totally appealed to me as I want to do Criminology at University. We tried to go back to this trial after lunch but after queuing for just under an hour we were told it was full, so we came back to Matrix where we were given an activity to do. This activity gave us a hypothetical case of gross negligence manslaughter and asked us to decide whether we would be able to charge the defendant with this crime. This was an interesting activity to do as we had to read about causation, breaking the chain of causation and about what requirements you need to have to be able to charge someone with gross negligence manslaughter.
On Thursday, we went back to the Court of Appeal and were allowed to sit in on a case regarding parts of terrorism laws and whether a person who is being questioned about acts of terrorism should be able to contact their lawyer at any time. This case I understood more as I got to read the skeleton arguments for both sides and the case itself had a lot to it; this continued into Friday.
Although my time at Matrix Chambers was short, it was an incredibly interesting and rewarding experience. Although I have no intentions on being a barrister, finding out how a court works and seeing all the work that a barrister has to do has prepared me in many ways for my future as a potential CID. Again, everyone I have come into contact with has been helpful and friendly. Thank you everyone at Matrix!”
